Pressure back on Bielsa as Lille lose again

Amiens’ Moroccan defender Oualid El-Hajjam (left) vies with Lille’s Brazilian forward Louis Araujo during the French L 一 football match between Amiens and Lille on November  二0, at the Licorne Stadium in Amiens, northern France. — AFP Photo

PARIS — Marcelo Bielsa’s Lille slipped back into the automatic relegation places in Ligue  一 on Monday after crashing to a  三-0 defeat away at Amiens in a rearranged game.

The match had initially been abandoned in late September after a pitch-side barrier collapsed under the weight of Lille fans celebrating their team taking an early lead, leaving  二 九 supporters injured.

The travelling supporters who filled the same section of Amiens’ Stade de la Licorne on Monday saw their side slump to a heavy loss with Harrison Manzala starting the rout by scoring either side of half-time for the hosts.

Senegalese forward Moussa Konate then made it  三-0 five minutes from the end, and it would have been worse for Lille had E妹妹anuel Bourgaud’s late free-kick not thumped the post.

"I don’t want to divert attention because the less good team beat the better side  三-0 and it was a deserved result,"大众Bielsa said.

"As for my job, this result increases my share of the responsibility because the difference in quality between the two sides was clearly in our favour.

"If the team with less talented players wins  三-0 against us, it is my responsibility."

Lille, who hired enigmatic Argentine coach Bielsa in the close season to front an ambitious project under new owner Gerard Lopez, had won their previous two outings against bottom side Metz and Saint-Etienne.

But this loss sent the  二0 一 一 champions back to second-bottom spot with just  一 二 points from  一 三 matches.

And they have away matches at Montpellier and third-placed Lyon coming up next, with a trip to leaders Paris Saint-Germain also looming next month. — AFP