“Still relatively early doors”: Why Lyon are behind their rivals in the D1F title hunt – scout report

As the men’s domestic game swings back into action, following the completion of the World Cup, the majority of leagues in the women’s game are taking a well-deserved winter break. As a result, fans of each one will have ample time to sit back over the festive period and reflect on how each of the teams has been getting on, drawing their own conclusions on what has already taken place and what could still happen once matches resume.

One division that will be worth keeping an eye on in the new year will be the Division 1 Féminine (D1F), which went into the break with Lyon Féminin and PSG Féminine once again locking horns at the top of the table, but with PSG leading their rivals by a point. As a result, Lyon, who have looked off the pace in recent games, will have ground to make up in order to have any chance of sealing a 16^th league title, and this tactical analysis will look in greater detail at their most recent performances to see where they have been going wrong and what needs improving as they look to overtake the team from the capital.

Passing

The first aspect of Lyon Féminin’s play that this scout report will focus on is their passing, which is always an essential part of any team’s game plans. However, Sonia Bompastor’s side have not been moving the ball around with as much accuracy as they normally do, which has led to some of their performances looking laboured.

Here, they are on the attack and have made their way into PSG’s third, with their front three shape clear to see. They now have space to pick their pass and create a goalscoring opportunity, with striker Melvine Malard in control of the ball and with options on either side of her. However, in her attempt to find winger Delphine Cascarino, in the yellow circle, she ends up putting too much on the pass, allowing France left-back Sakina Karchaoui to track the ball and clear it from danger.

What went wrong here is up for debate, with some likely to see it as Cascarino needing to get further forward in order to have a better chance of receiving the pass, whilst others will look at Malard and will say that she released the ball too early and didn’t give her teammate a chance of beating Karchaoui to it, and others still will argue that Malard needed to send the ball towards the far side of the pitch instead.