Three defeats in the last five days of Ligue 1, a tenth place far from the club’s standards: the record of Peter Bosz in Lyon is now subject to the rapid requirement of results, starting in Bordeaux on Sunday December 5, where a victory appears imperative.
“This meeting is very important. But it is our fault because if we had not lost against Reims, we would be talking about something else. We should not be in this position in the standings”, admitted on Friday 3 December at a press conference the Dutchman, who arrived at the club last summer, six months after being dismissed by Bayer Leverkusen. A victory against the Rémois would have brought OL back to fifth place, but the team has never had more than two consecutive successes this season.
For that, it would be necessary to concede fewer goals, 23 in Ligue 1 including twelve in the last quarter of an hour. OL’s defense is the fifteenth in the championship. “The result is the most important, because we are here to win. However, I am not in favor of the result without the manner. But I am sure that if we play well, with precise principles of play, the results will come”, he assured.
This very dull coat of arms soon to be halfway through the championship is rekindled by the flawless course in the Europa League where OL were received five out of five while waiting to receive the Glasgow Rangers on Thursday 9 December for the sixth and last match of the group stage . But the Lyonnais, already qualified for the knockout stages, overcame weak opposition, less than in the league.
The defeat against Reims (1-2) on Wednesday in a Groupama Stadium behind closed doors hurt. Obviously, the team finds it difficult to apply the precepts of Bosz, to play high, with a rapid pressing at the loss of the ball, particularly demanding physically and mentally, especially over time.
“We have to manage to do things together, that’s the truth of football”, insisted the Dutchman, who had talks with his players on Friday during which he told them “said [ses] truths “. Peter Bosz does not intend to change his method. With the risk, if the sporting situation does not improve very quickly, of dying with his ideas before the end of the season, for a coach who was dismissed by Bayer Leverkusen in March after being dismissed by Borussia Dortmund in 2017, an experience that lasted six months.
Is the former Ajax Amsterdam coach already under threat? Not immediately. The gap that separates his team from the podium is still far from crippling. Lyon is seven lengths from Marseille (2nd), six from Rennes (3rd) and five from Nice (4th). But OL are also only seven points ahead of Lorient (16th). Everything can therefore switch in one direction or the other before the truce.