Beaten on Saturday at home (3-1), by Strasbourg, Nantes once again offered victory to its opponent and “does not learn from its mistakes”, lamented Canaries coach Jocelyn Gourvennec. Facing Alsatians who had not yet won in 2024, the Nantes residents suffered a seventh defeat in a row at Beaujoire which leaves them in 16th place in the play-off.
“It’s a missed second period which has a lot of consequences and which weighs us down,” summarized the coach. “It’s one of the rare times where we have a real reaction and we come back into the match, which we had difficulty doing until now,” he nevertheless underlined on the subject of the equalizer of his team in the first period, after conceding the opener after less than three minutes of play.
But a ball returned to the opponent 30 meters from the goal by young Nathan Zézé brought Strasbourg’s second goal, just after the hour mark, before a third a quarter of an hour later.
“It’s a youthful mistake (…) we’re not going to overwhelm him, obviously, he’s done very good things for us so far,” Gourvennec defended him, but “behind, things are going wrong completely,” he regretted. A scenario which tends to repeat itself in Nantes which has struggled to maintain its position in three of the last four seasons. “When there are things that have been happening like this for a long time, for 3-4 seasons (…) and you have the feeling that the team does not learn from its mistakes, that is a problem” , underlined Gourvennec.
After this setback, President Waldemar Kita spoke in the locker room. “He is touched by the situation, touched by the fact that we are unable to impose ourselves at home. There is incomprehension in him. He came to tell the whole locker room, that he doesn’t understand how we can show very good things and then disappear after 35 minutes,” said Gourvennec.
As for his personal future, he assured that he was “absolutely not” helpless and that his determination remained “unfailing”
