Twenty clubs, twenty coaches, twenty different challenges, twenty potential fuses. Ligue 1 starts again on Friday August 5, and with it the tactical clashes between the coaches of the twenty teams in the championship. Among them, five technicians will have very high challenges, and will be under intense pressure.
Christophe Galtier, his greatest challenge
Voted best Ligue 1 coach three times (2013, 2019 and 2021), the unexpected 2021 French champion with Lille arrives in Paris with a sense of accomplishment. Now at the head of the most powerful club in France, Galtier will have to convince some skeptics. “I prepared for it and if I accepted this position, it is because I am capable of it”he assures.
Christophe Galtier will have to succeed where his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino failed: find a game system capable of exploiting the full potential of the Parisian armada. “It’s a privilege to have a squad of this level”, recognizes this good leader of men, who has however never managed egos like those of Mbappé, Messi or Neymar. His European experience (no victory in C1) is quite meager, for a club obsessed with the Champions League.
Igor Tudor, already heckled
The Croatian, new coach of OM after the departure of Jorge Sampaoli, was the subject of a bronca for his first match (friendly) at the Vélodrome, after a calamitous preparation (three defeats, a draw and a only victory against the amateurs of Marignane-Gignac), ended with a defeat against AC Milan (2-0).
“I don’t want people who come to the stadium to leave disappointed”had yet proclaimed the 44-year-old coach, promising a “attack and intensity football” very different from the game of possession advocated by Sampaoli. After an excellent season with Verona in Italy, the former Croatian international will have a lot to do, he who has never led a team in the Champions League, which OM will play this season.
Peter Bosz, imperative rebound
“Normally I would have been fired because of the results being 13th in a club that wants to play for the Champions League”, confided in January the Lyonnais coach to Progress. He will have finally finished 8th and retained the confidence of his president, Jean-Michel Aulas. But with the takeover of OL by billionaire John Textor, Bosz will hardly be entitled to another faux pas.
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Especially since the Dutchman has obtained the desired recruitment. Alexandre Lacazette is back to make up for Moussa Dembélé’s back-to-goal shortcomings. As for Corentin Tolisso, also repatriated, his state of health is already making a lot of noise. The month of August will be decisive. The first matches of the season, against affordable opponents, should bring OL to the top of the table. Otherwise, beware of the storm…
Lucien Favre, the ambitious
Unlike 2016, Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivère did not fight to convince Lucien Favre. Ineos, owner of the “Gym”, has changed the size of the club. Upon his arrival, the Swiss has also proclaimed his ambitions. Nice “must, within two years, regularly finish in the top three and even more!” The current internal restructuring limits the arrival of recruits and wastes time. But Favre, 64, remains patient.
From Dortmund, he kept the requirement for high and aggressive pressing, to play quickly in transition. His philosophy is above all to push his players to constant technical improvement, reflection and initiative, such as dribbling. “If you can’t block, you have to move the ball because the opponent never likes to run too much“, he says.
Paulo Fonseca, the bet
After the disappointing season under the leadership of Jocelyn Gourvennec, Lille bet on the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, known for playing an attractive attacking game. The 49-year-old technician showed his ambition: “We want to have a team with a strong identity, a team that dominates the game, that produces good football”he told AFP.
>> To read also: Lille again on the attack to tickle Europe
But with a workforce less talented than in previous seasons, will the former coach of Braga, Shakhtar Donestk and AS Roma manage to do better than the mediocre 10th place obtained last year? Fonseca will have to find the right balance not to be surprised on the counter, because if his teams score a lot, they concede a lot of goals…