Ligue 1 2022/23: Five Promising Players Who Laurent Blanc Must Revive At Lyon – Scout Report

After an underwhelming performance in his first and ultimately only full Ligue 1 campaign in charge of Lyon last term and an equally underwhelming start to the 2022/23 campaign, Peter Bosz has been dismissed as manager of Lyon, with former Bordeaux, France, PSG and Al-Rayyan boss Laurent Blanc set to return to a French top-flight dugout as Lyon boss this weekend.

Blanc achieved domestic cup and league success with both French clubs he’s previously managed. Due to that, along with the illustrious playing career he enjoyed, the former centre-back comes to Groupama Stadium with a massive stature. One would imagine that the Lyon squad will be keen to impress their new boss as he begins his tenure in charge of the underperforming giants.

Blanc arrives at a club that has failed to win any of its last five league games. The new boss will hope to oversee change in that regard straight away but faces a tough test at Rennes in his first game on Sunday, with Les Rennais currently sitting four points ahead of Les Gones on the Ligue 1 table.

This tactical analysis piece presents a scout report examining five players whom we believe must be revitalized under Blanc at Lyon. These five players either fell out of favour, never really had much of a run in the squad or simply failed to perform to their maximum levels under Bosz for one reason or another, and unlocking the potential in some of them could be key for Blanc, certainly in his first few months in charge before he can do any business in the transfer market.

For our analysis, we’ve created some data profiles for the five players comparing them with players from their position(s) in Europe’s top-five leagues (Ligue 1, EPL, LaLiga, Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga) for the period specified on the visuals corresponding with our discussion of those players to provide some insight into their playing styles and ideas for how Blanc may look to utilise the players within his tactics as he seeks to fire up a lukewarm Lyon.

Alongside raw metrics from Wyscout, you’ll see ‘possession involvement’ (a combination of passes received per 90 and passes per 90), ‘positive passing’ (a combination of forward passes per 90, progressive passes per 90 and passes to the final third per 90), ‘penetrative passing’ (a combination of through passes per 90, passes to the penalty area per 90 and smart passes per 90) and, lastly, ‘creative passing’ (a combination of xA per 90, key passes per 90 and shot assists per 90) labelled on our visuals.

Houssem Aouar, 24 years old, 175cm/5’8”, 70kg/154lbs

Firstly, let’s talk about Houssem Aouar. Total Football Analysis recently published an article examining the one-time Pep Guardiola-praised attacking midfielder whose performances for Lyon under Rudi Garcia in the 2019/20 season propelled Les Gones to their best-ever Champions League performance, as they reached the semi-finals.

In that tactical analysis piece, we chronologically review Aouar’s career, examining the various roles he played under different managers to determine why he transitioned from a key, highly sought-after player among Europe’s elite to someone allegedly part of a fire sale under Bosz this past summer.