Although Ajax has good papers to reach the eighth final of the Europa League on Thursday evening, Lille OSC is according to France Football not hopeless. The football magazine will publish an article on Thursday explaining the reasons for last week’s 1-2 defeat and discussing how the tide could turn in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Last week, Lille took the lead through Timothy Weah, but Ajax overturned the match in the last four minutes by goals from Dusan Tadic and Brian Brobbey.
According to the weekly football magazine, known for the annual presentation of the Ballon d’Or, the defeat of Lille last week was ‘a bit’ due to Ajax and ‘partly’ to Lille itself. For example, the leader of the Ligue 1 was ‘much too passive’ in putting pressure. “You just need to consider how much time Daley Blind got to send pass after pass at Stade Pierre-Mauroy (121 in total!). And you just need to consider how Lille’s only chance (we’re exaggerating a bit) came about. It was thanks to the energy of Luiz Araújo. The winger put only a little pressure on Nicolás Tagliafico, after which the Argentinian made an error and delivered the ball on a silver platter to Timothy Weah. So there is profit to be made there ”, they point out.
An opportunity, a goal. Lille takes the lead via Timothy Weah due to a wrong pass back by Nicolas Tagliafico. # RTL7 #lilaja #UEL pic.twitter.com/sOQTNwT4EY
– VTBL? (@vtbl) February 18, 2021
Lille actually has to take matters into its own hands in the return and cannot settle for ‘the occasional pinprick’, as was the case last week. So the team of trainer Christophe Galtier should actually try to control large parts of the match. “But for that, the game picture would have to change completely compared to the first game (with almost seventy percent possession for the visitors). Rather, it seems that Lille has no other option than to try to hurt Ajax in the phases in which Lille itself is running behind the ball. Firstly because Ajax does not like to be hunted. And secondly, because you can only effectively apply pressure at the right times if you pause at the front. ”
In that respect it is according to France Football an advantage that Lille can again use Benjamin André, who was suspended in the home game. While Lille still played in-house with two central midfielders who are a little too similar in style, Renato Sanches and Boubakary Soumaré, Soumaré seems to make way for André on Thursday evening. The thirty-year-old midfielder is basically none regista, according to the sports magazine, a term used to describe a player who plays centrally in midfield or right in front of the central defense duo and is important in the build-up. But, adds France Football please, André knows ‘how to use the ball and how to give his team some air’. “With that, he takes some of the responsibilities off Sanches, making the game smoother. In any case, that is desperately needed. ”
Finally, Lille must hope that ‘the heroes of Milan’ will regain their form. On November 5, Lille won 0-3 against AC Milan in the group stage, thanks to a hat-trick from Yusuf Yazici. The three heroes of the time: Sven Botman, Sanches and Yazici. “Young players who can leave for large sums of money in the summer. They were all excellent at the San Siro. But all three were below their level last week. Botman, supreme in Milan, a little bit. Sanches, excellent in Milan,” Yazici, the man of the hat-tick, oh my God. If these three players started playing as they did so often this season (even though Botman hasn’t been that good this past month), the whole of Lille would brighten up again. that someone like Jonathan Bamba, who also disappointed a lot in the home game, gets his form back, making him one of the best passers in Europe (eight assists in 2020/21). Not to mention Jonathan Ikoné, who played against Lorient on Sunday ( 1-4 win) scored from a free kick. In summary, Lille has the qualities to make Ajax falter. “