This is amazing. You're doing a very good job with this team.
Could you please give us your instructions ?
I use a similar tactic with the same club and I don't have the same results.
The day before my final game of the month we were dealt with more injury woes as Idrissa Gueye picked an injury up in training.
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So, at home to Caen to end the month. It's been a perfect month so far and we want to end it with another win.
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That's a reality check and a half! A controversial penalty and a dubious offside goal sneak Caen the win. We went for it at the end and when Roux went off injured I knew it wasn't our day. We'll pick ourselves up from this and move on, hopefully just a minor slip up.
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October turned out to be a very impressive month with massive wins over PSG, Marseille and Liverpool. The defeat to Caen at the end of the month put a downer on it but it's still a very positive month and we're moving in the right direction.
It's nice to see Ryan Mendes da Graca get some recognition for a very impressive month.
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We are top of our Champions League group at the halfway stage, we're almost guaranteed at least a Europa League spot so it's been a very successful campaign so far.
Now a recap of our results this month;
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Our fixtures for November start tough with trips to Monaco and Liverpool. We also play rivals Lyon as we look to keep up our title challenge in Ligue 1.
What a match! A last minute equaliser from Nolan Roux rescued a point for us. We were 1-0 down, then 2-1 up, then 3-2 down so it was a real classic! I would've taken a point before kick-off so I'm not too upset.
We travel to Anfield with a chance to secure qualification if we get a result. We beat them at home so we're hopeful of getting something here.
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A fantastic comeback by the lads! 2-0 down at half time and not in the game at all, we turned the game on it's head in the second half with particular praise going to Jonathan Delaplace. He was superb and he ran the show from midfield in the second half.
View attachment 291692 Vincent Enyeama came out in the media and praised my half-time team talk. I told them I wanted a major improvement in the second half and I'm so glad they responded as they did.
This result also means that we, of course, qualify for the knock-out rounds. Quite an unbelievable feat as we win 4 out of 4 games so far. We've done well to even get this far and to advance with a 100% record including battering Bayern and beating Liverpool home and away is nothing short of astonishing.
Another own goal goes in our favour as we convincingly beat Nice. A routine victory and not much to say about this one.
View attachment 291688 Rio Mavuba was the stand out player in this one. He's the engine room in our midfield and is so reliable and consistent - a true leader of men.
Another victory as we're starting to pick up a bit of consistency. Roux and Ibe the goalscorers on this occasion against an under performing Lyon side. We dominated the game and left it late to secure the win but all in all a well deserved 3 points.
View attachment 291679 Ibe gets the plaudits from the media in this one. He's been a fantastic loan signing, I just hope we can extend it or sign him permanently in the summer!
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Back to Champions League action now and as we've already secured qualification, it was all about securing top spot to (hopefully) get a kinder draw in the knock-out stages.
Another win and our first clean sheet of the group stage! A comfortable victory against a Shakhtar side who are still yet to pick up a point. I'm surprised at the ease we managed to brush them aside here. Marion and Roux scoring the goals this time to continue a fine competition for both players.
View attachment 291676 Simon Kjaer picked up the man of the match award in this one as he was dominant at the back.
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We face a trip to struggling Evian next, hoping to keep up this momentum we currently have and keep pace at the top of the league.
Another routine victory and another 2-0! That scoreline is becoming a habit for this team as our defence is really on a strong run of form in particular. We're always a threat going forward so as long as our defence can keep the opposition attack out we're going to win a majority of our games.
I was praising the defence and this time it's Corchia's turn to get some attention for his performance. Him and Beria are the regular full backs and rarely miss a game. Corchia has been in fine form with his rampaging runs down the wing, joining in attacks - plus he's very good defensively! It won't be long before he starts turning heads of the big teams in Europe.
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November has been a very good month for us. We've won every game apart from that 3-3 draw with Monaco at the start of the month, and we've qualified from our group which is remarkable!
