After two and a half months of break, the Ligue 1 takes back its rights with its batch of annual changes. But once is not custom, the transfer window has been - for now - rather calm side players. And what if the most exciting changes were finally to be found on the sidelines? Like Sylvinho in Lyon or Stéphane Jobard in Dijon, some coaches are making their debut at this position. Others, like André Villas-Boas at OM or Thomas Tuchel at PSG, have things to prove this season. Take revenge, such as Monegasque Leonardo Jardim or Nantais Christian Gourcuff. Overview of these coaches for whom the season could quickly take a turning point.
Villas-Boas, for the charm to work
GERARD JULIEN / AFP
Arrived at the end of May on the Canebière, André Villas-Boas did not take a long time to unanimously to the OM. Supporters value his way of communicating, the training center's employees praise his involvement, and the players are thrilled with their ball-in-the-ball sessions.
But at 41, the Portuguese has yet to prove that his reputation as a young prodigy has not taken the dust. Without a club for a year and a half, the former assistant of José Mourinho is responsible for reviving a sleeping giant, weaned European Cup after a sad sadly fifth place in the league.
It was the Europa League that had inflated his rating when, in 2011, he became with Porto the youngest coach to win a European Cup, just 33 years old. His adventures in Chelsea, Tottenham, Zenith St. Petersburg and even in China, in Shanghai Dongya, have not remained in the annals of football but "AVB" knows perfectly the requirements of the high level, as had praised President Jacques- Henri Eyraud at the time of his recruitment.
Its room for maneuver is slim, as OM is threatened by UEFA and its financial fair play. The "Special Two", as he was once nicknamed, has already decided to integrate young shoots from the training center to the team. With, always, the podium in sight. But the goal for Villas-Boas, who has signed two years in Marseille, will especially give pleasure to the fans, tired of the face displayed last year by the band in Garcia. An entire program.
Sylvinho, a risky bet
© Ben STANSALL / AFP
He had already rubbed the bench, but only as an assistant, especially at Inter Milan or with Seleçao. The Brazilian Sylvinho will have no choice but to learn quickly in Lyon, where his compatriot Juninho, new sports director of the club, has blown his name to take the keys of the team.
Reputed fussy and endowed with a strong character, the former left side of Arsenal and Barca could suffer from his lack of experience, as well as his shortcomings in French, he is the first foreign technician from Lyon since the Serbian Vladimir Kovacevic (November 1981-February 1983).
The team has been deeply reworked this summer, with the departure of several senior players (Mendy, Ndombele, Fekir) and mayonnaise is struggling to take. After a catastrophic preseason (four defeats, a win against the course of play, thirteen goals conceded, seven registered), doubt is allowed.
But the Auriverde duo can build on what has been done, and done right, in recent years. The objectives remain unchanged. "The president asked me one thing: to be in the Champions League at the end of the season," Sylvinho said when he arrived. Before continuing, be careful: "Time will tell it for the other goals.
Tuchel, the obligation to do better
© Christof STACHE / AFP
His first steps in the capital were greeted on all sides last year. But the season of Paris Saint-Germain turned into water of boudin. The title of champion of France acquired hand-up by the Parisians could not make forget the debacle against Manchester United, in the round of 16 of C1 (2-0, 13), the exit of road against Guingamp in quarters of Coupe de la Ligue (1-2), nor even the defeat in the Coupe de France final against Rennes (2-2 ap, 6-5 on the tab).
Thomas Tuchel has no choice. He is condemned to have better results. This season, he will have to deal with Leonardo, returning to the position of sports director, six years after his first visit. The Brazilian has already offered the midfielders that he was demanding so much from his predecessor - Ander Herrera (Manchester United), Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) and Idrissa Gueye (Everton) - and has already raised the tone by warning that no pass-right would be granted to the players. With all that, the German technician will have no more excuses.
Jardim, reconstruction operation
© DAMIEN MEYER / AFP
He too was there last year, and twice rather than one. Chase from the Rock in October, Leonardo Jardim had returned to the rescue of Monaco three months later, after the missed interlude of Thierry Henry. The Portuguese had avoided the worst by finishing in 17th place in the standings, but had not managed to give back to the princely club the luster that was still his own a year earlier.
>> READ ALSO - Ligue 1: Lyon, Monaco, Marseille, Lille ... Who to finish on the podium?
For him as for the ASM, this season will certainly be pivotal. If during the preparation, the team delivered good performances against quality teams - Porto (1-0), Braga (0-0), Valencia (1-0), Everton (0-1 and Sampdoria (1-0). -0) - it is difficult to know if Jardim will be able to satisfy the ambitions of his vice-president Oleg Petrov .. Appointed in February, the Russian still makes the podium a priority objective.
But "the goals and results of the team depend on the workforce," continues to hammer the coach. "Today, the team resembles the level of last year," he also slipped Wednesday in a press conference. He will have to deal with it though. At least before the end of the transfer window.
Christian Gourcuff, the calm or the storm
© ROMAIN LAFABREGUE / AFP
It is the fourteenth coach of Nantes in twelve years, the sixth since 2016. After Sergio Conceicao, Claudio Ranieri, Miguel Cardoso and Vahid Halilhozic, resigned at the beginning of the month, the president of Canaries Waldemar Kita this time set his sights on Christian Gourcuff. The former coach of Rennes (2001-2002 and 2016-2017) and Lorient (1991-2001, then 2003-2014) was free since his last experience at Al-Gharafa SC, Qatari training with which he won the QSL Cup last winter.
We know the Breton technician attached to his principles of play, close to football practiced in the 1990s by ... FC Nantes. A nice promise for the fans, in the spirit of which however comes a nagging question: for how long? The success of the club, 12th of the last year, will largely depend on the agreement between Gourcuff and Kita. Both are considered uncompromising.
Jobard, the child of the club has the opportunity to grow
© Screenshot
Stéphane Jobard is not only the coach of Dijon. Stéphane Jobard is Dijon. He was a player, even captain, then player coach and assistant. At 48, and after being part of the staff of Rudi Garcia in Marseille, the time has come to embark on the big bath in Burgundy.
The task is not easy: give a new breath to the DFCO, passed close to relegation last year and now orphan Wesley Said (Toulouse), Valentin Rosier (Sporting Portugal) or Chang-hoon Kwon ( Friborg). "I dream a little standing, it's true, aware of the challenge that is proposed to me.We will try to live a milder season," commented the person when he took office. In any case, it will be one of the curiosities to follow this season on the Ligue 1 bench.
Elsner, the youngest mystery
© Screenshot
And what about Luka Elsner, a 37-year-old Franco-Slovenian who came out of nowhere to replace Christophe Pélissier in Amiens? The youngest Ligue 1 coach fired his weapons from Domzale and Ljubljana in Slovenia, to Pafos in Cyprus D1 and then to Union Saint-Gilloise, a Belgian second division club. The son of a former Nice player, a fan of Pep Guardiola and Napoleon Bonaparte, Elsner does not have much to lose in Picardie.
Barely older than some of his players, like the former three-colored international Christophe Jallet (35), recruited this summer, Luka Elsner, a natural calm, or at least in appearance, has also indicated that one should not "expect a revolution" in his way of doing things. A way to do that League 1 will discover Saturday. A wink of fate, he will make his baptism of fire in Nice, the city where he spent his childhood and adolescence, facing an opponent he dreams of training.