Ligue 1 2021/22: Triumph in transition – how long-time Lyon assistant Baticle fashioned his former side’s defeat to Angers – tactical analysis

This past weekend, Gérald Baticle claimed the biggest scalp yet of his young tenure in charge of Angers as he guided Le SCO to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Olympique Lyon. Baticle arrived at Stade Raymond Kopa this summer, having spent the previous 10 years at Lyon, serving as Les Gones’ assistant manager for a decade before his summer departure and Sunday’s face-off with his now-former club.

Following his side’s victory, Baticle declared that their performance was “what [they] had set up” and prepared in training ahead of the fixture, stating that he was “not surprised” by “the intentions” and “animations” his team produced to dismantle Lyon, who finished 32 points and nine places above Le SCO in France’s top-flight last season.

Sunday’s 3-0 victory leaves Angers top of Ligue 1 after game week two. They’ve accumulated six points from a possible six and an impressive goal difference of five, scoring five thus far and conceding nothing. While it’s early days, it’s clear that Baticle has got off to a flying start at his new home, with the Angers squad taking to his ideas quickly.

Peter Bosz, on the other hand, who moved to Lyon in May after being dismissed by German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen earlier this year, still awaits his first competitive win at Lyon, who have undoubtedly been weakened this summer, losing Melvin Bard and Jean Lucas to Ligue 1 rivals Nice and Monaco, respectively, and perhaps most significantly, Memphis Depay who joined La Liga giants Barcelona.

In this tactical analysis piece, we’ll provide analysis of one key aspect, in particular, to Baticle’s tactics on Sunday which led his Angers side to victory over Lyon  their dominance in the transition phases. We’ll look at how Angers’ control over transitions played arguably the most important part of all in their dismantling of Les Gones.

Lineups and formations

To kick off this analysis piece, we’ll quickly look at the personnel who took to the field for both sides in Sunday’s fixture. Starting with the eventual winners, Angers, the home side lined up in a base 3-4-1-2 shape for this game. Their starting XI looked like:

Paul Bernardoni (GK), Vincent Manceau (RCB), Ismaël Traoré (CB), Romain Thomas (LCB), Jimmy Cabot (RWB), Souleyman Doumbia (LWB), Batista Mendy (RCM), Thomas Mangani (LCM), Sofiane Boufal (AM), Angelo Fulgini (RCF), Mohamed-Ali Cho (LCF).

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