Pressure back on Bielsa as Lille lose again
PARIS: Marcelo Bielsa’s Lille slipped back into the automatic relegation places in Ligue 1 on Monday after crashing to a 30 defeat away at Amiens in a rearranged game.
The match had initially been abandoned in late September after a pitch-side barrier collapsed under the weight of Lille fans celebrating their team taking an early lead, leaving 29 supporters injured.
The travelling supporters who filled the same section of Amiens’ Stade de la Licorne on Monday saw their side slump to a heavy loss with Harrison Manzala starting the rout by scoring either side of half-time for the hosts.
Senegalese forward Moussa Konate then made it 3-0 five minutes from the end, and it would have been worse for Lille had Emmanuel Bourgaud’s late free-kick not thumped the post.
“I don’t want to divert attention because the less good team beat the better side 3-0 and it was a deserved result,” Bielsa said.
“As for my job, this result increases my share of the responsibility because the difference in quality between the two sides was clearly in our favour.
“If the team with less talented players wins 3-0 against us, it is my responsibility.”
Lille, who hired enigmatic Argentine coach Bielsa in the close season to front an ambitious project under new owner Gerard Lopez, had won their previous two outings against bottom side Metz and Saint-Etienne.
But this loss sent the 2011 champions back to secondbottom spot with just 12 points from 13 matches.
And they have away matches at Montpellier and third-placed Lyon coming up next, with a trip to leaders Paris SaintGermain also looming next month. – AFP