Match Focus: Fekir’s Magic Not Enough to Seal Electric Rhone-Alpes Derby

“I’ve nothing to reproach my players for,” said Saint Etienne coach Christophe Galtier after Sunday night’s draw at Lyon. “It’s me that should feel bad, because the strategy (I) adopted allowed Lyon to create lots of (dangerous) situations.”

A year in the Rhone-Alpes derby changed everything and nothing, in the end. In the corresponding fixture last season, played just over 12 months ago, Les Verts arrived at Stade de Gerland above their near-neighbours in the table for the first time since 1992-93. It was a position they retained in the final standings, helped in no small part by a smash-and-grab win in that derby, sealed by a Max Gradel winner.

The Ivorian forward was again a key figure this time, turning a game in which Sainté were in danger of being swept away in, with a first-half penalty equaliser against the run of play. Despite playing with one man more for over an hour after Lindsay Rose’s red card, the visitors again left the Ville des Lumières with more than they merited given the balance of the match.

It was noble of Galtier to carry the can for his team’s difficult start to the derby. His reasoning for switching to a five-man defence had been sound; it was exactly this shape that had allowed Sainté to take advantage of Lyon’s weaknesses in this fixture last year, with wing-backs exploiting wide spaces left by the midfield diamond in Rémi Garde’s 4-4-2 (see article/player position map from last year’s game).

Lyon have come a long way in the past year, but their default shape remains largely the same. Yet two main personnel changes went a long way to rendering Galtier’s reprise of the system ineffective. Benoît Trémoulinas, who starred in last year’s derby while on loan from Dynamo Kiev, moved to Sevilla rather than signing permanently at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. He had been hugely influential in last year’s win, taking 83 touches (more than anyone else in the game). Sunday’s incumbent, Franck Tabanou, had 43.

From Lyon’s perspective, the loss of perpetual injury victim Yoann Gourcuff actually played in their favour in this context. Following this, coach Hubert Fournier has shuffled his pack in recent weeks by bringing in a striker, Clinton N’Jie, in Gourcuff’s stead, while withdrawing Nabil Fekir to fill the number 10 role.

The natural qualities of this trio makes the set-up more of a 4-3-3, reminiscent of Lyon’s serial title-winning era, than the 4-4-2 of recent times. Having played as the second striker just behind Alexandre Lacazette for most of this season, Fekir tends to be habitually stationed much closer to a front two than Gourcuff would be (see average player position map).

The front three helped Lyon pin Saint Etienne back in the early stages particularly, with Fekir on the right, Lacazette on the left and N’Jie placed more centrally, though they swapped at will. Their pace and directness was such that Lyon had 21 efforts at goal (almost twice Saint Etienne’s 11) from a relatively modest 53% of possession.

Fekir’s control of the game, particularly in the first period, also helped to pin back Tabanou, who Galtier might have assumed would be a handy route to run the ball out of defence, given his ease on the ball and his history of playing in midfield. Instead, the former Toulouse man was terrorised by the new France international, and eventually cautioned for a bad tackle on him in the second period.

Fekir was everywhere. He had 6 shots (including 2 on target and another which rattled the crossbar, with goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier well beaten), and made 3 key passes which brought about 2 assists, all in the space of just 48 touches.

His leadership of the attacking effort allowed Lyon to play considerably higher up the pitch as a group than they had done in this fixture last year. In March 2014, Hénri Bedimo had been the only first-choice member of the back four available. This time, with Bedimo’s presence matched by that of another specialist full-back on the other side in Christophe Jallet, Fournier’s team had the assurance to play with real aggression.

On another day, this positivity might have resulted in a comfortable win, but Rose’s sending-off for handling Gradel’s goalbound shot (resulting in the penalty) offered Sainté a foothold in the game, even if it didn’t drastically alter the course of the play.

Galtier deserves credit too, having withdrawn defender Paul Baysse for wide man Romain Hamouma and switching to 4-3-3 minutes before Gradel’s leveller. Neither Tabanou or his right-sided counterpart François Clerc were consistently able to get anywhere near the halfway line (again, see player position map) so it was up to Gradel and Hamouma to give Jallet and Bédimo something to think about in their own half of the pitch.

Jallet, in particular, responded excellently, making 4 tackles and 7 clearances for an 8.67 rating. On the other side, Bédimo remained unfettered, playing his match almost as an orthodox winger.

All in all, a dramatic night put Lyon back on top of the table (though Paris Saint-Germain retain a game in hand, against lowly Metz) and left Sainté on the cusp of the third Champions League spot, just two points behind Monaco. Such was the heady atmosphere of this match, though, that none of the numbers seemed to matter. One wonders whether now, after so many years of derby misery, the tide of fortune has turned to Saint Etienne, who have now lost at Gerland just once since 2007.
 

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