At the OL training center,
His juggles with his left paw and his shot into the right corner of an empty goal take us back for a moment to his playing career, and obviously to this final decisive shot on goal scored against Fabien Barthez, in the final of the 2006 World Cup. Behind his group of 24 players, Friday in Décines, Fabio Grosso must have a lot of thoughts racing through his head, while one of his assistants directs the first part of training , the one open to the press. Because the Italian coach knows he is in turmoil, only six weeks after joining the bench of Olympique Lyonnais. His accounting impact in Ligue 1 has in fact so far been non-existent (1 point taken out of 12), and he has just experienced a trying week, before challenging OM on Sunday (8:45 p.m.) at the Vélodrome. Since Tuesday, there has finally been less talk of OL’s alarming last place in the quarter of the championship (with 3 points and no success) than of the quest for “moles” (who would exchange with Jérôme Rothen) in the Lyon locker room, and a training canceled at the last minute by Fabio Grosso, as a lesson given to his group.
The reigning Serie B champion with Frosinone returned on Friday to the tense exchange that took place with his players three days earlier: “People who know me very well know that I work with a lot of passion, loyalty, consistency and credibility. The locker room is something sacred, it is the place where we build our future and nothing should come of it. So I didn’t like what happened, the players understood me well. The most important thing is to know the direction I want to go and to take it together.” The key is undoubtedly there, as the former left side of OL (from 2007 to 2009) seems isolated in Lyon, without a sporting director to go to the front on the “molegate”, and above all without the slightest electroshock observed on his players since he took over from Laurent Blanc.
“Very modern game ideas, like De Zerbi”
“The coach arrived with a lot of desire, after having done great things as a player at OL, still wanted to defend the Brazilian full-back Henrique Silva. He loves the club, he’s an example for us. He takes time with all the players to explain his expectations. » Finally, despite his valuable stint at the end of Grand Lyon’s reign in the 2000s, does Fabio Grosso (45) have the profile for a perilous rescue mission in a club the size of OL? His debut on the sidelines took place from 2014 to 2017 with the Juventus U19s, with whom he notably eliminated OL of Houssem Aouar in the Youth League at the end of 2016.
“I immediately saw in Fabio a European coach more than an Italian one, with very modern playing ideas, like Roberto De Zerbi,” says Nicola Bindajournalist at the Gazzetta dello Sport, who has regularly interviewed the person concerned for almost ten years. For his first professional experience, in 2017-2018 in Bari (7th in Serie B), the native of Rome shows great tactical promise, with a 4-3-3 often transforming into 3-5-2 or 3-4 -3. Fifth in Serie B the following season with Hellas Verona, he took a big slap in November 2019, for his only experience, before OL, in the elite of a major championship, with Brescia. In just three games (three heavy defeats), he was sacked by Massimo Cellino, “the crazy ex-president of Brescia” (dixit Nicola Binda).
“He makes his players perfectly understand what he wants”
If the results are mixed, Fabio Grosso’s style of play and management obtain the support of most of his players. The Italian Leandro Greco, who knew him in Bari, explains: “He knows how to stimulate the players and help them progress. Fabio is a clear and direct coach, he makes his players understand perfectly what he wants and there has never been a problem in the group with him.” Same story for French defender Samuel Souprayen, who worked with him for two months in Verona before heading to Auxerre. “His pre-season preparation in the mountains was tough, with double sessions,” remembers the 34-year-old. But he quickly focused the training sessions on the game and possession of the ball, it was very nice. »
This touches on one of the main alleged grievances against the new Lyon coach. Was the Lolo White-Grosso shift too brutal on the physical intensity of the sessions scheduled at Décines? Now at Melbourne City, Samuel Souprayen returns to the alleged difficulties of a group managed by the 2006 world champion in accepting such an increase in workload: “The work culture is certainly different when you set foot abroad, but I have never worked as hard in my career as with Jean-Marc Furlan in Auxerre.” When we see the glaring physical deficiencies displayed from the start of the season, we readily understand that Fabio Grosso tried to make up for lost time.
