It was hard to predict how Lille’s season was going to go. The sparkling new Grand Stade Lille Metropole welcomed a new era, but with the mercurial talents of Eden Hazard gone, this was a journey into uncertainty. In the end it turned into the typical “game of two halves” cliché and although Rudi Garcia’s men finished strongly, it wasn’t enough to make up for a lacklustre start.
Benoit Pedretti’s 90th minute winner away at Saint-Etienne gave Les Dogues the perfect start, but it was to be a false dawn. The new stadium opened with a whimper as Nancy left with a point, and they wouldn’t pick up another point for eight…yes eight matches. PSG came to town and Zlatan Ibrahimovic basically planted a flag in the centre circle, claiming the Grand Stade as his own.
Distracted by their exploits in the Champions League, their domestic formed suffered; failing in both competitions is not what President Michel Seydoux had in mind. Garcia was under pressure, they were bottom of their group in Europe and in the bottom half of the Ligue 1 table; also not what the board had in mind. With more power than other French managers, the pressure piled on when summer signings Marvin Martin and Salomon Kalou failed to hit the ground running. Perhaps the start of the revival came when Lille failed to qualify for the Europa League; able to concentrate on the league, the small squad was now able to cope with the demands of the home crowd.
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment Lille’s season changed, but a few things conspired, the planets aligned, oh and Kalou started to actually score some goals. With pressure coming down from above, Garcia started to make some changes, youth was given a chance, and they didn’t disappoint. Leftback Lucas Digne and midfielder Idrissa Gueye were easily two of the standout performers of the season. Up front, Ronny Rodelin pushed himself into the starting line-up, in fact his disallowed goal away at the Parc des Princes caused a sense of injustice within the Lille squad, one they set about rectifying.
Over the next 12 games LOSC would only lose once, that a surprise defeat at home to Evian, but the Kalou-inspired victory away at Lyon was the highlight in a run that included wins over Rennes, Bordeaux, Brest and of course the inspired 5-0 home win over Lorient. Les Dogues went through a lot of changes during the season, both Mickael Landreau and Mathieu Debuchy left, and with Rio Mavuba’s long term injury it left the squad without a lot of leaders. Something that was very evident against Sochaux, up 3-0, they would go on to lose three goals in less than 15 minutes and drop two valuable points.
If ever 90 minutes were to sum up Lille’s season, that was it. Superb football to take the lead and then inexperience and lapses in concentration would see them throw it away. Those two points would have seen Lille finish ahead of Nice and line-up in the Europa League. Ah…the one that got away.
FINAL POSITION: 6th
Review by @Gibney_A