Chapter 32: The Hope of the Village
In the locker room at halftime, Fournier was basically talking nonsense the whole time.
It's all platitudes about encouraging players and asking people to stay focused, and none of them are about tactical planning.
Because he was happy with the first half.
Although the score was drawn, Lyon's attack was fast and fluid, and that was what he wanted.
As long as it can play like this for a long time in the future, the youth army that Fournier wants will have a prototype.
On the previous national team break, Lyon president Olas invited Fournier to a large dinner alone and exchanged ideas with each other by the way.
At that time, Aulas made a suggestion that if the team really didn't play well, they could consider tilting more tactics towards the front line.
This is not a blind command.
With nearly 30 years at the helm of the team, Aulas is a president who really understands the game, otherwise Lyon would not have gone from being an obscure team to the Ligue 1 powerhouse it is today.
But Fournier did not accept the chairman's suggestion and insisted on his own opinion.
The forward duo is really talented, and the stats are good.
But that's just the appearance.
Without binders, a twin gun is two long guns in isolation.
It looks glamorous, but the actual lethality is limited.
And where is the adhesive?
Fekir is the right adhesive.
Fekir was injured before, and although he was able to stumble and score goals with two guns, Lyon's results were not ideal.
Now that Fekir has returned from injury, Lyon's attack has been noticeably much more fluid.
This made Fournier even more convinced that Fekir was the best glue for the team.
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After the break, the two sides changed sides and fought again.
Lyon continued to attack in the first half, suppressing Monaco at home.
Monaco are also very pragmatic and honestly play defensive counter-attacks.
Yaldim is a utilitarian coach who doesn't care what tactics his team plays, as long as he can win.
In the 53rd minute of the game, Lyon pressed the Monaco half as a whole.
Tolisso won the ball in the middle, made a dashing turn away from the defender, and then poked the ball to Alexette in front of the penalty area with a poke of his toes.
As soon as Lacazette got the ball, the Monaco defenders immediately closed in on him.
Zhang Chaoqiang took advantage of this opportunity to cut forward and cut diagonally into the Monaco penalty area.
Lacazette's vision is average, but after everyone has practiced this kind of cooperation, he knows where to look.
So with a push of the arch of the foot, the football went down to Zhang Chaoqiang's feet.
"Good opportunity, Zhang Chaoqiang!"
"This position can hit the door!"
As a retired striker, Yang Chen immediately saw that it was an opportunity.
But Zhang Chaoqiang took a step forward first and came to a more threatening position.
Sure enough, the Monaco goalkeeper and two centre-backs were redeployed.
Zhang Chaoqiang was not greedy, and teleported to the left side with one foot.
Fekir sped up and slotted the ball into the Monaco goal with a left-footed volley.
"Good shot, it's a brilliant tactical attack!"
"Lyon's four players continued to make short passes, and Monaco's defense was torn apart like papier-mâché, and they could only watch the opponent score."
'It was a very good goal and it shows that Fournier's training has paid off.'
Compared with the French commentary, CCTV's focus has always been on Zhang Chaoqiang.
"Lyon's offensive coordination is very smooth, in fact, Zhang Chaoqiang can hit the goal directly when he receives the ball."
'But he was very team and chose to pass the ball to Fekir in a better position.
"Fekir scored the ball, Zhang Chaoqiang also received an assist, and he has completed a pass and a shot in this game......"
Lyon once again exceeded the scoreline, and the Stade Gerland was cheering again.
Zhang Chaoqiang is very satisfied with his performance, CCTV's first live broadcast, he showed a pass and a shot performance, which should be worthy of the fans in front of the TV.
And it's not over yet, he still has a chance to keep performing.
In the 57th minute, Berbatov received the ball in front of the Lyon penalty area and suddenly cut in laterally, connecting Jordan Ferry and Gonarons and then pulling out his foot to shoot angrily, scaring the Lyon fans in the stands enough.
Everyone thought the score was going to be equalized again.
Fortunately, the dashing brother was old and his feet were weak, and his last shot did not play with power, and was steadily saved by Anthony López.
But this shot reminded the whole Lyon team that Monaco is not weak, and Lyon still needs to be careful.
Monaco fell behind and the frequency of active attacks increased significantly.
Correspondingly, Lyon's opportunities naturally increase.
Soon the situation on the field turned into a big offensive battle, and the fight was very lively.
In the 68th minute, Carrasco, who came on as a substitute for Anthony Martial, received a through ball from Moutinho and got a one-and-a-half-one chance.
It's a pity that the Belgian just came on the field and got chills at his feet, and he didn't hit the goal when he turned around, and was finally destroyed by the veteran Jallai.
Monaco were quickly killed by Lyon after missing their best chance of the second half.
In the 73rd minute, Fekir crossed from the left, and Subabasic grabbed Lacazette's head to knock the ball out.
Tolisso grabbed the spot, stopped the ball and opened the angle, and fired a long-range shot through the Monaco goal.
"Lyon leads by two goals and basically seals the win......"
In this way, Lyon defeated Monaco 3-1 at home, finally ending the embarrassing situation of three rounds of winless in the league.
After the game, Zhang Chaoqiang followed his teammates to thank him.
As he passed by the sidelines, he heard a number of familiar voices.
"Zhang Chaoqiang, good job!"
"Brother Qiangzi, will you sign a name?"
This game was the first strong match in Lyon this season, and there seemed to be a lot of Chinese fans watching the game.
Zhang Chaoqiang walked to the sidelines and signed autographs for the most advanced fans.
Several of the fans wore the number 25 jersey of Lyon, which looked quite professional.
"Brother Qiangzi, play hard, give us a long face in Chinese football."
"You're the only hope for our village."
In the midst of compliments, Zhang Chaoqiang quickly completed his signature and went back to the locker room to take a shower.
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Lyon's home win over Monaco moved them up to eighth place in the standings.
Monaco suffered miserably, dropping three places again to 19th in Ligue 1.
Fortunately, there was Ivine, who had one draw and four losses at the beginning, to give them a guarantee, otherwise they would have become deputy squad leaders.
Speaking of Ivine's draw, it was not simple, it was won at the head of Grand Paris.
The Ligue 1 standings have changed a lot in this round.
Bordeaux lost 1-2 away to Guingamp and lost the top spot.
Grand Paris drew 1-1 away at Rennes and also slipped down the rankings.
However, Lille and Marseille managed to win and steadily improved their rankings.
The current top five in Ligue 1 are:
Lille tops the table with 11 points, Marseille, Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne have 10 points, ranking second, third and fourth, and Grand Paris is temporarily fifth with 9 points.
Bordeaux only sat at the top of the table for three rounds before ceding its place, and now it is Lille's turn to take the bank.
However, the difference between the top few points is not large, and it is likely that after the next round, it will change a lot.
Lyon have 7 points from 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, and are only four points away from the top of the table.