Read what the two coaches had to say following Lyon’s 3-1 first leg win at Manchester City yesterday…
Reaction from firstly, a happy OL Coach, Gérard Prêcheur:
On the game in general:
Basically, my prediction yesterday has come true. I said yesterday in the press conference that we were going to see an excellent game today and that’s what we saw from both sides. I’m very pleased with my girls in the sense that their game in general was very good, entertaining, a lot of technique and ability and skill on display. And as to the way we approached the game and the result, obviously I’m very happy with the result and a victory away from home. City tried to get the ball down and play and never gave up, so it was an entertaining afternoon.
On the reasoning behind his substitutions:
I’ve only got internationals sitting on my bench, as well as in the starting eleven, so it’s difficult to leave out quality internationals like Eugenie Le Sommer. Although Alex Morgan didn’t have one of her best afternoons or days in football, particularly I didn’t think she was on top form in the first half, so that was something that I had in mind. It was a straight swap with the system that I’ve got and the way we set up positionally, so we swapped a striker for a striker. Eugenie is a top, top player.
On the importance of experience in the match:
I think it’s a spot on comment and right to mention experience. I think I mentioned before the match that these sort of occasions – when there’s a lot at stake – emotions can take over. They can be quite an emotional event, so despite the fact that against Wolfsburg we managed to keep the ball, I wanted to see more of a serenity, more of a calmness today, being relaxed on the ball and I’m glad that despite the level that City pressed us throughout the game (particularly towards the end they were pressing quite high), I’m pleased that we were still calm on the ball and calm in possession. I think the fact that we have played together a lot and the experience of the girls did count a lot in terms their state mentally and emotionally, on such a big occasion.
On starting so fast, with two chances and the getting the penalty all within the first 60 seconds:
City and OL Feminine have very similar styles of play, so it was important from the word go to impose our style of play on them. We’ve talked about trying to press high, to stop City having a chance to press us and when City get the ball they like to play the ball around and impose their style. So the idea was to start quickly and ‘get into them’ basically, high up the pitch and keep the ball. The style of play of both teams involves keeping the ball and having possession and that’s what we tried to do from the outset.
On whether three away goals and a usually tight defence leads him to believe that this tie is won:
No. It’s never over. You only have to look at occasions in the men’s game where you see the famous Barcelona v PSG comeback. So, no but I’d be dishonest and be hypocritical sitting here if I didn’t say we’d made a pretty good step along the way. At the same time, we have to go into the game and be careful and be vigilant. I’d consider that we have put in a good performance today and I’m proud of the performance. I’m not saying we dominated play but we were I the ascendency quite a lot and had a lot of the ball and showed what we are capable of. We know what City are capable of when we let them have the ball. So it’s a case of repeating this quality of performance at home to ensure that they don’t get a foothold.
Adding his thanks and commenting on City’s potential & welcome as a club:
I’d just like to thank City for their fantastic welcome and how we’ve been treated. Obviously we are on the way to being a very successful club and the infrastructure that they’ve got for the women’s set up, it won’t be long before they’re joining us on that kind of successful run and so I thank them and wish them good luck for the future.
And what did slightly disappointed but far from dismayed Man City coach Nick Cushing have to say:
Reflecting on the game:
We expected a tough game, we never expected it to be easy. For large parts of the game we contained them. We knew they were going to have a lot of ball, the hard part for us is we dominate the ball in large parts of our games but we knew we were coming up against different opponent who are a top team and we respected that. But we can be so much better with the ball and that’s the positive we are going to take into the next game.
On the early goal and then pulling level:
Yeah we’d spoken about trying to start quickly, really trying to put Lyon into a game where they knew they were going to have to work hard and they’d have to get their level really high and the penalty knocks the wind out of you a little bit. But I was really proud about how they got back in the game and we picked ourselves up and carried on playing so, I’m pleased but I know we can be so much better.
