Garde laments lack of luck

Lyon coach Remi Garde refused to criticise his attackers despite their failure to score once again in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

Neither Lyon nor Montpellier were able to find the net at the Stade de Gerland, leaving Lyon sixth after a second straight 0-0 draw.

But Garde was pleased with his team’s performance and felt it was just one of those days for his attackers.

“I was pleased that we were defensively solid but that that didn’t stop us from playing good football,” he said.

“We were just lacking a break in front of goal, maybe a bit of lucidity at the end of the match, but I can’t overly criticise the strikers.

“I would have done had they not created chances, but Montpellier were trembling right until the last second. It just wouldn’t go in for us today.

“We caused problems to a Montpellier side who are one of the form teams in the division at the moment.”

Montpellier coach Rolland Courbis was surprised by Lyon’s performance just days after their UEFA Europa League win over Chornomorets.

He believes his side, who sit 11th having drawn 15 of 27 league games, were well below their best as they extended their unbeaten Ligue 1 run to nine matches.

“I wasn’t expecting Lyon to play as well as that after the week they have had so hats off to them,” Courbis said.

“I was hoping for better from us and that we would take advantage of the fact that Lyon played on Thursday in the Europa League.

“Individually and collectively we only played to 50 percent of our maximum potential. I know what we are capable of doing and we can do better than we did today.

“We had few chances while some of those we gave away were avoidable.

“The result reflects what was an average performance from us – offensively and defensively.”