This Sunday afternoon, on the occasion of the second day of Ligue 1, the Greens of Saint-Etienne logically got the better of FC Lorient (2-0). Romain Hamouma, author of a sublime double, was the great guy of this first successful for ASSE.
Ligue 1 – 2nd Journe
 Saint Etienne |
2 – 01 – 0 |
Lorient  |
| R. Hamouma 19 ‘ R. Hamouma 51 ‘ |
For the return to their Cauldron, the Greens took a few minutes to get into the game, hampered by the Bretons without complex. The first banderilla of the meeting was also to the credit of visitors. Unchecked in force, with the right foot, by Adrian Grbic, she did not catch the frame of Jessy Moulin (6th). Over the next few minutes, the game was mostly concentrated in the midfield, where duels raged. On one of them, Vincent Le Goff flirted with the correctional, showing himself guilty of a huge sole on Mahdi Camara (17th). Very lenient, the referee of the game reported a fault, without more, enough to provoke the legitimate anger of Claude Puel. But the Loire technician quickly found a smile thanks to his players. Following a kicked corner from the right by Quentin Bosigard, Jessy Moulin grabbed the leather and immediately relaunched, with his hand, on Arnaud Nordi, who left in the left lane. After a good individual effort, the Forézien winger reversed the game to the right, on Romain Hamouma.
Romain Hamouma’s cannon shot!
The result was sumptuous: after having transplanted in the axis, the number 21 of the Greens sent a strike from the left into the skylight of Paul Nardi (1-0, 19th). In front of the scoreboard, Wesley Fofana’s teammates did not stop there and, after half an hour of play, were very close to making the break. Fortunately for Lorient, Paul Nardi put out an exceptional save, with his leg, on a shot released by Yvan Neyou from 20 meters (31st). Decisive in his goal, the FCL goalkeeper was imitated a few seconds later by his Saint Etienne counterpart, author of a simply decisive outing in the feet of Yoane Wissa (32nd). The pace of the game then decreased by a tone … until a new decisive intervention from the last rampart in Lorient, on a heavy strike from the left unchecked by Adil Aouchiche (45th + 1).
See also: The film of Saint-Etienne – Lorient
When they returned from the locker room, the Greens left on the same basis and very quickly took a break. After a high recovery from Timothée Kolodziejczak, Arnaud Nordin fixed the defense then shifted Romain Hamouma to the left at the entrance to the area. From a curled right foot, which took Paul Nardi on the wrong foot, the Loire striker offered himself the double (2-0, 51st). Masters of their subject, the men of Claude Puel then had the balloons to definitively end all suspense. But neither Mahdi Camara, too personal in his action (54th), nor Arnaud Nordin, a few moments later, managed to be effective. Serene and little worried, the Ligériens then had the pleasure to see Kévin Monnet-Paquet return to competition.
An FCL without a solution
As a symbol, 560 days after his last appearance on the field, “KMP” replaced the double scorer of the day, released to the cheers of the public (71st). Maxence Rivera and Yann M’Vila were launched at the same time and the small striker quickly showed himself to his advantage with several brilliant actions. Until the final whistle, the Greens quietly managed against Lorient, totally stunned by the second goal scored shortly after the restart. The Merlus, who had overthrown Strasbourg last Sunday (3-1), therefore experience their first setback of the exercise, which does not suffer from any dispute. Because the men of Forez, solid, applied and attractive, did not miss their first outing in this 2020-2021 season of Ligue 1. At the end of a fairly convincing overall performance, they glean a first well deserved success and rather hopeful for the future.