Décines-Charpieu (France) (AFP)

Restore a soul in Lyon and clear the ground vis-à-vis groups of supporters disappointed with his appointment: the new coach Rudi Garcia traced, with remarks while restraint, the outline of his sports project.

"You can count on me to defend OL, which can allow me to take another step in my career, I hope to stay a long time," Garcia (55) told a press conference on Tuesday, saying "I can not wait to to be at the heart of the events ".

This will be Saturday at home against one of his former clubs, Dijon, he led in Ligue 2.

"The priority will be to win and all my energy is turned towards that," he said.

To achieve this, the former coach of Marseille (2016-2019) comes with an assistant, Claude Fichaux, who was already with him at OM and AS Roma, but also with Christophe Prudhon, presented as his "eye "who will supervise the opponents. He wants to instill "his culture of winning the group and coaching" and "quality of play".

This had clearly been lost under Sylvinho's ephemeral era.

The Brazilian was dismissed on October 7 after a series of seven games without a win in the league, the last in the derby at Saint-Etienne (1-0, October 6).

For now, OL is 14th and is only one point ahead of a pair of last, Metz and Dijon, his next two opponents in Ligue 1.

"Everyone wants Olympique Lyonnais to start winning again, with victories, everyone will smile again, the content of the matches will lead to success, and if you play well, you will be more likely to win. The opposite is true: the squad is carried forward with a lot of offensive talents, "he said.

"I'm going to make my teams impose their game rather than adapt to the opponent, I know where I am," the technician added again, referring to "the important image of OL".

- Defiance -

It will undoubtedly be even more to attract groups of supporters who show some distrust about the arrival of Garcia on the bench Lyonnais, and express themselves on social networks or via a petition online Monday evening .

In this, the reception is similar to the one that accompanied the appointment of Bruno Genesio end of December 2015. And the trend never finally reversed despite very honorable results including a semifinal of Europa League in 2017, a 2nd place (2016) and two third (2018, 2019).

Representatives of the two main groups of ultra supporters, traditionally present at the presentation press conferences, were absent on Tuesday. All a symbol.

But a meeting with Rudi Garcia was nevertheless scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

"We all have one motivation: see OL win again," defended Garcia while the ultras still hold rigor disparaging remarks held in May 2018, against the club Lyon, supposedly favored by the arbitration, from the time when he led the Marseille team.

"At the time, I defended my parish and I would have less to do in the structure that is that of Lyon," added the coach of Olympique Lyonnais, recalling that he did not lead that Marseille "but started (his) coaching job at the neighbor in green".

"I'm a professional, I love my job and the main thing is to help OL to get trophies because that's what has always animated me," he added.

"We're stronger with Rudi than without Rudi, we're going to take the quintessence of his fighting spirit, it's a quality to defend his institution, he had defended his club, and today Rudi is with us. is the past, "said Jean-Michel Aulas.

And in terms of going to the front line on contentious issues, he will not have this concern in Lyon, JMA is used to posing as a shield of his club.

OL's next trip to the Vélodrome, on November 10th, takes a little more prominence.

© 2019 AFP