Lyon and Rennes are used to competing for European places. But as the 17th day of the championship takes place this Wednesday, they are both struggling to maintain their position.
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The 17th day of Ligue 1 takes place this Wednesday evening. This is the last of the first leg of the championship. PSG, crowned fall champion, hosts Metz, OM travels to Montpellier. At the bottom of the ranking: several clubs scheduled for Europe find themselves fighting to stay. Respectively third and sixth budgets in Ligue 1, OL are provisionally 16th and play-off, Rennes is 13th with four points ahead of the first relegation. The Lyonnais will face Nantes, while the Rennais will travel to Clermont.
But to succeed in your maintenance operation, you must already be aware of maintaining yourself. Denis Troch, former assistant coach of PSG, is now a mental trainer. For him, lucidity is one of the keys to success. “The big difficulty is changing your vision of things, in relation to a new objective and that is very complicated for recognized teams“, he says.
The change of coach, OL’s unsuccessful strategy for the moment
Lyon, Rennes, and even Lorient… These clubs are used to being in the first part of the table. They must now review their objectives, at all levels of the club. “The players, the club and the supporters must accept this situation. Because if they don’t agree to work together, we find ourselves in a situation where it’s inevitable: it’s the descent to Ligue 2 that beckons them. And we realize that to succeed, everyone must be pulling in the same direction.“, warns Denis Troch.
This awareness sometimes comes through an electric shock, like the departure of the coach. But this is not necessarily a guarantee of success, as evidenced by the situation of Olympique Lyonnais, 16th. This season, OL have already used three different coaches in the space of five months. Laurent Blanc was replaced in September by Fabio Grosso, himself fired at the beginning of December. The bench is currently occupied by Pierre Sage. If the new Lyon coach remains on two successes in a row, against Toulouse and Monaco, the club still remains 16th and play-off, one point from the first non-relegation spot.