OL: “The locker room is sacred”, Fabio Grosso discusses the leaks and the mole in the locker room

Red lantern of Ligue 1 after having collapsed at home last weekend against Clermont (1-2), Olympique Lyonnais faces Olympique de Marseille this Sunday evening (8:45 p.m.) in a match already crucial for its future. Fabio Grosso, who replaced Laurent Blanc at the head of the team on September 18, is aware of this.

Present at a press conference this Friday, the Italian coach insisted on the need to move “forward”, even after the famous leaks to the press which would have particularly annoyed him at the start of the week: “Of course, we spoke with the players. I wanted to speak with the players. For me, the locker room is something sacred. Things from the locker room should not come out, he declared to journalists, in comments reported by RMC Sport. The locker room is the place where we build our future. It's difficult to build, so if you put yourself in danger, it's not good. At the end of the meeting, I thought it was not essential to do a workout on top of that. But the most important thing was to say things to each other, and we moved forward.”

This Sunday evening, the 2006 World champion would also play very big. According to information from Le Progrès, the 45-year-old technician could quickly give up his place on the bench in the event of poor results in the coming weeks. The local daily indicates that the former left-back who played for OL between 2007 and 2009 has two matches ahead of him to get back on track, the one against OM, Sunday at the end of the tenth day, then a new reception, that of FC Metz on November 5 in the championship. Les Gones will then continue with a very tough schedule, traveling to Rennes first before returning to Groupama Stadium to host Lille then going north to Lens.

SEE ALSO – Fabio Grosso’s first workout

These assertions from Progress go against the official discourse given by owner John Textor who tried to appear confident despite the catastrophic situation. After the setback against Clermont, the boss of the Lyonnais even reinforced Grosso in his position, giving him all his confidence by displaying astonishing serenity while his team took on water from all sides: “He's a good coach. He does a good job. The team improves every game. I made a mistake, I should have made this decision during the summer and allowed the new coach to do the preparation during the summer.

But Grosso's situation has continued to weaken in recent days. In his show Rothen s'ignée on RMC, Jérôme Rothen pointed out the work of the Transalpine by claiming to rely on the confidences of certain players or their entourage. “There is hardly a player left who can see it. There are experienced and very experienced players who even told me that he was perhaps one of the worst coaches they could have had. He alienated everyone,” said the former midfielder.

These words had made Grosso jump, who, furious, had summoned his group in order to find out a little more about the identity of those who had confided a little too much in Jérôme Rothen. But faced with the silence of his players, the coach decided to cancel the afternoon training session by telling them, according to L'Equipe: "If you are tired, you can go, rest today today.”

Since then, the sessions have resumed but Grosso knows that his future has darkened and that a victory against OM led by his compatriot Gennaro Gattuso could bring a nice brightening. “I know this job is still in danger. I am aware that we have to work to put things in place. I accepted with great desire and happiness. I am very disappointed with the results, but we try every day to find the solution,” he concluded, assuring that he had “a good relationship with the president.” What will John Textor think on Sunday evening after the Olympic duel?