Le Losc lost to Nîmes on Sunday -
AFP
Beaten Sunday at home by Nîmes, the northern club missed a great opportunity to get away from its direct competitors.
Eight days from the end, the race for the title and the Champions League is completely relaunched.
The club have shown that they are struggling against the poorly classified.
It was a golden opportunity that Losc did not seize at all.
In a weekend when the northern club could increase its lead over its direct competitors for the title and the Champions League, Lille got its feet in the mat at the worst possible time.
"It's a disillusion," admits Xeka, the Lille midfielder, bluntly.
Beaten Sunday at home by Nîmes (1-2), who yet struggles for maintenance, the northern club may have lost more than a match.
If nothing has been done yet eight days from the end, Galtier's men relaunched the four-way match with Lyon, Paris and Monaco (4th), which came back to four points and clearly relaunched the race for the Ligue des champions.
A completely revived championship
Between the title and "the place of the con" (4th), everything remains possible for a Losc less and less exciting.
“It's Ligue 1, that's how it is.
Even though we had talked about it, even though we had sounded the alarm bells before the game, it happened to us.
It's not a disaster but it will be hot to fight for the podium.
We are four teams.
Are we the best armed?
I do not know.
We are undoubtedly the one with the least experience or perhaps the least control, or the least armed in all sectors, ”said Christophe Galtier, the Lille coach, as if to take some pressure off his team. before starting the final sprint after the international break.
In trouble with the little ones
If this defeat against the Gardois marks the spirits, it has already been several weeks that Lille has been advancing in slow motion.
Held in check at home by Brest (0-0) and Strasbourg (1-1), beaten by Angers (1-2) and therefore Nîmes, Lille loses too many points against small teams in 2021. Because in the game, the Northerners have become predictable.
“Lille is a team that still plays quite high.
Obviously, that leaves spaces behind the backs of the full-backs and the central ones, ”confided Pascal Plancque, the Nîmes coach, at the end of the match.
And faced with low blocks, Lille are also finding it increasingly difficult to be decisive.
“We have offensive characteristics that make it difficult to express yourself when faced with a low block.
We need more quality of center, presence in the surface.
We're a bit too rushed.
We have certain assets but perhaps not all the assets to beat different team profiles, ”recognizes Galtier.
Physically cooked players
More readable, Lille are also struggling physically.
The sequence of matches (18 since the beginning of January) begins to weigh on the organizations and in the technical lucidity.
"With the sequence of matches, our quality of play has weakened with less precision in the transmissions, less accuracy on a technical level, less quality in the finish on the offensive plan", continues the Lille coach.
Still, everything is not to be thrown away.
Eight games from the end and with a lighter schedule, the Losc can still turn their heads to the place and dream of the title.
“We have 63 points, we were not expected at this level.
Is the step too high?
We will see.
There is a new championship which will start in two weeks with eight games.
We have to find the fundamentals that made our strength over the first thirty games to avoid a chaotic end of the season, ”concludes Galtier.
Despite this quack in Nîmes, everything remains possible at Losc.
The worst and the best.
The end of the season promises to be exciting, a rarity in recent years in Ligue 1.
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