- Thanks to his eternal assistant Claude Fichaux, Rudi Garcia always follows closely the evolution of young players in the training center, whether at Losc, at OM, and now in Lyon with notably Rayan Cherki (16 years old).
- He sometimes remains cautious when integrating young talents into his workforce, and he can be hard with them in his management.
- In the quarter-final of the Coupe de France, this Wednesday (9:05 p.m.) at Parc OL, Rudi Garcia will notably find Marseille's Maxime Lopez and Boubacar Kamara, whom he hatched in Ligue 1.
Was it a poisoned gift? Rudi Garcia started Lyon's offensive midfielder Rayan Cherki (16) for the first time in Ligue 1, Sunday at the Parc des Princes (4-2), "to show him that when he works well, he can be rewarded". Proof of a pure formative approach on the part of the 55-year-old coach, who finds OM this Wednesday (9:05 pm) for a perilous quarter-final of the Coupe de France?
Director of the Losc training center on the arrival of Rudi Garcia in 2008, Jean-Michel Vandamme seems to think so: “Factually, Rudi had his trainer's certificate before obtaining the DEPF allowing him to train at a professional level. When it was necessary to find a successor to Claude Puel, THE absolute coach-trainer in France, this is one of the reasons why I came into contact with Rudi Garcia. When we see how he installed Lucas Digne as holder at 19 in Lille, we understand that he is not cautious to launch young people. There is even a trainer at heart ”.
"By launching Cherki, he gives himself a positive image"
Bernard Gnecchi, former president of Rudi Garcia in Dijon, is more skeptical: “Injecting (sic) young people, this also makes it possible to make positive waves… In the case of Cherki, it is not doing him a favor than launching facing PSG. In my opinion, Rudi knew he was going to lose the match, but by putting young people, he gives himself a positive image… It is also seduction ”. And an argument to draw in conf post-match in case of poor performance? After his defeat in Paris, he thus considered that the errors of the first period were linked to "a lack of youth".
Rayan Cherki aside, the rest of the typical team pointed to an average age of 28 on Sunday. Very promising for his debut with Rudi Garcia, midfielder Maxence Caqueret (19) has for example bitten his brakes on the bench in three of the last four meetings. And this despite competitors in his area, Lucas Tousart and Thiago Mendes, far from being unshakeable. Briefly appeared under the Garcia era, the lateral Melvin Bard and the striker Amine Gouiri (also 19 years old) now seem far from the pro team.
Coach @RudiGarcia after #PSGOL: “I enjoyed the second period even if it started with a gift from us. I did not like our tactical attitude from the first period. It is a lack of youth to have left so much space with our laundry. »Pic.twitter.com/7PbMOuWn0f
- Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) February 9, 2020"He's a passing trainer"
Rudi Garcia is to believe Bernard Gnecchi a pragmatic: “He is a passing coach, who must, in the short term, win games. He does not register over time like a Stéphane Moulin (Angers coach since 2005) ”. Rudi Garcia, whose contract with OL only runs until June 2021, must have immediate results. He cannot "do training for training", as Stéphane Jobard, current Dijon coach and former assistant of Rudi Garcia at OM, specifies.
"He is not involved in social action. If he appeals to young people, it is because he has detected a level of excellence in them, ”he continues. For this, Rudi Garcia relies on Claude Fichaux, former winner of the Gambardella Cup with the Strasbourg U19s, whom he presented upon his arrival in Lyon as his "training eye".
Idrissa Gueye and Lorenzo Pellegrini, trompe l'oeil successes?
He held the same role in Lille, AS Roma and Marseille, and he counts according to Rudi Garcia among his main successes Divock Origi, Lucas Digne and Idrissa Gueye (Losc), Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma), Maxime Lopez and Boubacar Kamara (OM). On closer inspection, Idrissa Gueye (now at PSG) had to wait until she was 21 to really enter the rotation of the pro-Lille group.
As for Italian international Lorenzo Pellegrini, he only played 23 minutes in Serie A, at almost 19 years old, with Rudi Garcia. "He revealed himself by leaving for Sassuolo, before returning to Rome," explains Andrea Di Carlo, journalist for the Roman radio TeleRadioStereo. Rudi Garcia relied on a very experienced group at AS Roma and his non-use of young talent has been a recurring criticism here. "
“For Lopez and Kamara, Garcia had no choice! "
Follower of young OM teams for Chronos, Idriss Kasmi remembers Claude Fichaux "always present at OM Campus and taking a lot of notes, even for U13 matches". He regrets that the duo did not launch the defender Abdallah Ali Mohamed (20 years old) or the middle Alexandre Phliponeau (20 years old) but he recognizes that “the door has not opened for them either with André Villas-Boas ". And Claude Fichaux and Rudi Garcia have managed the emergence of Maxime Lopez and Boubacar Kamara well.
After three small appearances with Franck Passi, the first was established as soon as Rudi Garcia arrived in Provence, during a League Cup match in October 2016 in Clermont (1-2). He then impressed Ligue 1 by his volume of play, at only 19 years old and despite a frail size. The second was integrated more gradually, according to injuries in an elderly Marseille workforce. "With Lopez and Kamara, we talk about cracks, with very linear progressions, judge Idriss Kasmi. Rudi Garcia had no choice! "
Paternalistic and “rough” management with young people
Earlier in his career, he still dared a few bets. "The leaders of the Losc training center were not counting on me," recalls Gianni Bruno, current striker for Zulte Waregem (Belgian D1). Without the intervention of Claude Fichaux and Rudi Garcia, I would not have obtained my first professional contract at 19 years old in Lille. For him, "Rudi Garcia manages young people a bit like his own children", between affection and sanction. He sums up his method in an anecdote.
During a match, I made a mistake by not shaking the hand of the partner who replaced me. Rudi Garcia then gave me a hell of a soap and he made me pay for this stupidity by not making me play in L1 for three months. "
In Marseille, Maxime Lopez also experienced this management "the hard way": Rudi Garcia thus forced him to change for a long time in the locker room of the reserve team, and not with the pros, despite his good performances. "This is what we have to face this hurried youth, who want to skip the stages: tell them that the adventure has only just begun", appreciates Serge Obré, sports director of Burel FC and very close to Maxime Lopez.
OM: Rudi Garcia has a method to prevent Maxime Lopez from taking the melon https://t.co/1KcGg5FRkS pic.twitter.com/jYBAKCcqZO
- 20 Minutes Marseille (@ 20minutesMars) January 11, 2017"Eden Hazard would have made this career with or without Rudi"
There remains of course the Eden Hazard case, launched with Claude Puel then becoming star of our Ligue 1 from 2008 to 2012 under the orders of Rudi Garcia. What merit should be attributed to Rudi Garcia in the brilliant trajectory of the Belgian phenomenon? "Rudi knew how to empower him very early and even give him the keys to the game," says Jean-Michel Vandamme. But let's be clear, Eden Hazard would have made this career with Rudi, without Rudi, as with Claude Puel or without Claude Puel. At Losc, we didn't train Eden Hazard, we only supported him. "
A particular example which pushes Gianni Bruno to a parallel: “Eden did not like to train and Rudi especially had the merit of taking it in the direction of the hair. Eden was class, and we can see that today, Rayan Cherki also has a gift. Rudi quickly realized this. " Four months after his controversial arrival in Lyon and an intriguing 9th place in Ligue 1, here is almost the only merit that the corners of the Parc OL recognize.
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