Lyon - seven-time French champions - could only finish eighth last season, and Bosz was given until 10 games into the current season to see if he could turn things around.

He couldn't, and Blanc was appointed in his stead. A FIFA World Cup winner as a centre-back with France in 1998, Blanc later won Ligue 1 Uber Eats as a manager with Girondins de Bordeaux in 2009 and then three consecutive times between 2014 and 2016 with Paris Saint-Germain.

Manu Petit doubted his former France teammate could turn Lyon around. "I hope I'm wrong, but I don't believe it," he said. "I don't believe it because the coaches [Bosz and Blanc] may have different personalities, approaches to management and training, but with the same results and players."

Blanc slate

But Blanc is quickly proving Petit wrong. The players in the squad are the same, but how he has used them has been different so far. Blanc's first game - a 3-2 loss to Stade Rennais FC - may have lent weight to Petit's pessimism, but Blanc has stuck to his guns, and the results are beginning to follow.

Where Bosz used a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation for much of his reign, Blanc has instituted a 3-4-1-2 system, which is getting the best out of his squad. Bozs's system meant that the striking department was zero-sum: Alexander Lacazette or Moussa Dembélé at the point of attack. Blanc has paired them.

Watch: Highlights of Lyon's 1-0 win over Lille

The results have been impressive. Dembélé's physicality keeps at least one of the opposition centre-backs pinned, freeing space for Lacazette to exploit. The former Arsenal man, who broke through at Lyon, has scored four goals in three games under Blanc.

Lacazette 'a poacher'

"Put balls into the box and Alex will score," Blanc said. "He's a poacher. As long as there's movement in the wide areas and crosses, he'll score."

At the back, Jérôme Boateng has been recalled having been frozen out by Bosz. Bosz didn't like the long-time Germany international stepping on his toes in the dressing room. Blanc welcomes his experience, even if Boateng is now 34.

Boateng's distribution remains world class, and if he has lost a yard of pace, the system with three at the back, with Sinaly Diomandé and Castello Lukeba either side, means there is plenty of cover. The clean sheet against LOSC on Sunday is surely the first of many to come.

Boateng experience

"I discuss a lot with [Boateng] in terms of playing football," Blanc also explained. "He's one of the experienced players in defence. Don't forget that we play with young players. We need that at the back. We can have others, but Jérôme's legit in this role. He's experienced many things in football."

It may be early days, but Blanc's faith in the right players in a system that gets the best out of them has seen Lyon win back-to-back games for the first time in six weeks which will feel like six months for OL fans, and Petit's appraisal could hardly look more wrong.