“I felt he was a little “fake” in his explanations”
After eight days of Ligue 1, the LFP revealed the statistics of the distances covered on average per match. The result is clear: OL are (here too) dead last, with 113.4 km for the whole team, very far from RC Lens (122 km), leader in this ranking. According to our information, there is no real Grosso subject for OL’s senior players, who willingly accept these demanding training sessions (having caused vomiting in some). No, the real reviews collected by 20 minutes against Fabio Grosso concern his previous experience outside Italy, in Sion (Swiss D1), in 2020-2021. A former FC Sion player that season, wishing to speak anonymously, confides.
When I just arrived at Sion and was supposed to be a starter, Fabio Grosso signed before the start of the championship and he pushed to recruit another player in my position. I felt he was a little “fake” in his explanations to me. And when he decided that I would no longer train with the first team, he preferred to send someone to inform me…”
Our interlocutor therefore champed at the bit with the reserve, before establishing himself with the first team after the dismissal of Fabio Grosso in March 2021, when the club was penultimate. A twist of fate which will turn into a godsend, since Alessandro Nesta is at the same time dismissed by Frosinone (Serie B). From March 2021 to June 2023, Fabio Grosso becomes the architect of a team now promoted to Serie A. “The players were excited by his attacking football and some quickly grew up with him like Frederico Gatti (Juventus) and Daniel Boloca (Sassuolo ), specifies Nicola Binda. He immediately presented them as top players as they arrived from the amateur world. »
Already twenty players have had their chance in the starting lineup with him
The environment of Frosinone, a little-known club, geographically stuck between Rome and Naples, changes the old side. Described by Nicola Binda as “a little afraid of the media” during his first experience in Bari, he became “more open” in Frosinone. Open, Fabio Grosso is especially so in Lyon in the choice of his men, with no less than 20 different starters launched in four matches, including the big firsts in Ligue 1 for the young Skelly Alvero (21 years old) and Mahamadou Diawara (18 years). With in passing decisions that call attention to, such as that of hastening the return from injury of Dejan Lovren very far from his spring level, or that of sanctioning the Argentinian Nicolas Tagliafico against Clermont, while he had benefited from A day off to attend the Pumas semi-final of the Rugby World Cup at the Stade de France.
“He’s a good coach, who tries to make his team play the ball well, but humanly he’s not great,” said the former FC Sion player, wishing to remain anonymous. When we see how he puts himself in a boss position in relation to Rayan Cherki, while Thierry Henry on the contrary does everything to put him in confidence with the Espoirs…” If it divides observers and supporters, the Rayan Cherki case crystallizes everything likewise the doubts about the management of Fabio Grosso, who only had one season of full success in the coach’s suit. However, his predecessor Laurent Blanc had (at least) been able to make his young attacking midfielder influential, then more fulfilled within a group where creativity was so lacking.
“If OL is doing badly, it’s not their fault”
“Fabio never looks at a player’s career but just his quality,” assures Nicola Binda. He’s not crazy, he won’t do without his good players. He just wants to be able to work with guys who buy into his vision of football. As he always said in Italy, he rewards those who train hard. » An implacable logic, like that which pushes Fabio Grosso to finally get his group up in the rankings by the next international break (three matches in Marseille, against Metz and in Rennes), under penalty of being threatened.
“If OL is doing badly, it’s not their fault,” says Samuel Souprayen, who grew up in the Lyon region. It’s not easy to take such a big club when he’s deeply ill. » OL have not won a single official match for five months, and Fabio Grosso is clearly not the first person responsible for such a sporting disaster. “Fabio needs time, time, time,” insists Nicola Binda. His work cannot pay off immediately because his players need to understand his methods. It was only at Frosinone that we gave him time to build a team with a great mentality, and it ended with this promotion to Serie A.” Not sure that John Textor would sign, this Olympico weekend, for a return to Ligue 1 in spring 2025.