The last chance game for Laurent Blanc? This is not (at all) how John Textor presents things. “It’s not me who is talking about the possibility of firing him in the media”, recently indicated the American president of OL, dismissing the former 98 world champion before his responsibilities after his latest pungent, ironic media outings, even downright lunar. “The situation must improve quickly,” he nevertheless indicated, acknowledging that “all coaches are always threatened because we need results. For us, it is not acceptable to end the season in the middle of the table. I have already said that the objective was the Champions League, otherwise it would be a failure”.
However, the Gones, who challenge PSG this Sunday (8:45 p.m.), at Groupama Stadium, during the fourth day of Ligue 1, are clearly not on their way to the heights. When we know the club’s slow decline, even under Aulas, we know that it’s not all Blanc’s fault, brilliant on the Bordeaux bench (2007-10), attractive on that of PSG (2013-16) and effective during the last six months of last season in Lyon, he who took over from Peter Bosz in October 2022. Seventh at the end of the past season, the Lyonnais had compiled the third highest number of points in the single phase back. And there was the departure of Jean-Michel Aulas, the DNCG which put a brake on Textor’s ambitions during the summer transfer window and the glitches, with the suspension of Alexandre Lacazette or the injury of Anthony Lopes. The war between Aulas and Texor does not help to calm the climate on the banks of the Rhône, especially before facing a PSG which seems to be gaining momentum after its 3-1 victory over Lens and which has just attracted a certain Bradley Barcola .
A painful start for the regulars at Groupama Stadium, one more after that of Castello Lukeba (Leipzig). “Players arrive, players leave, it’s the transfer window,” whispered Laurent Blanc on Friday at a press conference, he who was much less scathing on this occasion than during his previous media outings. The effects of John Textor cropping earlier this week? “I asked him to stop playing these games with the media or telling jokes that cause controversy. This is the coach’s time to do his coaching job. I ask him to moderate his relationship with the press and to ensure that it is his work that speaks for him”, he hammered, guessing that the former coach of the Blues (2010-12) “organizes a little his defence. The two men then explained themselves directly. “We didn’t talk about communication at all,” promises Blanc.
The change in tone was nevertheless noticeable on Friday for the one who spent more than four years away from the benches, between his departure from PSG in 2016 and his move to Al-Rayyan. The most important thing remains to be changed, namely what happens on the green rectangle. “We have to leave the extra-sporting problems, stop talking, start playing and working. The solution is in the locker room, not elsewhere, “said John Textor again, in no mood to joke on Tuesday.
Issue ? As Laurent Blanc puts it so well, Paris “may not be the best team to revive”. Especially without Lacazette. “I hope we will find the idea, the determination and the desire to play, which will already allow us to have a good match against this team. If this is not the case, you still have very little chance of achieving a result against a team of the caliber of Paris Saint-Germain ”, he promises, noting that the bickering between the new president and the former n not help “to have a climate of serenity”…
The recipe, Laurent Blanc knows it well: the game, the game, the game. Everything we haven’t seen since the start of the season. Certainly not against Montpellier (1-4 defeat), when OL had been “below everything”. Not even last week in Nice (1-1). “We started the season very badly, we are not going to say the opposite. In terms of result, we took a point in Nice, but in terms of game it was not reassuring. We have to get our season started, ”swears the former Barça defender, where he had rubbed shoulders with … Luis Enrique. Launch the OL season and save his head? “When a coach does not win, he is in danger, under pressure, it is the standard of our profession”, he readily admits, he who had been landed by the Parisian management a few weeks after having extended, in 2016, and at the end of a record season with PSG in national games. A quadruple that did not weigh heavily against a C1 quarter-final exit against a Manchester City team under the Emirati flag…
One thing is certain: a result against Paris-SG would offer a good breath of fresh air to Laurent Blanc, who could quickly act as a fuse in the event of a debacle. Hence this change of speech, this combative attitude and this fierce desire to play ball. “It is through the game that we will relaunch our season. You mustn’t be afraid of wanting to play, you have to play football!”, ignites the Cévennes technician, affirming that “above all, you mustn’t be afraid to play this match”, even if “the bad results can block”. And to add: “We can’t just defend if we want to get a result against PSG”. To see if these words hit their mark.
