Ligue 1 special: Mistakes that Claude Puel made during his time at Olympique Lyonnais
After a three-year trophy-drought, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 president Jean-Michel Aulas chose to relieve Claude Puel from his duties as the head coach of Les Gones.
There wasn’t a better time to be appointed the coach of the Rhone giants than 2008. Alain Perrin had just left the Ligue 1 giants after helping the club to its first domestic double. When Claude Puel arrived, Les Gones had already won the Ligue 1 seven consecutive
times.
It all started at the turn of the new millennia when Jacques Santini helped Lyon to their first Championnat. The trend was continued by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Houllier. However, as it turned out, Alain Perrin was to be the last manager to have won
something for Lyon.
The departure of Perrin to Saint-Etienne marked an end of an era in which Lyon dominated French football.
Claude Puel joined the club on June 18, 2008. A lot was expected of the 49 year old who won an unfashionable AS Monaco side the French Ligue 1 in the 1999/2000 Ligue 1 campaign. However, it was not to be as Les Gones faithful had to make do with three silver-less
years during Puel’s reign as the coach at Stade Gerland.
Recently, the Frenchman was sacked and replaced by Remi Garde. Although the jury is still out on the former Lyon player, Garde has not been burdened by title expectations unlike his predecessors. Jean-Michel Aulas knows all too well that Les Gones have a
lot of work to do before boasting their title credentials.
Many experts suggest that Puel has left the team in shambles and Garde’s biggest hurdle would be to help the players overcome their lack of confidence. In a time when the club is searching for its true identity, Aulas might have done a great act by bringing
in a man who fully understands the values of Lyon.
During his reign, Puel made a lot of bad choices whose effects were felt a lot last season. Bettor.com takes a look at a few of those things that Puel should have avoided during his three-years in charge of the Rhone club.
Offloading Loic Remy and Hatem Ben Arfa
Upon his arrival, Claude Puel deemed youngsters Loic Remy and Hatem Ben Arfa surplus to requirements and sold them to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127 respectively. Gregory Coupet was also not deemed good enough by Puel and the veteran was sold to Atletico
Madrid after 12 years at the club.
Though Coupet’s absence wasn’t missed, Remy and Arfa’s departures made no sense as the duo was a product of the Tola Vologe training centre. Loic Remy went on to become an important member of the Nice side and joined Marseille last summer and has done fantastically
well in his first season with Les Phoceens.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hatem-Ben-Arfa-c15884 on the other hand made a promising start to life at Marseille and then joined Newcastle United on loan before securing a permanent switch to the English side. The two departures really affected Les Gones as Lyon failed to find creativity
in the middle of the park and finished third in the 2008/2009 Ligue 1 for the first time in seven years.
The same trend continued in the 2009/2010 season as Lyon finished second in the league and failed to win any trophy. Marseille won the Championnat after finishing six points ahead of Lyon.
The same things happened last season as Lyon once again failed to land a single domestic trophy under Puel for a third consecutive season. Lyon finished third in the Ligue 1 standings as Lille won the Championnat after 54 years.
The arrival of Garde might not bring instant success to the trophy-hungry club, but it might help Lyon in getting past the mess that Puel has left behind. Though Puel guided Lyon admirably in the Champions league, the club always fell short of achieving
its aims in the league which must have been a priority for the former AS Monaco coach.
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