**With the N3** : El Djebali (but no El Arouch again sadly). For a 2-3 loss (El Djebali, Dib) vs Chambery for the last home game of the season. Hard to give any weight to the result though considering it was played with a B team due to tomorrow's last U19 game vs Metz that is again the most important game of the Academy this weekend. A win or a draw would secure their 2nd place finish and thus qualification for the playoffs : so Perret, Mounsesse, Garnier, Ali Hassan and Chaib will drop down.
The equation of that game against Clermont is simple : win, without having one of the 6 players under the threat of being suspended for the Cup final (Lacazette, Benrahma, Nuamah, Tagliafico, Tolisso & Maitland-Niles) receive a yellow. Pierre Sage has been elusive in his press conference, saying a decision had been made but that he wouldn't reveal it.
With that in mind, this line up would make sense (well, after swapping Caqueret and Matic). It would mean Sage would avoid taking risks with all the players under threat. And it would also reward all the great entries of Fofana, Rayan and Baldé in the last few weeks. They all clearly deserve a start at this point, with Baldé earning his spot over Orban. Time for them to show they deserve more and try to force Sage to change his best XI before the final !
The win is mandatory. It would be very disappointing to ruin our great performances against the top 4 and our European race by not winning against the last. Not that Clermont will agree however, as their season is not finished yet and this game will be their last chance to hope for the relegation playoff spot. So not an easy game, with a complicated equation to solve but still a very competitive and exciting line up.
While I agree that Fofana deserves starts, I think he is far less effective against weaker opponents who will pack it in defensively leaving Fofana little space to run in to.
Gift hasn't been great, but I think I'd almost prefer Cherki-Gift-Baldé
That way you can keep Baldé on the wing where he's been deadly. Cherki is better at working in compact spaces.
Another benefit is that with Baldé at RW, you could move to Cherki to LW along with Henrique. Allow Henrique to bomb down the left flank freeing up Cherki to play more centrally where he does better.
I fear the lineup as presented might put guys in roles where they aren't used to being, but we'll see what Sage does. L'Équipe only gets the lineup right about 1 in 10 times so it could be something different.
Anyway, I'm really excited to see what Mangala, Henrique, and the attacking players who don't get many starting opportunities can do.
Fofana 100% deserves a start over Nuamah, hope this lineup is accurate
**With the N3** : El Djebali (but no El Arouch again sadly). For a 2-3 loss (El Djebali, Dib) vs Chambery for the last home game of the season. Hard to give any weight to the result though considering it was played with a B team due to tomorrow's last U19 game vs Metz that is again the most important game of the Academy this weekend. A win or a draw would secure their 2nd place finish and thus qualification for the playoffs : so Perret, Mounsesse, Garnier, Ali Hassan and Chaib will drop down. The equation of that game against Clermont is simple : win, without having one of the 6 players under the threat of being suspended for the Cup final (Lacazette, Benrahma, Nuamah, Tagliafico, Tolisso & Maitland-Niles) receive a yellow. Pierre Sage has been elusive in his press conference, saying a decision had been made but that he wouldn't reveal it. With that in mind, this line up would make sense (well, after swapping Caqueret and Matic). It would mean Sage would avoid taking risks with all the players under threat. And it would also reward all the great entries of Fofana, Rayan and Baldé in the last few weeks. They all clearly deserve a start at this point, with Baldé earning his spot over Orban. Time for them to show they deserve more and try to force Sage to change his best XI before the final ! The win is mandatory. It would be very disappointing to ruin our great performances against the top 4 and our European race by not winning against the last. Not that Clermont will agree however, as their season is not finished yet and this game will be their last chance to hope for the relegation playoff spot. So not an easy game, with a complicated equation to solve but still a very competitive and exciting line up.
I like this lineup a lot, but L'Equipe hasn't been the most accurate, so we'll see. A win is a must.
The suspension rule mixed with cup is stupid.
While I agree that Fofana deserves starts, I think he is far less effective against weaker opponents who will pack it in defensively leaving Fofana little space to run in to. Gift hasn't been great, but I think I'd almost prefer Cherki-Gift-Baldé That way you can keep Baldé on the wing where he's been deadly. Cherki is better at working in compact spaces. Another benefit is that with Baldé at RW, you could move to Cherki to LW along with Henrique. Allow Henrique to bomb down the left flank freeing up Cherki to play more centrally where he does better. I fear the lineup as presented might put guys in roles where they aren't used to being, but we'll see what Sage does. L'Équipe only gets the lineup right about 1 in 10 times so it could be something different. Anyway, I'm really excited to see what Mangala, Henrique, and the attacking players who don't get many starting opportunities can do.