Lyon host Lorient on Sunday with Paulo Fonseca still searching for a breakthrough after nine straight matches without a win. The side’s last outing ended in a 0-0 draw at Angers, and the coach said on Friday that he needed to look at the problem deeply and find solutions.
Fonseca said Lyon had energy in defense but no solutions in attack, and added that the team has more trouble against compact blocks. He pointed to the absence of Malick Fofana and Ernest Nuamah as part of the problem and said Lyon needed more individual initiative to break teams down.
The timing matters because Lyon begin the round sixth in Ligue 1, two points behind third place, and they cannot afford many more slipups if they want to stay in the race for Europe. That pressure has grown after a season that has already included elimination by Lens on penalties in the Coupe de France and by Celta Vigo in the Europa League after a 1-1 draw and a 0-2 defeat.
The slump is a sharp turn from a run between December 11 and February 15, when Lyon won 13 matches in a row, and from earlier league victories over Lens, Lille and Monaco. The club also kept its pace in Europe for a while before the recent decline, but the broader picture is more troubling after a reported loss of 208.6 million euros during the 2024-2025 season, making qualification for Europe a financial issue as well as a sporting one.
One complication for Fonseca is that Pavel Sulc was ruled out for Sunday’s match because of the same muscle injury setback that has already interrupted his season. Sulc had returned on March 19 after an ischios injury, then played 103 minutes for the Czech Republic against Ireland on March 26 and 112 minutes against Denmark on March 31, so Lyon lose another option just when the attack needs one.
The schedule gives Lyon little room to settle in. They travel to Paris-SG on April 19 before home matches against Rennes on May 3 and Lens on May 16, a run that will show whether Fonseca can turn his message into goals or whether the club’s slide keeps deepening.
