After being criticised by Paulo Fonseca at a press conference and left on the bench by his manager at kick-off against Lorient (2-0) on Sunday in Ligue 1, Endrick got the message. The Olympique Lyonnais striker turned the match around within eleven minutes of the second-half restart.
A response full of pride. Having made an immediate impact at Olympique Lyonnais, Endrick had been struggling in recent weeks, mirroring his team’s form, which had seen them go nine games without a win ahead of Sunday’s Ligue 1 home match against Lorient (2-0).
The striker, on loan from Real Madrid for the second half of the season, was given a dressing-down by his manager Paulo Fonseca on Friday and started the match on the bench. But faced with the lacklustre attacking display from his teammates, the Brazilian came on at half-time and turned everything around.
Involved in two goals in 11 minutes
Clearly very unhappy with his team’s first 45 minutes against Les Merlus, the Lyon manager made three changes at half-time. The substitutes made a decisive impact, whether it was Orel Mangala and Corentin Tolisso (scorer of the second goal) in midfield, or Endrick up front. The Auriverde made his intentions clear from the 20th second of the second half by outpacing his marker, something no one had managed throughout the entire first half.
Three minutes later, following a long ball from Tolisso, the 19-year-old striker delivered a perfect cross for Roman Yaremchuk’s winning header, moments before setting up his captain’s goal after Yvon Mvogo had saved his shot. Involved in both of Lyon’s goals scored within eleven minutes, Endrick, rated 7.5/10 by the Maxifoot editorial team (see Debrief and Ratings here), delivered the perfect response to the deliberate dig from Fonseca.
A strategy that paid off
“I’m not satisfied with Endrick’s performance,” the Portuguese manager admitted at Friday’s press conference. “I’m not here to criticise, but I expect more from a player like him. He has a duty to do more; we need it. He needs to be more available. He’s marked very closely by opponents, but it’s always been like that. He needs to do more to be a solution for the team; he needs to work harder on that,” he had insisted, seeking to provoke his player.
The tactic worked: “As a coach, we have to come up with strategies to get a reaction from the players, and that’s what I did. We had a chat to get a reaction from a player who’s important to us and who needs to do more. I think he came on well and gave us the reaction we needed. It was positive,” said Fonseca. If OL are to pull off a result against Paris Saint-Germain next Sunday to stay in the race for the Champions League, they will need Endrick to be on top form.
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