The world champion’s adventure in France ends after just two months. Olympique is currently in last place with 7 points from 12 games
– paris
Just over two months. The Fabio Grosso era in Lyon is already coming to an end. The Italian coach took over from Laurent Blanc in mid-September, but he was unable to get a team stuck at the bottom of the table to take off. Already on Tuesday, American president John Textor had sown doubts with a “we’ll see”, answering a question about the future of the coach who even risked losing an eye for Lyon, on the sidelines of the match then canceled against Gattuso’s Marseille. Today, punctually, the dismissal arrived, inevitable after the latest home defeat against Lille (0-2), which highlighted the limits of a team incapable of showing signs of awakening. While waiting for a new coach, the baton passes to Pierre Sage, director of the training center.
judgment
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The results since September 16th have not been positive for Grosso, even if seven games are not enough to express a balanced opinion on his work. Also because the Italian had taken up the challenge of putting a group back on track which had been disorganized by a summer preparation, undermined by both market and prospect uncertainties, with his predecessor Blanc dissatisfied with the signing campaign and unwilling to sacrifice himself for the new ownership, which entered among other things in conflict with the previous one. In short, a deleterious climate where Grosso arrived to try to convey his enthusiasm and his ideas of the game, after the positive year in Frosinone, brought to Serie A. And instead, after the debut defeat against Brest (1 -0), things went from bad to worse.
ford
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From an accounting point of view, Grosso has collected a total of just one victory, two draws and four defeats. The last one, Sunday, was fatal, also because it reflected a state of confusion among his players. The Italian asked for tactical flexibility and maximum availability. The drastic changes even in the middle of the match, and the tactical ones during the match made a team even more fragile, also undermined by internal tensions, between the old guard and the new generations. The case of Cherki is emblematic, a talented 19-year-old who was immediately groomed by Grosso to provoke greater commitment, in training and possibly on the pitch. Instead the young playmaker, -who in perspective represents an important market value for a club struggling with a deep financial crisis-, has sunk into anonymity. Grosso then had to manage the discontent of the senators, from Lovren to Tagliafico, to Tolisso. And even captain Lacazette, last season’s vice-top scorer, was ultimately overwhelmed by events, unable to lead the group out of the ford.
shock
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Sunday’s home crash convinced Textor to give the environment another jolt. In fact, Lyon is still last with 7 points, -5 from the safety zone, but with a game to recover. The one against Marseille, not played after the Lyon bus was attacked by a group of Marseille ultras. An ambush during which Grosso was injured in the left eyelid and eyebrow arch, sutured with fifteen stitches. The former full-back risked losing an eye, but continued to work to try to put the club where he had played between 2007 and 2009 back into orbit. After 75 days on the bench it’s time to say goodbye again.
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