Lille lost top spot after Montpellier draw 0-0

 

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 6^th to provisional fourth place with the draw, will play host to Monaco, also on Wednesday.

Origi leads Lille over Nantes 2-0

Divock Origi scores as Lille beat Nantes

Lille continued their good start to the Ligue 1 season with an impressive 2-0 win against Nantes, who were made to pay for not making the most of their dominance in the first half.

Second-half goals from Divock Origi and Marco Lopes earned Rene Girard's unbeaten side the spoils as they moved on to 11 points from five games.

Nantes, meanwhile, remain on seven points after slumping to their second loss.

Both teams enjoyed some goalmouth action early on, with Lille striker Nolan Roux forcing a save from Maxime Dupe inside 10 minutes following some good work from Origi before Olivier Veigneau fired over at the other end.

Nantes defender Papy Djilobodji missed an attempted bicycle kick moments later before the visitors had a penalty claim turned down when Serge Gakpe went down under David Rozenhal's challenge inside the hosts' area.

Les Canaries maintained their promising start as the first half wore on and Gakpe wasted a great opportunity when he failed to apply the finish after Vincent Enyeama spilled Alejandro Bedoya's goal-bound header.

Fittingly, Nantes went the closest to opening the scoring inside the first 45 minutes when Jordan Veretout burst forward from midfield before firing a powerful shot beyond Enyeama only to see it come back off the post.

The visitors, though, paid the price for not converting their first-half domination into goals as Lille scored twice in quick succession at the start of the second half to take the win.

Their first goal came just 60 seconds after the restart, with Rio Mavuba finding Florent Balmont whose pinpoint cross was powered home at the far post by Origi for his second of the season.

Lille's roaring start to the second period continued as Girard's men doubled their lead shortly before the 50-minute mark.

On-loan Liverpool striker Origi turned provider this time round and his pass on the counter found half-time substitute Lopes who coolly sent Dupe the wrong way with a confident finish.

The hosts continued to press and could have added a third when Balmont's powerful drive threatened to sneak inside Dupe's post until the young goalkeeper got down to turn it away for a corner.

The introduction of Lopes at half-time proved to be an inspired move by Girard as the Manchester City loanee continued to taunt the visitors, drawing another smart save from Dupe with an effort from just inside the box before teeing up Idrissa Gueye who was denied yet again by the busy Nantes stopper.

Saint-Etienne beat 10-man Lille

From Sports Mole.  http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/lille/result/result-saint-etienne-beat-10-man-lille_131039.html

Simon Kjaer and Salomon Kalou both had early chances for the visitors, while Florent Balmont had an effort from range which just missed the target. Kalou had a series of chances just before the break, before Renaud Cohade tested the Lille keeper with a 25-yard strike for the home side.

After a quiet start to the second half, Lille continued to create the majority of the chances, but it was Saint-Etienne who broke the deadlock, with Brandao heading in from close range following a Faouzi Ghoulamcross. 

Nolan Roux almost got the visitors back on level terms within two minutes, but his left-footed strike from saved. The hosts were able to double their lead shortly after though, when Romain Hamouma's shot was parried into the path of Franck Tabanou, who was left with an easy finish. 

 The situation got worse in the aftermath of the goal, as Balmont blamed the referee for not spotting a foul in the build up to the goal, earning him a red card. Brandao came close to bagging a brace, testing Vincent Enyeama with a long-range effort, but the Lille keeper was able to make the save late on. The results closes the gap between between the fourth-placed hosts and Lille, who sit third in the table.

Late own goal failed to save Lille from defeat by Stade Reims 2-0

Nicolas De Preville is tackled by Pape Souare

Stade Reims remain steady to win against a dangerous Lille side in the latest round of French Ligue 1. Both sides played a highly physical game but still ended with a scoreless draw in the first half. 

The scores came in the dying minutes of the game. Odair Fortes subbed Gaetan Charbonnier and minutes later the substitute scored an unlikely manner in the 73rd minute.  Djibril Sidibe was trying to clear a threatening ball in the box when his clearance hit the jaw of Odair Fortes.  The bounce however went into the net which goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama failed to save.  Then in the 76th minute, Nicolas De Preville header off Floyd Ayite's corner landed on Grezgorz Khrychowiak who headed the ball at pointblank. 

Lille was about to concede the game when Anthony Weber's own goal in the 88th minute gave them renewed hope to just even score a draw at least. 

It turned out that it was only that far their fortune had taken them to and yield the game. 

Nolan Roux goal brings Lille to victory over FC Nantes

Lille forward Nolan Roux produce the solitary goal in an exciting but almost scoreless game against FC Nantes. 

The break came in the 41st minute when Rony Rodelin's probing cross resulted into a sliding goal by Nolan Roux. Roux, who looks like in an offside position beat his man, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo,  to score in a sliding side volley right in front of the goal. 

Earlier, in the 27th minute, Vincent Bessat almost gave Nantes the lead had he been able to catch a pinpoint cross from Jordan Veretout. 

In the 73rd minute, Lille threatened to pad the lead with Salomon Kalou's header which however went straight to Nantes goalkeeper Remy Riou.  In the 80th minute, it was Lille goal keeper who stand his ground as he deflected two goal potential shots, first, knocking the ball over the head of striker Felip Djordevic and second blocking another side volley of substitute Fernando Aristeguieta. 

Nantes was reduced to ten men after Papy Nilson Djilobodji was sent off on a foul on Salomon Kalou in the 83rd minute. But still Lille failed to capitalize the advantage and was not able to add another goal until the end of the game.