The Gym was humiliated on the field of Amiens (3-0) at the end of a thoroughly indigestible match.
Uninspired, lacking movement, and without grit, the Gym was overpowered by a newly promoted Amiens side that did not expect to achieve so much. Having not scored a single goal in the top tier until this Saturday, Amiens quickly took charge of the match with inspiration, movement, and grit. Set in a classic 4-4-2 formation, “designed to put the Nice team in difficulty” as Mathieu Bodmer explained before the match, Christophe Pélissier’s eleven realized its good intentions after fifteen minutes into the game. At that moment, Gaël Kakuta superbly curled a free-kick from 20 meters, which Cardi’ could do nothing against, marking a notable return in France (1-0, 15’).
On a corner taken by Bourgaud, Moussa Konaté outpaced everyone at the near post and smashed the ball into the net (2-0, 28’). An immediate and ruthless punishment. After this second goal, the Red and Black took control of the ball, moved higher up the field, but never managed to threaten the occupants of the Licorne Stadium. Two long-range shots and a corner were the only timid offensives during the first 45 minutes. Meanwhile, Amiens nearly extended their lead, but Bourgaud shot too wide (39’), and later, his corner was pushed away by Cardinale (45’).
Aware that his team was heading towards defeat, Lucien Favre tried to take control at the break. The Vaud technician replaced Le Marchand and Tameze with Sarr and St-Maximin, moved Walter down to the midfield, and repositioned Lees-Melou on the right at the start of the second half. A good strike by Walter, caught by Gurtner (47’), proved signs of improvement. A pass from Lees-Melou, back into the middle by Souquet with one touch and taken from the outside of the right foot by Sneijder confirmed it (56’). Unfortunately, the movement concluded off-target.
These two sparks remained as mere flickers. Amiens absorbed them without faltering and returned to their simple playing style. They retreated but attacked by moving forward. Leaned on Moussa Konaté up front and put conviction into all their initiatives. Moussa Konaté, once again, broke into depth and tripled the score, before being flagged offside (66’). Just as Alassane Pléa, who headed a cross from Dante before the assistant referee raised his flag (72’), even though the ball was ultimately deflected by the opposing goalkeeper.
The Azuréens tried to push forward in a disorganized manner but nothing came out of it. Apart from the local team’s 3rd goal, stemming from a break and a cross by Manzala, which Konaté just had to place into the net (3-0, 89’).
This marked a bad ending to a bad evening.
WORDS, WORDS…
Lucien Favre: “We are not as good in the gameplay, not as good defensively, it’s a balance to find with the players who are available. At the moment, it’s very, very difficult because we are conceding unfortunate goals. We are conceding too many goals because we lack stability. We don’t have the ball enough, we don’t create chances, we lose the ball too quickly. We cannot say that the team didn’t react, we tried to play in the second period but they defended well. We lacked penetration and accurate combinations. We need to find the team’s balance and find the system that suits it best. I am not worried because I am not surprised. We need to get back to work. We saw very little. We lacked collective understanding, it’s not well-coordinated.”
Dante: “It’s clear that it went badly, despite the European Cup match that we somewhat felt,” admitted the captain. “I am indeed disappointed but now we must stay positive. And we, the players, must simply apply what is asked of us. There are things to improve, and that’s what we will focus on.”
