The story does not say if he was sipping a cocktail in a deckchair, but Peter Bosz was having a good time in Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean, when he received a call in May from Vincent Ponsot, director. general of football for Olympique Lyonnais (OL). Two days later, the Dutchman officially succeeded Rudi Garcia on the bench of the Rhone club.
He was quick to confirm one of his character traits: a certain frankness. At the very start of the season, after a 3-3 draw against Clermont on August 22, the 57-year-old coach scolded his players by publicly regretting seeing “ things that don’t happen in U12s “, under 12 years old.
Since then, his team has given the feeling of gaining momentum. OL will face PSG on Sunday, September 19 at Parc des Princes, in the wake of a series of three consecutive victories (1-0 in Nantes and 3-1 against Strasbourg in the league; 2-0 on the lawn of Glasgow Rangers in the Europa League Thursday September 16).
In 2017, while coaching Ajax Amsterdam, Peter Bosz crossed paths with OL in the Europa League, leaving the president of the Lyon club “ the memory of a semi-final which had caused us a thousand martyrs “. Four years later, during the presentation press conference, Jean-Michel Aulas welcomed the signing of a coach corresponding to the required profile: ” experimented “, offering a game “ offensive “, recognized for “ make the young people play “. With an additional advantage: his mastery of the language of Molière, assimilated during his playing career.
Think of football as a game of chess
When he arrived at Sporting Club de Toulon in 1988, the one playing midfielder did not yet have a hairless head, but a thick tuft of brown hair that sticks to the time. In less than six months, the Dutch learn French and “ manages to speak it as well if not better than some French people “, laughs Rolland Courbis.
As he could not be satisfied with his technical qualities, the Dutchman was forced to compensate with his tactical qualities.
His former trainer mostly remembers a “ great professional “. ” We, at the time, in Toulon, we were “bad guys” in the field. He quickly adapted. And let’s say it wasn’t the last to set foot », Adds Luigi Alfano, his teammate at the time, a specialist in the art of cutting. After three seasons in the harbor, the midfielder will leave for Feyenoord Rotterdam, with which he will be Dutch champion in 1993. In the meantime, he has been selected to participate in the 1992 European Championship with the Batavian selection.
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