PLAYER RATINGS | Lyon 0-2 Monaco: Another toothless performance from Les Gones

Raphaël Jucobin reporting from the Groupama Stadium, Lyon

If the opening-day battering in Brittany hinted at a return to reality for Lyon, this afternoon’s showing at home confirmed that Les Gones have reverted to the form that pinned them to the bottom of the table last autumn.

Despite the defeat to Rennes, there was a sense of optimism ahead of Lyon’s first home game of the campaign – not least given that Alexandre Lacazette was back in the squad. The veteran forward, on his return from leading France to Olympic silver, was thrown straight into the starting eleven in a five-man attack.

Despite Pierre Sage’s attack-minded lineup, the hosts conceded possession to Monaco for the majority of the first half. The chances they did carve out, though, came about from Malick Fofana’s incisive runs down the left wing and Georges Mikautadze’s tenacious hold-up play (the Georgian was brought on for the injured Ernest Nuamah early on). Off the ball, though, Lyon’s discoordinated pressing left the Monégasques to their own devices for much of the first half.

The Principality outfit relied on some loose balls inside the penalty box to trouble Perri – the best chance falling to Takumi Minamino on the half-hour mark, with the Japanese midfielder’s deft effort across goal pushed onto the bar by the goalkeeper. Breel Embolo had found himself in a similar one-on-one situation minutes earlier, but was unable to swivel himself around in time to unleash a shot on target.

Lyon would eventually be made to pay for their passive set-up as Ben Seghir opened the scoring twenty minutes into the second half, beating Perri after playing a one-two with Maghnes Akliouche on the edge of the box. A subdued Lyon defence were once again caught out – Moussa Niakhaté in particular at fault with a misplaced pass to start with – as Ouattara’s ball across goal as converted into an empty net by Lamine Camara. The midfielder’s sending off ten minutes later, just before the final whistle, would be the only blot in the copybook for Adi Hütter’s men.

For Monaco, it will have been a fitting result to celebrate their centenary – although not necessarily one that confirms them as Paris Saint-Germain’s most credible challenger just yet. After another needless and costly squad reshuffle, Lyon look set for a repeat of last year’s autumn of anguish.

Lyon player ratings

Lucas Perri, 5

Clinton Mata, 5

Duje Ćaleta-Car, 5

Moussa Niakhaté, 3 – A woeful showing from the new arrival, who constantly found himself out of position, misplaced passes while his team were looking to build out from the back, and

Abner Vinícius, 3

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, 4

Maxence Caqueret, 4

Ernest Nuamah, N/A: The Ghanaian went off with a thigh injury after fifteen minutes, having gone down after being sent through one-on-one by Fofana, which allowed Jakobs to catch up with him. Replaced by Georges Mikautadze (5), whose contributions in attack were one of the few positives for Lyon this afternoon.

Saïd Benrahma, 4

Malick Fofana, 5:

Alexandre Lacazette, 5

Monaco selected player ratings

Philipp Köhn, 6

Vanderson, 6 – Replaced by new signing Jordan Teze on the hour mark.

Thilo Kehrer, 6

Mohammed Salisu, 6

Ismail Jakobs, 6

Denis Zakaria, 7

Lamine Camara, 6

Maghnes Akliouche, 5

Takumi Minamino, 6

Eliesse Ben Seghir, 7 – The Moroccan’s combinations with Maghnes Akliouche constantly caught out the left-hand side of Lyon’s defence – made up of two signings who have decidedly yet to find their feet.

Breel Embolo, 5 – An active presence around the box to cause the Lyon defence problems, but squandered the handful of chances that came his way (four shots, all off target). Replaced by George Ilenikhena for the final 30 minutes.