Bruno Genesio slams his Lille players for ‘snoozefest’ draw against Monaco

Bruno Genesio was highly critical of his Lille OSC players, who he accuses of not following his tactical instructions in a goalless draw against AS Monaco at the Stade Louis II on Friday night. 

LOSC played negatively and camped inside their own half, and that didn’t change, even after Jordan Teze’s red card on the hour mark meant that they were facing a 10-man Monaco for 30 minutes. In a post-match press conference, attended by Get French Football News, Genesio did not mince his words. 

“We provided a real snoozefest for the fans tonight. We saved a point because Lucas (Chevalier) saved us again. It was massively insufficient given what we had planned to do. It’s not a side to my team that I want to see. Sometimes, there are defeats that are more encouraging than this draw,” he began.

“What was encouraging? Nothing. Nothing. We didn’t do what we planned to do. We contained this Monaco team, even if they had a big chance (through Denis Zakaria) at the end. Absentees can’t be an excuse. We have to do better, a lot, lot better. We seemed happy to play out a 0-0,” he added.

Genesio accuses his Lille players of not following tactical instructions

“We didn’t do what we planned to do and that is what angers me the most. In terms of winning the ball back, we did the opposite of what we had planned to do. But it was not the same match as against Saint-Étienne (where Lille lost 1-0 in September). We created chances against ASSE. We did nothing today. We were happy to be in our own half and give the ball to Monaco, and give them the means to do what they like to do,” said Genesio.

“When you know that Monaco press massively when they lose the ball, when [I ask my team] to play on the wings, quicker, switch the play but instead we play the ball in the middle with little 20cm passes, sideways passes, and we are countered on once, then twice, either I don’t speak the right language, or we’re stupid,” he concluded. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Monaco