Leaving Tuesday afternoon for Azerbaijan, the OL group will have to manage the serious fatigue linked to the trip to Baku. Between the Europa League and Ligue 1, the two meetings are crucial.
The wind is blowing off the Caspian Sea, but the Lyon delegation must certainly have been a little surprised when they set foot on the tarmac at Baku airport. It was certainly necessary to have solid support to remain clinging to the ground, but the temperature was nothing like a purge. On the contrary, it was rather soft, allowing players toOL not to become disillusioned too quickly. Because the week promises to be long for them who left the banks of the Rhône on Tuesday afternoon to prepare for the meeting against Karabagh.
With Peter Sagenothing is left to chance. The choice was made for a sort of green light for this Europa League match with an arrival in Azerbaijan, forty-eight hours before the match, against twenty-four usually. An extra day for benefits over a whole week. This is how the Lyon staff, in consultation with management, thought about the organization of this particular week. For the first time in its history, OL are playing on Azerbaijani soil and we therefore had to adapt. Especially since, on the other hand, the LFP has done nothing to make things easier.
Recovery as a watchword
Since Tuesday evening, all eyes have been on the capital of Azerbaijan, but Pierre Sage see him further. Faced with the refusal of beIN Sports and the League to postpone the meeting against Nice, theOL will face the Aiglons from Sunday 5 p.m. With a return from the European trip scheduled for Friday at dawn, the time for recovery and preparation for the Ligue 1 match will be more than limited. We could say that only Saturday's session will serve this purpose, but still. Recovery is the key word this week within the Lyon group and “no risks will be taken, above all we want the players to be 100%”we were whispered internally.
This sequence of matches, theOL wanted it and went to get it after an incredible evening last May against Strasbourg. No one within the club will complain about it, because finding weeks with three matches, the lack has been felt for a long time. Only, “this move must not leave feathers on the physical level“, hopes our consultant Nicolas Puydebois. Since the beginning of the week and even well before, in the minds of Sage and his staff, planning has been done to limit the risks of this journey as much as possible.
A journey that could have been better managed without the poor performances
A trip which could have been much less important than it will be on Thursday evening (6:45 p.m.) if OL had done the work beforehand. By bowing against Besiktas (0-1) then conceding a draw to Hoffenheim (2-2), Alexandre's teammates Lacazette missed two opportunities to put themselves in a good position for qualification and thus have a wildcard to burn against Karabagh. This could have allowed Pierre Sage to rotate your workforce more easily. Without being a guesser, the Lyon coach should start some substitutes in the starting lineup on Thursday. However, all the executives made the trip to Azerbaijan when they could have been quietly put to rest if the work had been done before. We will not make history again in this Europa League but when it comes time to adapt, the Lyon club would not have been against a little more flexibility.
If the match in Baku can very clearly ensure a spring presence, the reception in Nice is also important and for Nicolas Puydeboisthe choice is quickly made. “Without making a hierarchy between the matches, but Nice looks like the most important match of the week. We are well placed in the championship, so it would be a shame not to press when we are playing a direct competitor and we have lost points recently.” This week, and even more than the others, Pierre Sage must do a balancing act to have all the positive components on his side. But as he so often says, “No matter how much we plan everything to control things, one grain of sand and everything is called into question.” He would like that not to be the case this week despite everything.
