- By conceding this Sunday’s draw against FC Lorient (16th), after having led by two goals at the break (3-1 to 3-3), Olympique Lyonnais confirms that it is seriously ill.
- Arriving three weeks ago in Lyon, Fabio Grosso has not yet allowed his group, currently 17th in Ligue 1, to obtain the slightest victory this season.
- In this dark period, the Italian coach recognizes that OL are of course “playing to maintain”, which even the most pessimistic supporters would not have imagined this summer.
At OL Park,
For once, everything was strangely not looking so bad for Olympique Lyonnais at half-time. Namely a wind of offensive madness, with three goals scored in twenty minutes, to overthrow an extremely weak Lorient behind (from 0-1 to 3-1), as many as in the first seven days of Ligue 1. Since August 20 , OL had only found the fault on a penalty (almost a gift and anecdotal) converted by Corentin Tolisso in the beating against PSG (1-4). And there, unfortunately, we were treated at 3:54 p.m. to the tweet synonymous with the ultimate evil eye from Jean-Michel Aulas : “Thank you Alex [surnommé « notre seigneur » dans un précédent message quelques minutes plus tôt, true story]thank you Fabio: to all those who dared to criticize Alex in recent days, may the shame fall on their heads and may they learn to support their team so that our OL gets back to where it was and is higher and higher” .
No problem, an hour later, Lyon continues its catastrophic series, still without the slightest victory on the clock (3-3), with 3 points taken out of 24 possible, and a scary 17th place. Four points from the play-off, five from the first non-relegation place, and ten from the Champions League, the objective hammered out all summer by John Textor, including after the ousting of Laurent Blanc. This is obviously the first time in its history that OL has come to a standstill in this way at the start of the Ligue 1 season. Enough to officially validate that the club is playing for survival? “For the moment, we are here, we cannot play for the first places. So, of course, let’s play it safe,” admits new coach Fabio Grosso at a press conference.
“We should not pay attention to the ranking now”
A statement clearer than that of poor Clinton Mata, fortunately elected to respond to the Prime Video broadcaster at the edge of the field, a few seconds after the end of a cataclysmic second period. This is what it looked like, text message: “I think… Yeah it’s necessary… I’m not hiding from you that it’s difficult”. Like the Angolan international, the Lyon players were prostrate on the pitch, each in their own corner, when the final whistle blew. A lot of doubts accompanied the Lyon team this summer, in full decline since its last two podiums in 2018 and 2019, and in full artistic vagueness with the supervision of its transfer window for the first off-season of the John Textor era. But to imagine such a project, which is already accompanied by the real fear of the supporters of reliving the derby in League 2 against the Saint-Etienne neighbor…
Our balance sheet [3 nuls et 5 défaites] is scary, says Maxence Caqueret, the only Lyon player who came to pass a header in the mixed zone. These are not the results that correspond to this great institution. Honestly, you shouldn’t pay attention to the rankings now. We know very well that we are in the red. Let’s go and seek this first victory which will free us. »
But why did this team, despite being relieved of the European calendar, not manage to score this first victory this Sunday? Against their will, OL suffered two monumental long-range strikes, signed Eli Junior Kroupi (17 years old, 8 games and 1 goal in L1 on the clock) and Darlin Yongwa (23-year-old left side having until then only scored ‘a goal in his professional career). “I don’t believe much in luck,” says Fabio Grosso on this subject. Luck, we will look for it and today, we could look for it even better, because sometimes we came out of this match. »
The Lyon public discovers O’Brien, Alvero and Diawara
Maxence Caqueret is on the same line as his trainer: “We know that we are in a very tough period and that we are not going to be given anything. It’s up to us to go and get what we want. There, we reacted well in the first half, we had the match in hand, then we gave away goals again, it’s frustrating. Being 100% won’t be enough. You will have to be at 200% to finally take the three points. » Ouch, so even against Merlus who have just scored 16 goals over the last 5 days, OL have fallen so low that they have to play the match of their lives to win?
The hypothesis takes shape in view of the starting eleven upset this Sunday by Fabio Grosso, and which does not really exude an ambition of Top 5 in Ligue 1, between the defender Jake O’Brien (irish unknown of 22 years old landed from Belgian D2 ), midfielders Skelly Alvero (21 years old, only one professional season under his belt in L2 at Sochaux) and Mahamadou Diawara (ex-U19 at PSG, first professional match at 18). “These are strong choices,” notes afterwards Alexandre Lacazette [auteur d’un doublé] at the microphone of Prime Video. To get your place, you have to earn it. It shows that the coach has confidence in the whole group. » Or more simply that he no longer has confidence, after only three weeks, in his supposed executives.
Mama Baldé’s fatal pass to Darlin Yongwa
Out of the eleven, the ghost of Corentin Tolisso made an insipid entry into play on the hour mark against Lorient. As for Rayan Cherki, clearly the custodian of the Lyon game with Laurent Blanc, he only appeared two minutes from the end. After comforting players who were dejected on the pitch, Fabio Grosso strives to be positive, despite this scenario capable of denting even the strongest heads: “We did very good things together, with a common desire to seek victory. We put our minds on the ground. And then, if Mama Baldé scores with a header in the 90th minute, we would talk about something else…”. Certainly, but if we don’t give in to football fiction, we will remember that in reality, the Lyon joker made a disastrous assist… for Lorient’s Darlin Yongwa on the equalizer (3-3, 79th). The kind of lunar action which perfectly symbolizes a difficult first quarter of the season.
However, Maxence Caqueret also points out the positive signals seen: “There is still improvement, there is solidarity in this team. It struck me on the pitch: I saw players talking to each other, who wanted to get the ball and score. It’s the little things that make you think it’s going to be okay. This will help us for the future. Physically, we were already better than in our previous match [2-0 à Reims]. We work a lot, with a lot of physical sessions. But it’s not just the physical aspect, we’re going to have to include technique and tactics too.”
“We will never give up, we are fighters”
On this point, if it is complicated, in this general slump, to incriminate Fabio Grosso after only three matches (1 draw and 2 defeats), his coaching of the day did not really help his group, between the tenure no doubt rushed from a Dejan Lovren feverish and involved on the second goal, the choice to throw Corentin Tolisso at a time when the OL midfielder was already faltering, and the Nuamah-Kumbedi change was chilly to say the least at 3-2 (71st). The Italian coach assumes “not to regret” this choice and points out (rightly) “the little gifts” given by his players.
Overall supported by the two turns of Parc OL, they suspect that a new poor performance against the red lantern Clermont, on October 22 after the international break, would further weaken an entire club in distress. “We will never give up,” promises Maxence Caqueret. We are fighters. We have strong determination in this group and we know that good times will come.” As for Lyon supporters, however, this optimistic discourse is crumbling a little more each week regarding the “fighters” making up this OL in crisis.