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Despite our success, we still sit 1 point behind Marseille. Them and PSG have been just as relentless as us, and it's looking like being a 3-horse race at this early stage in the season.
Roux is 3 goals ahead of Gignac as top scorer. Roux, Ibe and Corchia are the top 3 average ratings in the league so it's all looking rosy for Lille at the moment.
I'm pleased for Ibe to come 3rd but I do wonder what one of our players has to do to win this award!
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We've won the group as a result of Liverpool's win against Bayern which means we can rest players for our trip to Munich. It's been an extraordinary Champions League campaign and I look forward to the draw for the knock-out rounds.
Here's a recap of our results this month and a look ahead to Decembers fixtures;
We kick off our December schedule with a home game against Lorient. With the winter break in a few weeks we want to go into it within touching distance of the top so winning is the only acceptable result here.
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Horrific. A shock defeat at home which ends our good run. Maybe we were over-confident and assumed we'd win - I don't know but we had enough chances to win! A rare bad day in front of goal and our defence weren't up to their usual standards. We need to move on from this defeat, and fast.
A few days before our trip to Metz we hired a new, experienced coach...
View attachment 291650 Your Mulder becomes the second ex-Dutch international added to our coaching staff. I feel he will add great experience and insight to the team and brings us up to our limit on coaches. During the summer I will probably replace some I don't feel are quite up to scratch at the club in an attempt to get the best coaching staff possible.
Without doubt our worst performance in my time as manager here. We couldn't break them down again and missed so many chances. Defensively every shot seems to be going in at the moment and we're really losing a grip at the top of the league. Before this game Metz were bottom with only one win to their name! Some serious improvement needed as we travel to the Allianz in mid-week.
As expected we were completely outplayed by Bayern. Considering our last two results against Lorient and Metz I wasn't too confident going into this game. I rested a few players as we'd already won the group and we couldn't get near them today. Maybe this is what we needed going into the knock-out rounds as it showed us Europe's elite at their best - this is what we've got to aspire to.
As you can see, not many Lille players in the goal or average rating department. Marvin Martin has got the joint most assists in the competition though.
Home to Montpellier up next as we need to address our worrying run of form. 3 defeats in a row without a goal scored, massive improvements were needed - and fast!
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It's an improvement but still not good enough. These are the kinds of games we need to be winning if we are to seriously challenge for the Ligue 1 title. I'm happy that we managed to score a couple, and pleased for Roux to end his mini-drought but it's still not good enough I'm afraid.
Corchia was the best player on the pitch, but I wish it had been one of my attacking players. He's been one of our stand out players this season and I'm convinced he's destined for the top - hopefully with Lille!
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We kick off our Coupe de la Ligue campaign with an away tie to Arles from Ligue 2. We expect a win here to progress to the next round.
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A straight forward victory as we're back to winning ways finally. Origi and Martin the goalscorers in a routine victory - onto the next round...
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I'm very happy to Michael Frey to pick up man of the match here as he's been playing third fiddle to Roux and Origi and has barely had a look in all season. A performance like this could see him get more playing time.
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Next up is the Derby du Nord in Ligue 1! A mouthwatering tie, but before that we have the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League.
View attachment 291614 Schalke will be our opponents. I'm quite content with that, they're a very good side but it could've been a lot more difficult. We have a chance to progress to the quarter finals, which would be amazing for this side!
What a result! Simon Kjaer got sent off early on but you couldn't tell which team had the 10 men as we absolutely outplayed our local rivals. Roux was back to his goalscoring best with another 2 goals as he was a constant threat to their defence all game.
December wasn't a great month for us. Back to back league defeats but we progressed in the cups so it wasn't all bad. We need to return from the winter break in better form!
I forgot to take a screenshot of the league table (just as well considering our form) and the fixtures ahead in January.
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It comes as no surprise to see that we had no players in the running this month...
View attachment 291604 Florent Balmont did however pick up an injury in training. It's a blow for our upcoming games.
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