The Kid's alright - Getting the last L'OL: Tanner Tessmann at Olympic Lyonnaise

It's great we are starting to see an American presence between the ownership and Tessman going to Lyon. We went to a Lyon vs. Sevilla Champion's League game ~5 years ago in Lyon, France, but other than the game we didn't know much about the city/area and didn't really have much interest. I'm glad we went; Lyon is an amazing city and the people are really friendly. We also were lucky with our timing because we were there during The Festival of Lights (December 8) which is a huge event for Lyon where they celebrate the end of a plague they were going through by placing candles in all of their windows and closing down a significant portion of the streets to cars with thousands of people taking part in a festival. I would definitely recommend checking out a game at Lyon for anyone who is looking to visit that part of the world.

 

On the bench:

🦁 Notre 𝗫𝗜 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 pour affronter le RC Lens 👊🔴🔵#RCLOL pic.twitter.com/gekCuZhWXO

— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) September 15, 2024

 

Notre … Damn?

 

he's in at 88. Waning minutes of added time. 0-0 still

And it ends 0-0

 

looks like he's Matic's backup

 

Nemanja Matic or Charis Matic?

 

Otto.

 

Makes sense to me, similar builds, not horribly dissimilar play styles. Plus, getting asked to watch and mimic Nemanja Matic's movements during training isn't the worst thing in the world for a 22 year old.

 

I dunno... If he stays w/ Venezia he is starting nearly every game in Italy... Yes, Venezia will likely get relegated but he could have moved after this season and solidified a move to a team that wants him to start. In short, I was cool when I thought Lyon brought him in to start... but as a backup?... Not so much. The whole... "He gets to learn by watching the wily veteran do his thing" argument doesn't hold much water to me for a 22-year old who has been a pro home and abroad for years. Dude needs to be playing IMO.

 

He's already been through the get beat like a rag in Venice once and he is one who likes to win and gets vocal and plays harder when his team is behind. He seems to be managing his career to move up the ladder when he's ready and not just go for a bigger paycheck. Guessing a mid table team that will stay up is an improvement for on that needs a miracle to stay up and where he may not look good because of most of the rest of his teammates.

 

1. I think we gotta wait until he's had more than 2 matchdays at the club. With Europa League matches starting soon, there should be enough minutes to go around.
2. I don't think he was brought in to start, I think he was brought in with the promise of getting to compete for a starting role. In that sense, he's a great buy for Lyon: either he comes in and instantly makes the midfield better, or he's putting pressure on the current mids to play better while continuing to grow his game as young player with high upside. Matic is 36, and while older guys have been hanging around for longer, he can't have that many 3000'+ seasons left in him.
3. I don't know that playing 3000' while getting your ass handed to you 4-0 week-in and week-out is actually all that beneficial for development after you've done it once before.

 

You guys make good arguments. I just thought he was getting enough hype from high profile teams that he would have been able to find a club that thought of him as a starter right off the bat. In the end it will be up to him to prove to the team/coach that he deserves more minutes.

 

Tessmann on the Pepi plan. "Follow the geezer, hope for the worst!"

Lyon did tighten up their D a bit this week. They really were just letting the goals come at them, and if that continued I think it might have gotten Tanner more minutes more quickly. We'll see if they have battened the door down over all or if this was a one-off. Lens has a good record but has not scored much yet this season - 4 in 4 and only beat Angers by 1-0, so we'll see if this week was Lyon getting stingier, Lens being Lens or a combo.

 

True, but he wasn't an ever-present at Venezia until Vanoli took over and said "you're a DM now", after which he became an automatic starts-and-goes-ninety player. Vanoli's at Torino now and Venezia made it clear that Tanner wasn't in their plans, probably because unlike Vanoli, di Francesco is a devotee of the de Zerbi school of inviting the press.

There's also the fact that he was hot now and a season fighting a (probably) doomed relegation battle would do little to increase his value. This window was the time to leave, from Venezia's perspective as much as his, which is why none of the coverage this summer had him staying.

Like the other teams he was linked to, Lyon are a much, much bigger and better club and he arrived in just before the window closed, giving him no time to integrate into his new team. That process is really only starting now so we won't be able to assess his PT situation until early November.

 

He'll be getting the last LOL

 

On the bench:

🦁 Notre 𝗫𝗜 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 pour affronter Marseille 👊🔴🔵#OLOM pic.twitter.com/f69BJf8jcu

— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) September 22, 2024

 

I think they spell it L'OL over there.

 

Who's his competition for playing time?

 

Matic

 

Tanner stayed on the bench in a 3-2 loss against OM playing down a man nearly the entire match

 

On the bench in Europa League:

🦁 Notre 𝗫𝗜 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 pour affronter l'Olympiacos en @EuropaLeague 👊🔴🔵#OLOLY pic.twitter.com/oi3wsXG2Yt

— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) September 26, 2024

0-0 in the 20th.

 

67' 🔄 Triple changement : Wilfried Zaha, Tanner Tessmann et Saïd Benrahma remplacent Malick Fofana, Nemanja Matic et Rayan Cherki.

1-0 #OLOLY

— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) September 26, 2024

Won 2-0.

 

Half an hour in an EL match against a decent side and with the score still at 1-0 is quite encouraging.

Doubly so when the team went on to get the second goal

 

I think they definitely value him based on the contextual scenario you mentioned. I'm fairly certain he would be a lot more integrated had this transfer happened at the beginning of the window and not the end.