Lyon coach Fabio Grosso has been provisionally replaced by academy coach Pierre Sage as the struggling Ligue 1 club announced Thursday it had begun proceedings to dismiss the 2006 World Cup winner.

Former Italy international Grosso, 46, oversaw just one win in eight matches since taking over as coach from Laurent Blanc on September 16, and leaves with Lyon three points adrift at the foot of the table.

The club said in a statement that the decision to move on from Grosso was driven by the poor run of results and came following an "in-depth analysis of the first-team situation".

Lyon have just seven points from 12 games and relegation is starting to seem a genuine prospect for the club that won seven consecutive titles between 2001 and 2008.

Grosso was injured last month when the Lyon team bus was stoned on its way to a game at Marseille, leaving him with cuts to the face that required stitches.