Before the trip to the Rhone, and the match against Olympique Lyonnais, the Paris coach Patrice Lair delivered his impressions on some of the issues and keys to this summit meeting. A poster scheduled Monday night, closing the first phase of this season 2017/2018 of D1.


Lyon and Paris finished last season with these two finals, in the Coupe de France and the Champions League, which left this impression contradictory. Olympique Lyonnais won both titles and achieved a new hat-trick, but Paris could also have won. Paris, which has often been badly dealt with in recent years against OL, was able to hold onto a team that reigns over French and European football today.


Search for the fault


A Lyon collective that Patrice Lair still sees "stronger than last season. "An analysis he explains including the arrival of Lucy Bronze" behind [and] balance that right side "but also an Ada Hegerberg who has" found this side scorer of other years "with already 15 goals in the league since the start of the season, not to mention the 13 already scored in the Champions League.

A very "complete" workforce with "doubled" or even "tripled" positions, including the example taken by the Paris coach of the "right corridor" with "[Shanice] van de Sanden, [Delphine] Cascarino, [and] also Élodie Thomis who can play. It's a beautiful world. A group in Lyon in which Patrice Lair does not see "many of its players" can play and win "individually". A modest (quite relative) Parisian workforce that brings the Parisian technician to highlight the "collective strength" of his team that he believes will be decisive to get a result. If he would be satisfied with a draw, Patrice Lair said "why not go win over there".

Among the strong points on which Paris could rely, the set pieces, which have allowed PSG to win against Montpellier and Paris FC after "unlocking" the score on phases stopped. Side weak point, Patrice Lair hopes to erase "this inefficiency in front of goal" and avoid "frights" as against Bordeaux where the Parisiennes were held in check for more than an hour. A Parisian weakness that according to Patrice Lair is "the strength of Lyon" able to score on every occasion with Le Sommer, Hegerberg or Abily.


Ambitions and means


Last season, the match between the two teams was partially truncated by the absence of stake, but Paris will move to Parc OL on a lawn where he did not shine during the two previous meetings played in the Lyon area. . An impressive stadium, but Patrice Lair says that programming the game on a Monday can also result in less support from the public Lyonnais, less numerous on a game earlier this week.

This match, Paris knows, is perhaps already decisive for the players of the capital, since in case of defeat, the title may be out of reach for PSG. A result that could change the face of the Paris season whose ambition remains a qualification in the European Cup, and therefore maintain Montpellier remote. On the psychological level, Patrice Lair thinks that a "positive result Monday night (...) can inflate the group".

A result that could also have an effect at the club level and accelerate the changes desired by the Paris coach. Lair wants to "expand the group a little in quality and why not set ambitions for the second half of the season. "He keeps across the throat missed transfers Amandine Henry (to the OL from January) and Tabitha Chawinga (part in China). The recent arrival of Bruno Cheyrou as sports director should be complemented by that of a sports coordinator (team manager), a structuring around the group thought for the future, but Paris could he grant these ambitions to the present in case of victory Monday in Lyon?

This is one of the issues behind this match for the Paris coach, because these are also parameters that are taken into account in the title race and the Parisian ambition to be able to compete one day with the OL not only on a match, but on the whole of a season.