Former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette has attracted attention for his answer on the future of Lyon manager Peter Bosz.
Bosz, who took over at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in 2021 after a stint with Bayer Leverkusen, brought Lacazette back to the French club over the summer. However, results remain poor for last season's eighth-place finishers, who are at risk of another season without European football.
After winning four of their first five matches, Lyon's results have dropped off in a big way. Friday's draw at home to Toulouse was enough to end their losing streak at four, with top-scorer Tete scoring the opener before Rafael Ratao levelled things up for the visitors, but the pressure on ex-Ajax manager Bosz remains.
"I just want to win matches, but it’s the board that decides," Lacazette told Amazon Prime Video (via Get French Football News ) when asked about Bosz's future. "I am here to play. I give everything I can to these colours, to the club.”
Lacazette played the full 90 minutes against Toulouse, but the decision from Bosz to withdraw fellow forward Moussa Dembele was questioned by the former Arsenal man. "Being an attacker, when you need to score a goal, it’s always annoying to be taken off the pitch.," he said.
"I thought we were playing well with Moussa up front. But the coach makes the choices, he has his reasons, and we are obliged, in quotation marks, to respect his choices.”
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"I will speak to him about that, not to you," Bosz replied when asked by a journalist about the relationship between him and Lacazette. "In response to your question: is there a fracture (between me and Lacazette)? – no.”
The return of Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso had initially looked to have provided a return to form for Lyon, who reached the Europa League quarter-finals last season but struggled domestically. The former has four goals to his name this season, but none since netting in a defeat at Lorient on September 7.
Bosz's team have lost several of the players who played a big part last term in the league and in Europe. Lucas Paqueta left for West Ham United in a big-money summer move, while neither Tanguy Ndombele or Emerson Palmieri joined Lyon permanently after featuring on loan last season.
League leaders Paris Saint-Germain face Reims on Saturday night, and victory for Christophe Galtier's team would see them end the weekend 14 points clear of Lacazette and co. Perhaps more worryingly, victories for other top four rivals over the weekend could leave the 2020 Champions League quarter-finals some 10 points outside the qualification spots for next season's competition.
