Game Week 18 in the French top flight ended with all its excitement and flair, bringing good news for some teams while it was a week to forget for few sides in the Ligue 1
With Paris Saint-Germain returning to the summit after registering a hard-fought win over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 at Parc des Princes, and Marseille winning away from home, things have become really interested in the league. Defending champions, Montpellier Herault
also showed that they are still a force to reckon in France with a 4-0 win at home.
The likes of Lorient FC, OGC Nice and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Stade-Rennais-FC-c40612 continued their impressive run in the league. However, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne and 2010/2011 champions of France, LOSC Lille, failed to claim victories in the Game Week 18 that saw them drop down the
table.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lille-OSC-c39800 were held to a 1-1 draw against newly promoted side, Stade de Reims away from home, and the result has put coach, Rudi Garcia, in foul mood, who was expecting more from the club from Northern France.
Les Dogues have failed to perform well this season and after finishing third in the previous Ligue 1 campaign, more was expected from Lille this time around. However, Remi Garde’s side has failed to deliver this season, both in Ligue 1 and in Europe as well.
The Champions League campaign ended on a sour note for the 2010/2011 champions of France and their domestic form has been a case of ups and downs.
After exiting the European competition, it was expected that the Northern http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 club would get back to winning ways. And Lille did just that at first, but their form has been really inconsistent lately, and that has been very annoying for the club coach.
Rudi Garcia, while talking to reporters after the Reims game, said that it was a very poor performance from his side and he is unable to explain why Lille played like that out there. The boss said that players were playing like it was a friendly game in
the first half and is of the view that LOSC were lucky to return with at least a point.
“It seemed as though we were playing a friendly match in the first half. There was no fight, no aggression. We were second to everything. It is hard to explain our first half showing given how we played against Sochaux and against Toulouse, in terms of effort
and aggression.”
Talking about Lille’s hectic schedule this season, Garcia said that the players have played a lot of games in very short span of time and it is not easy to cope with all that. However, the boss knows that Les Dogues need to start winning if they want to
climb up the table and has urged the players to play with more consistency in the future.
“I am not forgetting that we have played nine matches in 27 days. Some of the players had heavy legs. If we don't win, we will not advance up the table."
Stade de Reims coach, Hubert Fournier, lamented his side’s failure to claim maximum points out of the game and feels that poor finishing let Reims down. However, the boss is talking positives from the match despite the defeat.
“I am disappointed because we could have won the game. We just lacked a finishing touch at times. That is my regret.”
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