It’s the kind of match that doesn’t work well for Rudi Garcia. Sunday, February 9, his Olympique Lyonnais moves to the Parc des Princes to face PSG, net leader of Ligue 1. Despite the absence of Neymar on the Paris side, he is preparing to "The test of fire. Everyone sees us losing in advance, taking a point would already be very good ”, he acknowledged at a press conference.
Since the start of his head coaching career on the Saint-Etienne bench in 2001, Rudi Garcia has won only thirteen of the 64 games played against teams that finished in the top three places in the league, in Ligue 1 or in Serie A. These matches at the top, Garcia loses them more than once in two (35 losses). On average, he takes 0.86 points per game during these meetings. Half less than its general average (1.73).
If that could be explained during his first experiences at the head of teams like Saint-Etienne, Le Mans or Lille on his arrival, his record did not improve after he took the head of big teams. Since his return to France during the 2016-2017 season, in Marseille and Lyon, Garcia has played 19 games against the teams that have finished (or are currently) on the podium. He won only one: against Nice (2-1) in 2017. The rest are three draws and above all fifteen defeats, including ten in a row.
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0.86 point per match
The record is no better in the Champions League. With Lyon, as he said himself, he owes his qualification in the round of 16 as much to the performances of his predecessor, Sylvinho as to his own. Historically, it takes, again, only 0.86 points per game on average.
Asked at a press conference on Friday about his team's difficulties in the big games, the OL coach tried to reassure himself with a pirouette: “We beat Nantes in the Cup, we almost beat Lille. We are able to make results against the big guys. "
The problem is that Nantes and Lille, respectively fourth and eleventh before this 24e championship day, are not "big". Or are not supposed to be for the second budget of Ligue 1. This season, the Lyon club lost to Marseille (2-1), lost to Rennes (0-1) and Lille (0-1) in the championship.
Vaccinated by the Champions League
For Florent Toniutti, host of the Vu Du Banc football podcast and video analyst, these repeated setbacks are partly explained by the fact that the Lyon coach plays unnaturally in these big games. The Lyonnais coach adopted a very defensive game plan, without trying to hurry, as Bruno Genesio, his predecessor on the OL bench, used to making shots, could do.
After "the fiery beginnings" and two corrections suffered in the Champions League with LOSC (6-1 against Bayern Munich, in 2012) and Roma (1-7, still against Bayern, in 2014), Rudi Garcia has chose to approach these matches very carefully and wait for the opponent.
Against Paris, Sunday, he did not plan to play differently: “We will have to use the ball well. Afterwards if we think that we will have 70% of possession in Paris … we are all wrong. We must do with our means ”, he explained at a press conference.
On a few occasions, this tactic has paid off. A few days after joining OM in 2016, Rudi Garcia led an ultra-defensive team against PSG. OM had finished the game without a single shot, but left the Parc des Princes with a draw point (0-0). Garcia won his Marseille coaching stripes there. But most of the time it ended up backfiring.
A mental problem?
If he succeeded in shots when he coached Dijon, Le Mans, Lille or Roma, his teams seem mentally brittle in these kinds of meetings. "Beyond tactics, you must expect to suffer and have a mentally responsive person, do not give upFlorent Toniutti says. It may be more the mental approach than the tactical choice. José Mourinho also “puts on the bus”, for example, but still manages to take points against stronger teams. " This season’s Olympique Lyonnais does not appear to be physically equipped to meet this challenge for 90 minutes, as was seen in the defeat at Stade Vélodrome in November.
If his weaknesses against the strong could be compensated by his successes against the weak, this has been less the case in recent months. The Lyonnais remain on a defeat in Nice (8e, 1-2) and a draw against Amiens (19e, 0-0). It remains to be seen whether the tendency to be weak against the strong will also be reversed. Rudi Garcia needs it: in the event of a defeat, Lyon would be sixteen points behind the second place fifteen days before the end.
Not enough, probably, to change the opinion of Jean-Michel Aulas, determined to keep at all costs his coach next season, as his "tactical sense (is) overdeveloped".
