Lille concede top spot with Montpellier draw
Unable to find a way past a solid Montpellier outfit at the Stade
Pierre Mauroy on Sunday, Lille drew 0-0 and slipped to third place.
Still, René Girard's men remain unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season with
just a single goal conceded.
Lille topped the Ligue 1 table after last weekend's 2-o win over
Nantes, but after Marseille's win over Rennes on Saturday, René Girard's
men needed to do better than the 0-0 draw with Montpellier - where the
league's top two defences reigned - to hang onto top spot.
Perhaps paying the costs of their mid-week Europa League exertions in
the 1-1 with FK Krasnodar, Lille - without injured striker Nolan Roux -
struggled to make the most of their chances in the first half despite
dominating proceedings and constructing their play well.
Lille menace up front
Switzerland U-21 international Michael Frey, signed from Young Boys Bern in the summer, made his first start for Les Dogues in
place of Roux and linked up well with strike partner Ryan Mendes and
Portuguese playmaker Marcos 'Rony' Lopes but failed to make the break on
several occasions (6', 10', 18').
Belgian Jonathan Delaplace had Lille's best chance but shot across
the face of goal after some neat one-touch play with Frey and Lopes
(24') and although Lille's forward line seemed to be wearing
Montpellier's five-man defence down, raining shots on goal, the sides
went into the break with the corers still untroubled.
Sanson impact
Looking for more cutting edge up front, and perhaps sensing that
Lille's relentless forward movement could leave them open at the back,
Montpellier boss Rolland Courbis switched his 5-4-1 formation to a 4-4-2
with 20-year-old midfield sensation Morgan Sanson coming on for Paul
Lasne and Kévin Bérigaud and Victor-Hugo Montaño playing alongside each
other up front.
The visitors looked a different side after Sanson's entry into play,
and as they began to move forward, left-back Siaka Tiéné carved out his
side's best chance of the match as he raced onto Bérigaud's lay-off and
launch a curler that had Vincent Enyeama beaten but which flew narrowly
wide of the target (60').
Lille's chance to reclaim top spot comes with Wednesday's trip to Nice, while Montpellier, who climbed from 6th to provisional fourth place with the draw, will play host to Monaco, also on Wednesday.
