Yesterday was the day that every Lille fan awaits, that was the day Marcelo Bielsa made his first match as a Lille manager after taking charge since June.
It was only a friendly match but we could get a glimpse of what he can offer for the Northern France outfit in Ligue 1 in the upcoming season.
Lille won the match, 2-0 against Stade de Reims. The goals come from new signings Luiz Araujo and Ezequiel Ponce.
Luiz Araujo scored in the 26th minute of the game after a brilliant one-two with Nicolas De Preville and then a finish to the near post.
The second goal comes in the 70th minute from Fares Bahlouli's indirect free kick which then converted to a goal via Ezequiel Ponce's brilliant header.
You can watch the full match here (via LOSCTV)
This is the starting eleven:
🔴 La compo lilloise : Maignan - Malcuit, Alonso, Ié, Kouamé - Mendes, Amadou, Benzia - El Ghazi, De Préville, Araujo #SDRLOSC— LOSC (@losclive) July 15, 2017
In the second half Kouame, Benzia, Araujo, Maignan, De Preville, El Ghazi, and Mendes are taken off, substituted by Xeka, Bahlouli, Terrier, Koffi, Ponce, Faraj, and Pollet respectively.
Yves Bissouma and Fode Ballo missed the game due to injuries.
Lille played the match with a high defensive line to support their aggressive pressing style. They are looking to win the ball as high as possible and when the ball is won they look to waste no time by executing a quick-fire counterattack - though sometimes they would also try their luck from distance.
Lille looked pretty much comfortable on the ball yesterday, especially in the opposition half. This is a little bit different than the old Lille style of play that demands the player to build the play slowly and prefers the player to play in their own half.
Lille have basically dominated the whole match as Stade de Reims can't really impose much trouble to Marcelo Bielsa's side due to their aggressive pressing and quick passing.
Several players have apparently improved their performances and several new faces have also impressed in the last game.
Kevin Malcuit looks like a really solid right-back. He contributed a lot to the team both in attack and defence.
The defensive pair, Edgar Le and Junior Alonso were unbreakable. Junior Alonso looked like he has improved his passing.
Rominigue Kouame caught my eye with his performance in the first half. Amazing performance from the young Malian, especially as he's played in an unfamiliar position.
Ibrahim Amadou was solid as usual and Thiago Mendes helped him stamp their authority in midfield. Reims can only do little about that.
Luiz Araujo was sensational. He looked like he could be Lille's signing of the season but it's too early to judge that. He sure has bags of potential though.
Anwar El Ghazi didn't seem like he had significant improvement.
De Preville was as always Lille's most dangerous attacking threat. He is the type of striker who is flexible, moves around, finds spaces, he could either score a goal himself or set his teammates up.
Fares Bahlouli's performance yesterday shows that he's still a highly-rated player that you just can't underestimate. He could find his form again in Lille this season, he's still young, he still has time to improve.
Ezequiel Ponce looked very confident in the last match. Coming on as a substitute for De Preville in the 65th minute. He scored 5 minutes later. I personally still consider him as a wonderkid, a not-so-forgotten gem. He's currently on loan at Lille with an option to buy for as little as €6 million from AS Roma. If he could get back to his old form and realise his potential at Lille, €6 million could be a huge bargain for Marcelo Bielsa's side.
In overall, the team has obviously improved.
Lille have promised a beautiful attacking football to the fans and the boards have set high targets for the upcoming season. Finish 5th in Ligue 1.
From what I have seen, they did play some beautiful attacking football with aggressive pressing and high tempo passing, but about what they can achieve this season I don't know yet, it remains to be seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment