Saint-Etienne (AFP)

Despite a goal in advance at half-time, Lille conceded in the last minutes a draw (1-1) on the ground of Saint-Etienne, Saturday at the end of a match of the 3rd day of Ligue 1 that the Northerners had ample opportunity to win.

The champions of France, who still have not won in the league, remained on a draw after additional time in Metz (3-3) before sinking completely at home against Nice (4-0).

With this new poor performance, they are only 13th in the standings (2 points) seven lengths behind the leader, Paris Saint-Germain, while ASSE occupies 9th place (3 points).

Faced with a completely harmless opponent who only equalized on a resumption of the head of Saïdou Sow upon receipt of a corner played from the right wing (85), Lille had yet been able to be opportunistic by opening the scoring on his first shot on target by Burak Yilmaz (38).

It was at the conclusion of a happy action started with a ball lost by Denis Bouanga in the recovery phase before a clumsy Zaydou Youssouf who put the ball in the right direction for the Turkish striker.

The latter found the opening of a shot from the left lodged in the skylight to open his goals counter this season in Ligue 1.

He scored sixteen in the league in 2020-2021.

- Green saves the Greens -

Shortly after, goalkeeper Etienne Green saved the Greens from 2-0 by coming out far from his cage in front of Jonathan David well launched by Yilmaz (40) but also by interposing on an attempt by Jonathan Bamba shortly after half-time ( 48) then in front of David, again (55), and Yusuf Yazici (84) then finally in front of Yilmaz (88).

The young Saint Etienne goalkeeper thus both avoided a rout to his team that he ultimately kept in the game.

Lille, whose new goalkeeper, Ivo Grbic had no real parade to perform, may regret not having been able to take shelter.

And even more after the action, well conducted, at the end of which David lost his support when he seemed in a good position to score (80).

It was six minutes before the equalizer.

But on the whole, the LOSC, even if it got more chances, lacked coordination between its lines and technical accuracy on some actions.

For his part, Saint-Etienne continues with a third draw after those conceded at home against Lorient (1-1) and Lens (2-2).

But the weakness of the offensive animation and a lack of depth in the construction of the game can give food for thought to the coach Claude Puel for the continuation even if the ASSE offered a forceful reaction on the end which allowed him to 'equalize.

Especially since the technician has already warned that the Greens, who will play in Marseille on Saturday, did not have the financial means to be very active on the transfer market this summer.

© 2021 AFP