If there’s suspense at the top of the leaderboard, what about the bottom? Auxerre, 14th in Ligue 1, is only one point ahead of Strasbourg (15th), Nantes (16th) and Brest (17th), first relegated. Barring improbable coincidences, one of these clubs will join Angers, Troyes and Ajaccio in a descent to four, which will allow the passage to eighteen clubs in the elite. It is in this dismal context that Nantes, in bad shape at the worst time, goes to the Francis-le-Blé stadium on Wednesday (9 p.m., broadcast on Amazon Prime Video).
“It hurt us this final”, admitted, bitterly, Jean-Charles Castelletto Monday. The defender was at the forefront of the stampede on Saturday against Toulouse, in the final of the Coupe de France (0-4 after 31 minutes, 1-5 final score). Whistled by their players, Nantes are reaping the fruits of seeds they planted months ago. They have not won for nine matches, a series started at the same time as their elimination from the Europa League by Juventus (1-1, 0-3). “We are a shitty team,” let go of coach Antoine Kombouaré after a defeat at Auxerre on April 16 (2-1).
SEE ALSO – All the goals of Nantes-Toulouse in the Coupe de France final on April 29 (1-5)
“They want to play with pressure, so we’re going to laugh,” said Kombouaré, castigating the lack of character of his players. In this gloom, there are also, surely, technical and tactical failures. Kombouaré wants “that together (with the players), we find the solutions”, he said on Monday. “I will propose things, reassure them so that on Wednesday, we show another face. Let’s attack this game better.” It has to be, because Nantes “does not want to relive this feeling of shame anymore”, according to Castelletto. The supporters have no more, and they have made it known.
About fifty ultras from the Loire Brigade entered the training center on Monday, “for a muscular but smooth exchange” with the players according to L’Équipe. “Their anger is legitimate,” conceded Castelletto. Sounding the alarm is too. Because this crisis in Nantes, Brest is licking its chops. The Finistère club has lost only one of its last seven L1 matches, and that was against PSG on March 11 (1-2). “We will have to go all-in in all matches, throw ourselves into the battle at 200%,” announced coach Éric Roy.
A long-time sports director, absent from the benches for ten years, Roy (55) arrived in a fake firefighter costume at the beginning of January. He maintains the reflexes of a club guided by the instinct of survival, almost as much as Nantes. “It’s pride that will speak” at the end of the season, predicts Castelletto. “We have six games left for such a big club to stay in L1. Six matches in a career … We compared to the club, we are nothing at all.
Six matches is not much but it is a lot. After Brest, Nantes will receive Strasbourg on Sunday (3 p.m.), in another meeting with six points for maintenance. Six matches is enough for a dismissal of Kombouaré to be rumored in the event of another fall in Brittany. Jocelyn Gourvennec could be called to the rescue.
“When you lose, doubt sets in, you ask yourself a lot of questions. In these moments, you should not be afraid, encouraged Kombouaré on Monday. It’s hard, it’s a complicated moment, but I have to reassure everyone. We are not sick, we are in very good health. We still have the future of the club between our feet.” A good part will be played out in the warmth of Francis-le-Blé.
