2023-05-09 07:55:00
The finalists of the Coupe de France are experiencing a disastrous end to the season. But the hope of a maintenance exists, a task entrusted to the coaches of the U19s and the women’s team.
By NJ with AFP
© SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS / AFP
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Lhe season could have been great for FC Nantes. But after its terrible defeat in the final of the Coupe de France against Toulouse, 5-1, and the setbacks against competitors for the maintenance in Ligue 1 (2-1 defeat against Auxerre, draw 2-2 against Troyes and the defeats 2- 0 against Brest and Strasbourg), there is no more time to lose for a club which is now first in relegation, two points behind Auxerre, 16e.
And to succeed in this important final sprint for the future of the club, FC Nantes has decided to part ways with Antoine Kombouaré. A decision that can be explained by the results, the coach’s last victory in Ligue 1 dates back to February 12 (1-0 victory against Lorient). In the last eleven meetings, the Canaries have taken only 4 points out of 33 possible.
And it was internally that the solution was found, in the person of Pierre Aristouy, coach of the U19s. He will be responsible for leading the team for the last four games of the season and will be assisted by Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, current coach of the women’s team.
For Kombouaré, successes then failures
Arrived in February 2021, the former central defender had succeeded for the first two seasons, on the banks of the Loire. That season, he had snatched the maintenance in Ligue 1 and carried the team to victory in the Coupe de France, the following year, his first title in more than two decades.
This season, it is surely the sequence of matches that will have got the better of Antoine Kombouaré. The team was perhaps not strong enough to assume a European Cup, in which FC Nantes did well, a new course in the Coupe de France and the marathon that constitutes the championship.
President Waldemar Kita therefore chose to separate from the Kanak coach, who was at the end of his contract, in an attempt to create an electric shock. And for lack of an obvious external solution, he decided to entrust the group to two house coaches in order to allow himself the possibility of bringing in someone more renowned for next season in the event of maintenance.
” There is hope “
Everything now rests on the two new leaders, who know the club very well. Pierre Aristouy was trained and launched in Nantes, before returning as a coach and experiencing good results with the U19s. For his part, the Venezuelan Vizcarrondo played more than 130 games with the yellow and green jersey, between 2013 and 2017.
Their task will be tough against four opponents who will not give a gift: Toulouse, executioner of the Stade de France and bitter defeat of the 2021 dam; Montpellier, revived by a Michel Der Zakarian, former coach of Nantes and who still wants Kita; Lille, in full sprint for Europe; and finally Angers, already in Ligue 2.
“We suck, but the 16e place is at two points, she holds out her arms to us. There is hope. We have to kick ourselves in the ass,” Kombouaré assured on Sunday. So it will be without him.
“Everyone questioning themselves”
Deprived since last summer of Randal Kolo Muani, gone to shine in Germany and in the France team, the team has lost much of its bite. With Andy Delort still silent in L1 since January, the energy of Mostafa Mohamed and the flashes of Ludovic Blas were not enough: 17e attack of the championship, the team totals only 35 goals in 34 days.
“We are in an ultra-negative spiral, we cannot get our heads above water, so we will all have to question ourselves”, warned captain Alban Lafont on Sunday.
In order not to experience a catastrophic season, despite the European Cup and the Coupe de France, FC Nantes therefore has four finals to play. The first will be this Sunday, against Toulouse, at the Municipal Stadium.
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