Lyon in their first game back after the World Cup break put on an impressive offensive display scoring 4 goals in their win against Brest. This type of performance was not only needed for points on the league table but to shake off their sub-par performances from over the break.
Coach Laurent Blanc talked about the return to Ligue 1 action stating, ”There are a lot of people to congratulate tonight. We have done a great job during the break and today you can see the results. When it comes to having the ball I am very happy about tonight’s performance, the guys made very good choices. It is true that we have had some trouble in a couple friendlies, but at the end of the day what matters is to win these matches. Saël Kumbedi had a great performance in his first professional match, and I hope it only gets better from here. Damien Da Silva was also very good. Maxence Caqueret is a great player but I know he can do even better and we are going to work on him so he can reach his full potential. Regarding Cherki he had a great match, we need to give him game time and be patient because he also has a lot of potential. But, this takes time and we will work with him as much as we can.”
The Lyon coach has been plugging players in and out of different formations since he took over for Peter Bosz. The break gave the new manager time to further experiment. Against Brest, Rayan Cherki was deployed as an attacking midfielder behind Alexandre Lacazette. The duo was a dangerous one-two punch bringing the ball forward.
The OL academy product stated, ”We are very proud of our match even though we know it is only going to get harder from here. Laurent gives me a lot of freedom in attack and I love that. Now we just have to keep working and get ready for the next match.”
Another player who had a good performance against Brest was Maxence Caqueret, who also scored his first goal in Ligue 1, spoke about the match stating, ”Very proud of being able to help the team with a goal tonight. I am very happy about my first Ligue 1 goal and I hope it is not the last one. We know that Corentin loves to keep the ball and this allows me to go forward knowing that he has my back just in case we need to defend quickly. This match is going to give us a lot of confidence, we had 5-6 preparations and this usually does not happen so I think it was very helpful. There are still some issues we have to fix but we just keep getting better and better.”
Lyon may still have some work to do, but the confidence boost is a good start to turn things around. OL has a very manageable schedule for the month of January. If they are going to shoot for a top 5 finish, picking up points next month is crucial.
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