On the experience factor:
I always knew experience would be a factor, not that our players would be inexperienced and wouldn’t be able to perform but that the opposition have so much experience that throughout the game, throughout the game, no matter how the game was going we knew that they would be able to survive in the periods that we had some chances – we had some really good counter attacks in the first half – they would keep their composure so we knew that experience would be a plus for them but I don’t think that it meant that we were always going to perform poorly.
We are not far away and Lyon aren’t invincible. We’re as good as them and we can cause them problems. We highlighted their weaknesses and where they’re weak and I really thought we exploited them. The times that we did keep the ball and the times that we did recognise that we could hit them early, I thought we caused them problems and created some opportunities to then create some chances but the game showed that if your level with and without the ball is not up there against the best teams then they’re going to exploit it because of their experience,
On how difficult it will be to turn this around:
I spoke to the players and I think the disappointment is, first and foremost we don’t lose, so it’s always going to be a feeling that we haven’t felt for two years, especially here. So the players are disappointed but I think they know straight away that we can be so much better with the ball and the fact that Lyon had a lot of the ball, at times was because we didn’t retain it as well as we normally do.
We are not far away and Lyon aren’t invincible. We’re as good as them and we can cause them problems. We highlighted their weaknesses and where they’re weak and I really thought we exploited them. The times that we did keep the ball and the times that we did recognise that we could hit them early, I thought we caused them problems and created some opportunities to then create some chances but it shows that if your level with and without the ball is not up there against the best teams then they’re going to exploit it because of their experience,
On whether the tie is over:
It’s definitely not over because we can grow from that experience. We have to and in all of the big games coming up, whether it be the second leg or the FA Cup Final at Wembley or the Spring Series games, we have to grow from that experience. At times not having the ball or having to be brave and keep the ball. Also, we know we’ve got so much more to give. We can perform so much better with the ball, keep the ball better to cause problems, so it’s definitely not over. But it highlights that we have to be at the top of our game in UWCL semi-finals to get to the final.
On whether he will do anything dramatically different for the next game:
We’ll look at the game and we’ll look at areas tactically where maybe we can adjust and we can exploit more of their weaknesses but the game shows that we knew they were going to have a lot of the ball, that we’d have to play almost a style that we haven’t played for the last year because we’ve dominated the ball. I thought once we were organised that we contained them. They scored two goals and a penalty, we can look at why they scored those two goals.
On how easily they carved Lyon open for the equaliser:
We’ve talked about it and watching the Wolfsburg game knew that in games when you keep the ball better than them [Lyon] you can create opportunities and Wolfsburg kept the ball better than Lyon. Towards the end we created more opportunities like the one which we scored, so we just have to look at the areas where we can minimise their amount of ball and we can keep it, then we can show our true qualities.
Lyon’s UEFA Best Women’s Player of 2016, Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg:
Really good result for us to bring back to Lyon. City are a great, physical team but I think we stood up to them and scored three great goals. So, a really nice first leg for us.
It’s always important to get a good start in the games, for us to make an impact in the way we play, it’s important to start well and when we score as well it gets us floating. They had a lot of great chances too so we need to stay concentrated, not be too arrogant in the way we play and try to as best as possible.
It’s going to be another great game in Parc OL. Going to be a lot of fans, a lot of supporters, at least 20,000 I think. We love these games and it’s also huge showcase for women’s football, it’s going to be exciting.
Manchester City and England midfielder Jill Scott:
It was a tough game. Obviously disappointed to concede three goals. It’ all a bit raw at the minute but credit to Lyon, they played very well today. We still had chances, which is a positive, so hopefully we can work on them for the next game.
As I say, Lyon are a good team and they’re always going to come at you. I haven’t seen the penalty back yet but I thought we picked ourselves up well, considering it was in the first few mins. Then a great goal by Kos (Asllani).
We went as a bit more a diamond in the second half so it probably meant we could get a little bit closer to them but as I say, it’s half time I suppose, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, have a good week’s training and make sure that we prepare ourselves to perform next Saturday. We’re professionals, we’ve all been through low points in our careers and have picked ourselves back up and we’ll do that again for next weekend.
