Lyon fans should appreciate what manager Rudi Garcia has done at the club
For Olympique Lyon manager Rudi Garcia, everything was going wrong until their miraculous ride in the last stages of the Champions League last season.
The club was struggling with 9 points at 14th place when the Lyon hierarchy decided to sack Brazilian head coach Sylvinho. The Lyon faithful hoped that the club would rope in someone of the stature of Arsene Wenger to revive the club's fortunes. Even the likes of Laurent Blanc made headlines. What eventually transpired was not only underwhelming but caused a massive backlash.
The club appointed Rudi Garcia as their new manager in October 2019.
The mere fact that his previous job was at rivals Olympique de Marseille stirred up angst. Fans quickly forgot his astonishing resume of turning Lille into a title-winning team, and leading Marseille to the Europa League final in 2018.
He arrived at the club as a pantomime villain. His antics at Marseille - persistently complaining of bad decisions from referees and tactical foul play by opponents - did not go down well with Lyon's fan base. To this day, had it not been for Lyon's impressive late surge in the Champions League, the curtailed 2019-20 season would have been enough for Garcia to get the sack.
With the season canceled after 28 games, Lyon stood seventh, nowhere close to a spot in Europe. For a club that prides on being the sole title contenders to perennial Ligue 1 champions PSG, and secures regular Champions League qualification, last season was a huge disappointment.
However, it was a shame that staunch Lyon supporters did not acknowledge the fact that within a brief period of six months, Rudi Garcia had taken the club from the 14th to seventh in Ligue 1. Lyon also played the finals of the Coupe de la League, which they lost to PSG.
Rudi Garcia's resilience in a hostile environment finally paid off following the lockdown restart. Lyon succeeded in seeing off Juventus on aggregate. In their one-off quarter-final bout against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, Garcia's tactics and choice of midfielders played an influential role in defeating Manchester City.
When out of possession, wing-backs Leo Dubois and Maxwell Cornet dropped deeper to offer extra support. Furthermore, the central midfielders - Bruno Guimaraes, Houssem Aouar, and Lucas Tousart - also came deeper, playing in a straight line and blocking through balls from City's midfield.
In the semi-final, against title favorites Bayern Munich, Lyon still managed to create chances, but lacked finesse in the final third. Nonetheless, a semi-final finish in Europe's top flight was a massive achievement for Garcia's men, as well as for the man himself.
Even though Rudi Garcia was fortunate in many ways with the way the last season finished, it was still too little to impress the Lyon fans. The relationship between the ultras of Lyon and Rudi Garcia still, to this day, is a dreaded one. This season as well, Garcia has started with his preferred 5-3-2 formation, albeit with mixed results.
Three back to back draws to start this season did not help Garcia's men. They failed to capitalize on a ten-men Marseille team in the derby, a performance which left many fans disappointed.
Finally, on the 18th of October, they managed to register the second win of their season against Strausburg. Rudi Garcia will hope that this will kickstart their campaign to something substantial. However, regardless of where Lyon stands right now and Garcia's previous managerial stints, it is time that Lyon fans, just like everyone else, appreciate what their manager has brought to the club.