Laurent Blanc’s outdated tactics are holding Lyon back in Ligue 1

The club is at its lowest ebb for 30 years and the manager’s style of play is only making things worse

Laurent Blanc’s solution was simple. “Change the coach,” replied the frustrated Lyon manager flippantly when questioned about his team’s abject 4-1 home defeat to Montpellier last weekend. After their goalless draw with Nice on Sunday, which left Lyon in the bottom three, Blanc’s idea might in fact be a good idea, joke or not. The manager is central to the crisis, but he is not the only problem at a club that is at its lowest ebb for more than three decades.

Peter Bosz’s time in charge collapsed 10 into last season and, damningly, the team continued on the same course under the incoming Blanc. They finished in seventh place, which resulted in consecutive seasons outside European competition for the first time since 1995. There were reasons for hope in the summer – no continental distractions, new American investment and some quality starters should make Lyon a top-four threat – but they have produced some feeble displays and have picked up only one point from their first three games.

With finances tight, the club’s signings this summer have hinted at desperation. The Southampton centre-back Duje Caleta-Car, who often wrecked good form with errors at Marseille, has continued where he left off in France. Although back to his natural role in midfield, the former Arsenal and Wolves man Ainsley Maitland-Niles is only a placeholder for a more reliable solution. The towering young midfielder Skelly Alvero, who has arrived from Sochaux, does not look ready for Ligue 1 after breaking through in the second tier.

Lyon have made a €50m profit in the transfer market this summer all while allowing two star players to leave on free transfers, with Houssem Aouar going to Roma and Moussa Dembélé joining Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia. Castello Lukeba, one of the brightest young defenders in France, has signed for RB Leipzig; Romain Faivre has gone on loan to Lorient after signing for Bournemouth; and the versatile attacker Karl Toko-Ekambi has moved to Saudi Arabia, leaving Blanc with few options beyond his first-choice team. It shows.

Blanc is also a problem. Although the glut of trophies he won at PSG appears ever more creditable thanks to what has followed in Paris, Ligue 1 changed markedly during his six-year absence – a fact the 57-year-old seems unmoved by. Lifeless and surly looking, Lyon were outplayed by Montpellier last week in an embarrassing home defeat, having been similarly outmaneuvered at Strasbourg on the opening day.

Although the draw with Nice kept them off bottom spot in the table, it again underlined their failings. Playing under their progressive new coach Francesco Farioli, Nice lacked cutting edge but at least showed a clear plan to progress the ball via their narrow full-backs while aiming to stretch the Lyon defence with the wide attackers Sofiane Diop and Gaëtan Laborde. It worked and, had Nice been more ruthless, Lyon would have been beaten for a third week running.

To their credit, Lyon often refused to be baited into a press, but their two banks of four and lack of a creative plan other than relying on the individual skill of their young forwards Rayan Cherki and Bradley Barcola, again appeared horribly clunky in a dynamic, innovative division that has moved on from the physical, pragmatic style that characterised the league before Blanc left PSG in 2016.

Blanc was appointed as a safe pair of hands, an approach that has worked before, but this time it has kept Lyon back behind more inventive rivals. Although often chaotic, Bosz’s attempts at fluid attacking football would now be appreciated. Blanc has barely improved results – the team are picking up 1.71 points per game compared to 1.67 under Bosz – and his style has a far lower ceiling than his predecessor’s.

Even Blanc’s players seem unsure as to what exactly his plan is, a situation made more frustrating by the quality available. The goalkeeper Anthony Lopes has been arguably France’s best over the past decade. Ruinous injuries may have derailed Corentin Tolisso’s career but his quality is undoubted, while fellow returning hero Alexandre Lacazette scored 27 league goals last season. The young academy graduates Barcola and Cherki are two of France’s most exciting attacking prospects and have both been linked with PSG. And Nicolás Tagliafico, who won the World Cup last year, and the busy midfielder Maxence Caqueret are both comfortably of Champions League quality.

As the pressure builds, Blanc should be aware that Lyon have never relied on coaching stability for success – even during their unprecedented run in the 2000s. They won those seven consecutive titles under four different managers, with a fifth, Claude Puel, engineering a run to the Champions League semi-finals. Throughout it all, however, clear thinking and leadership were always provided by the club’s former president Jean-Michel Aulas.

Like Blanc’s success at PSG, Aulas’s 36-year reign looks even better in hindsight. Aulas masterminded Lyon’s rise from the second division to a level of dominance yet to be matched even by PSG. Now 74 years old, Aulas’s retirement last season was timely, but his shrewd decision-making, ability to act as a lightning rod for media attention and figurehead persona made him invaluable for an often embattled club. His value as a spearhead was clear well before his departure, as a slow ceding of power to others resulted in some sizeable missteps.

Aulas remains “honorary president” but the tone is now set by the new owner, John Textor. However, things have been “tense”, says Aulas, who has “seller’s remorse” according to the American who bought out Aulas earlier this year. The two regimes blame each other for the club’s current financial strife. Textor’s budget was not fully ratified by the DNCG, French football’s strict financial watchdog, placing Lyon’s wage bill and transfer spending under the supervision of the authorities. “Welcome to France,” was Textor’s reported response to the ruling, which means Blanc’s frustration over a lack of reinforcements will probably continue.

Lyon’s squad should be able to challenge for the top four, but the club appear increasingly rudderless under the Textor-Blanc ticket. Lyon are at risk of becoming a mid-ranking side. A relegation battle is not impossible given the new 18-team format and the malaise in the squad. With the team trudging through the season on a downward trajectory, it might not be long before Textor takes his manager’s advice.