Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Saturday January 18, 2025 at 3:15 p.m.
Eliminated on Wednesday by a N3 team in the Coupe de France, Lyon, which hosts Toulouse on Saturday, has had a string of poor performances for several weeks. Several things are wrong at OL. Attempt to explain.
Disappointing performances come one after another at Olympique Lyonnais. In good spirits this fall, the Rhone club has been faltering since the onset of winter. Are OL cold, too cold, during this winter season? In terms of results, yes, it’s glacial. After the defeat in Paris (1-3), the Lyon team finished the year 2024 and started 2025 with victories but it was after fairly disappointing performances. Then, after these successes against Feignies-Aulnoye (2-1) in the 32nd round of the Coupe de France and the very small success against the red lantern of Montpellier (1-0) – snatched by a goal against his Hérault camp at the final sigh – Lyon remains with two particularly negative results: a setback in the league at Brest (1-2) and a terrible elimination in the Cup ahead of Bourgoin-Jallieu (2-2, 2-4 in the shots on goal). The content of the meetings became clearly insufficient and the results ended up being affected.
-A collective that is eroding, a feverish defense, Lacazette in delicacy
The feeling of shame is strong after the elimination against the National 3 club, the 5th French division. Several things are significantly wrong. Since the defeat against PSG, the Rhone collective has no longer played at the same level. It's much less tough, serene. “Paris is not the break, but it is true that we have been less well since,” noted Moussa Niakhaté. The defense is showing excitement and it's starting to look very scary. The Lyonnais let too many things slip and the opponents took advantage of it. In attack, Alexandre Lacazette, so valuable last season in the race to maintain, is less good. The captain has only scored 5 goals this season in L1, while currently, Georges Mikautadze is in good form. Sage will have to decide (Lacazette is out this weekend).
Sage: “We have managed to straighten things out so far”
OL traditionally struggle in January and Pierre Sage, who has been in place for a little over a year, is not panicking, convinced that OL will get back on track. “When I took over the team, we lost our first two games. When I was confirmed, at the winter break, we lost our first two Championship matches and this season, we lost the first two Championship matches as well, the coach rewinded. Each time, this team knew how to react when it was up against the wall. I'm not saying that we have very effective crisis management, but we have managed to turn things around so far. » The recovery will perhaps begin with the reception in Toulouse, Saturday evening (9:05 p.m.). This is obviously what Sage and his boss, John Textor (who is clearly aiming for qualification for the Champions League and a good run in the Europa League), are hoping for, who could possibly consider changes if the negative spiral continues dangerously. ..
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