Karl Toko Ekambi, here after having opened the scoring at Parc OL, on November 29 against Reims (3-0).
-
Laurent Cipriani / AP / SIPA
Sometimes mocked by some OL supporters since his transfer in January 2020, Karl Toko Ekambi is currently
on fire
, with six goals and three assists in his last six games in Ligue 1.
The Lyon striker, who grew up in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, will be one of the big curiosities of the PSG-OL shock on Sunday (9 p.m.).
Before this meeting,
20 Minutes
interviewed Albert Cartier, his former coach during the 2015-2016 season, when Karl Toko Ekambi was struggling to keep Sochaux in Ligue 2.
Karl Toko Ekambi got a little smile on Sunday night in Metz (1-3), after missing a hat-trick by finding the crossbar of Alexandre Oukidja with a superb long shot.
Unlucky with an amount touched ... for the sixth time since his arrival in Lyon last January, the Lyon striker knows that he inherited the nickname "Poteau Ekambi" from some supporters this summer, after the most cruel of his attempts , against Bayern Manuel Neuer (0-3 in the half of C1).
But with six goals and three assists in his last six games in Ligue 1, the Cameroonian international from Paris 13th is above all a major player in the great series of OL (3rd), which could become a leader if successful. at the Parc des Princes Sunday (9 p.m.).
To evoke this unexpected man in shape,
20 Minutes
turned to Albert Cartier, who coached him in 2015-2016, within a Sochaux team who then had to tear his maintenance in Ligue 2 (15th).
Albert Cartier, on the Sochaux bench before a Ligue 2 match in Nancy, in April 2016. - JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP
Find Karl Toko Ekambi on the podium of the top scorers in Ligue 1 (with seven goals), and this in Lyon, does it surprise you?
No, it is obvious that Karl is destined to be a goalscorer.
In Sochaux, his ball catches were already systematically oriented towards the goal.
With us, he had been very good for six months, before being less consistent [11 goals in 34 L2 games in 2015-2016].
I could see that the boy was a little parasitic because he was in demand.
We had worked a lot on this, so that he could focus mainly on his game. I think he has gained a lot of maturity, confidence in himself and in others.
Do you think this left winger position in Rudi Garcia's 4-3-3 is the one that suits him best?
Yes, he breathes the game in this left off-center position.
He feels the blows there.
At Sochaux, he thought he would score a lot more in the axis than on this left side.
But for me he needed to have that freedom that the side offers and he understood why I was basically having him play there.
And above all, he likes to come close the far post when the ball comes from the opposite.
He also knows how to switch to go and test the various opposing defenders.
WHAT A GOAL AND WHAT ACTION!
😍😍😍 # FCMOL pic.twitter.com/G6FmX75cKV
- Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) December 7, 2020
More than his position, does he not above all need to evolve in a team favoring the counter-attack?
It is clear that Karl is a player of transition, verticality and spaces.
In a team developing a possession game and placed attacks, his calls would no longer be natural, he would find himself in an offside position and he would win a lot.
He isn't the best there, you have to see him in the finish area.
Afterwards, he can improve against an opponent with a low block, who waits within 30 meters.
The good thing is that he likes to play with other people.
Sometimes his partners in Sochaux thought him just focused on individual action and they didn't expect the pass he gave them at all.
For a player who had not known a training center, I found him really mature in his game.
Karl Toko Ekambi, here during the 2015-2016 Coupe de France semi-final;
lost (0-1) by the Sochaliens against OM.
- Sébastien Bozon / AFP
However, don't you find him capable of both the best and the worst in the technical field?
Karl has always been able to be very good with the ball in his feet, and he even knows how to be confusing with changes of direction that can put two players in trouble.
But it's true that he was already in this register at Sochaux: there was sometimes a little surprising waste in his game, on controls or in the final gesture.
It was in my opinion a problem of concentration.
At times, he was already thinking of rolling his shot before he even managed to catch the ball.
He worked a lot to erase that defect.
According to you, how did he perceive the mockery of certain Lyon supporters this summer, with this nickname of “Poteau Ekambi”?
He has already gone through periods like that with us, during which he touched the amounts.
But he's an armored and proud boy, so he won't fall into the trap of admitting that it touches him.
There is not much that can disturb him elsewhere.
He did not go through the classic path of a professional club training center and all he got was thanks to his great strength of character.
He is so used to difficulty that taking up challenges is not a problem for him.
He has one goal and that is to improve himself and prove that the people criticizing him are wrong.
You have to understand that it is not worn at all.
His hatching is a little late, he only arrived in the professional world at 22 years old [in 2014 in Sochaux, in L2].
It therefore keeps a real freshness at 28 years old.
Karl Toko Ekambi was mocked by some Lyon supporters for his lost duels in the Champions League semi-final against Manuel Neuer's Bayern, especially for the post touched at 0-0.
- Miguel A.Lopes / AP / Sipa
Can you really imagine, after spending eight months without scoring in a struggling OL in Ligue 1, now being able to bring Lyon to the Parc des Princes on Sunday?
Karl knows how to take others with him.
He's not necessarily going to be a leader haranguing the locker room.
But in the attitude on the ground, he will be an exemplary leader, especially at the heart of such an event.
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