We have ourselves to blame, says Lyon’s Garcia

Olympique Lyon to coach, Rudi Garcia has said that his side has themselves to blame after losing 1-0 to Metz at home.

It could be recalled that Lyon was undone by Aaron Leya Iseka’s added-time goal at the Groupama Stadium. The defeat left Les Gones third on the Ligue 1 table two points behind PSG and Lille after 20 league fixtures.

Having suffered a defeat in a game that would have taken them to the table’s summit, Lyon will now focus on next weekend’s derby against Saint-Etienne.

While describing the defeat as a bitter taste, he said it’s undeserved having created many chances in the game that only 20% of their 22 shots went on target. However, he noted that with such a low rate of short on target, one shouldn’t be surprised at not scoring. Karl Toko Ekambi’s second-half strike was ruled out for offside.

Therefore, he has urged his teammates to do a bit more and better having learnt that they should at least play for a point in a situation they can’t secure a win.

He also lamented that they lost many challenges in the game, especially in the first half. He also criticized his team’s collective efforts as they failed to do things right.

Now that the Metz game is gone, next on the former Roma coach’s mind is the derby with Saint-Etienne, which comes up on Sunday.

Losing two spots on the log is massive for Lyon as it may be hard to regain the spot back with Lille and PSG in great form.

In the other week 20 game, PSG moved to the summit of the Ligue 1 table courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Angers.

PSG was without their coach, Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine was watching from home while isolating due to a positive COVID-19 result. Layvin Kurzawa’s goal secured maximum points for the Paris club Saturday.

Lille also got maximum points against Reims, which leave them on the same points with the league leaders through Jonathan David’s 90th-minute goal.

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed