Garde blasts Lyon players

Lyon head coach Remi Garde has slammed his team’s performance after they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Lille in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

The loss was their second in a row and has left Lyon six points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

And Garde labelled his side’s efforts as ‘awful’ at times.

“I think we felt down against a very good team in Lille,” Garde said.

“They showed a few weeks ago at Parc des Princes that they were back to their best when they played PSG.

“Today we underperformed as a team particularly in the first half where we were awful.”

Garde questioned his players’ commitment and admitted he was struggling to explain the loss.

“Obviously Lille deserve some credit for making it hard for us, but my team did not show all the commitment I would expect from them. Tonight we were deservedly punished by a very good team,” he said.

“I am very disappointed tonight. The lack of energy and effort which the players have shown is very disappointing.

“We showed too much weakness compared to the team that Lille had out on the pitch. I am struggling to explain our performance and this result, especially at home.

“We were lacking in determination which was very sad. However Lille fully deserved their win, they were stronger than us tonight. I am annoyed because I know my team underperformed against a good team.”

Lyon fielded a team that consisted of a lot of young players against Lille, but Garde refused to use that as an excuse.

“I think the team were lacking in experience tonight. We used a lot of players from our academy and obviously that can be an advantage sometimes,” Garde said.

“However tonight it was tough because they were inexperienced. We needed some older players on the pitch tonight but both younger and older players let us down tonight. Nothing worked for us on the pitch and we were poor.”