Lyon will be tested against Lens on Sunday at the Bollaert stadium (8:45 p.m.), and more generally in September, to find out if it can consider achieving the objective set by its president: playing at the top of the table and qualifying for the Champions League.
After Lens, OL will host Marseille on September 22, then Olympiakos Piraeus on the 26th for the opening of the Europa League.
“If we don’t return to the Champions League, it will be a failure, also considering the fight for the title,” warned American manager John Textor, adding however “that a season could be successful without achieving the objective.”
In a long press conference given on Wednesday, the Lyon president also expressed his ambition to be able to fight with Paris Saint-Germain, which he hopes to beat at least once in the two scheduled confrontations.
“Last season, we were ahead of PSG in terms of points in the second half of the championship,” he recalled, assuring that the 2024-2025 OL version was “stronger” and capable “of placing itself among the best.”
– Defensive issues to be resolved –
Enough to put additional pressure on coach Pierre Sage?
“No, not more. Because the need to win was already present last winter and in the spring to move away from the red zone. It comes back by confirming our good final result and I hope in the near future with that of becoming more and more ambitious”, replied the coach on Friday about the fight for the title and the top of the standings.
“So the pressure is not greater but linked to what is happening at that moment for the team,” he assured.
“Everything is possible but rather than looking so far ahead, the priority is to confirm our victory over Strasbourg (4-3) (…) in another context which is that of Lens,” added the technician.
The latter had started as Lyon coach at the Bollaert stadium with a 3-2 defeat on December 2 for what seemed to be only an interim on a very unstable bench in recent seasons, with six coaches since June 2019 and the departure of Bruno Genesio.
“In Lens, it’s a high challenge and we’re going to know how to position ourselves. We have a good month of September to determine if we are in line with our objectives,” Sage simply added.
Above all, he must resolve the defensive problems of his team, which has already conceded eight goals in three games. Standards far removed from the presidential ambitions.
Last season, OL finally finished 15th in the championship in this area with a total of 55 goals conceded for a miraculously obtained 6th place.
“It is obvious that we need to improve in this area so that we have better control over all of our matches. Against Lens last year, we lost twice and conceded six goals,” recalled Sage.
“But strangely enough, it wasn’t in our way of defending that we conceded goals but rather in our way of attacking on transitions. We conceded far too many chances to our opponents. It’s a project that we’ve taken care of,” assured the Lyon coach.
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