Fifty-seven years old. More than half a century since Olympique Lyonnais had lost their first two matches of a Ligue 1 season. Beaten in Strasbourg at the opening (2-1), the Rhodaniens again tripped over the the carpet on Saturday against Montpellier (1-4), a team supposed to be in the middle of the table and deprived of its great talent Elye Wahi.
A new passive performance and a bad start to the season that say a lot about what this team has become, far from scary now. And who is not likely to play the leading roles if she does not put more heart and accuracy into it. Arnaud Nordin enjoyed it, first easily converting an incredible gift from Rémy Riou (0-1, 20th), holder in the absence of Anthony Lopes.
More than 35 degrees on the thermometer
A dumpling that struck OL for the first time, just before the first cool break of this very hot evening above Décines – the scorching temperature was 35 degrees at kick-off above a Groupama Stadium yet in the shade. For his first double in France, the twirling Jordanian Moussa Al-Tamari notably offered himself a small festival to drop Duje Caleta-Car (0-2, 39th) before adjusting poor Riou again (0-3, 66th ). Top scorer at the start of the Championship (3 goals), the giant Akor Adams closed the show (89th, 1-4).
With a small pack of absentees (Dejan Lovren, Corentin Tolisso, Clinton Mata…), Laurent Blanc had lined up a resolutely attacking 4-2-3-1 eleven, and a Rayan Cherki in his preferential position behind Alexandre Lacazette. This was not seen in the game, since the Lyonnais offered nothing or almost nothing in this sector, like Jeffinho or the coveted Bradley Barcola, insufficient against the Héraultais who start with four points out of six possible in the pouch. Only Lacazette sounded a semblance of revolt (69th, 1-3), before being excluded for a tackle full of frustration (80th). The captain will be absent against Nice, and maybe even against PSG on September 3, to make matters worse.
If last year’s OL-Montpellier had offered a resounding spectacle with nine goals including two quadruplets (Lacazette and Wahi), this 2023-24 version has made it possible to identify all the work that remains for the Lyon collective, symbolic last of the Championship. It is already very, very hot above the Rhône.
