Textor lost his temper after the Lyon defeat

John Textor attended Olympique Lyonnais' defeat against Besiktas (0-1) on Thursday on the third day of the Europa League. The owner of the Rhone club then went to the locker room to share his dissatisfaction, more with Pierre Sage and his staff than with the players.

Undefeated since their cruel defeat in the Olympico at the end of September, OL fell back on Thursday in the Europa League. Despite great domination, the Gones were surprised on the only real opportunity from Besiktas (0-1). A defeat against an opponent within their reach which stopped their great series of five consecutive victories and which caused some turmoil behind the scenes.

Present at Groupama Stadium for the European duel, John Textor barely tasted this defeat. As he has become accustomed to when he is in Lyon, the OL owner then went to the locker room to chat with his players and staff. According to information from RMC Sport, the American businessman expressed his dissatisfaction.

Raised against the staff rather than the players

The players do not seem to have been the main targets of the manager after this poor performance in C3. And for good reason, it is difficult to express deep criticism of a squad whose main problem was its lack of efficiency against goal with 30 shots (only 9 on target).

After the defeat against the Stambouliotes, it was especially Pierre Sage and his staff who suffered the wrath of their boss. Did Textor fault them for team composition? The very partial use of Wilfried Zaha, a player he wanted to recruit?

Sage has “no problem with that”

Questioned this Friday at a press conference before the reception of Auxerre in Ligue 1, the OL coach did not want to say too much about the exact content of the discussion but did not dodge the questions.

“If the walls really had ears, the question would not arise and you would have heard everything,” the technician first reacted with a smile. “It is a reporting phase which normally takes place between your employee and your employer at the end of work, therefore a football match. And it is logical that we have discussions on our professional practices and the way to lead them, since he expects us to be efficient and I'm happy that he expects that of us since it challenges us every day. So I have no problem with that.

Before continuing: “It's in the same way as you when you have annual interviews, where it is perhaps more formal or informal. You report on your professional activities and we do it too. Indeed it is on how we play, how we lead the squad, how I manage coaching during the match. These are the questions and it's normal for him to ask them. It’s just time.”

During his recent appearance in After Foot on RMC, Pierre Sage, questioned about the management of his goalkeepers, readily admitted that he does not decide everything: “It's me who makes the team play but there are things that are imposed from a contractual point of view in particular. […] From the moment it is institutional, as an employee of the institution I must respect these choices.” What John Textor perhaps reminded him Thursday evening, after the defeat.