Each new project implemented in football takes time. Corn Nancy is already starting to run out. After six days, the club is red lantern of League 2, with a single small dot on the meter. With the second worst attack in the championship (3 goals) and the second worst defense (13 conceded). The last rout against Auxerre (1-4) this Saturday especially brings with it a lot of questions … Is there really a pilot in the Lorraine plane, dangerously nosing down?
Daniel Stendel’s press conference was heavy in the spans of Marcel-Picot. The face of bad days, the German technician sometimes takes a long time to think carefully about his words, then translated into French by his assistant. When he is not speaking, the coach stares in the dark. The slap that Nancy has just suffered is violent at home, in front of supporters whose impatience was reflected through whistles during the match, and at the final whistle. Where is ASNL going? By continuing like this, straight in N1… The club at Le Chardon gives off the impression of not controlling anything on the ground, of continually suffering, of being torn between the desire to press, and the fear of letting go. space in the back. Caught between two fires, Nancy does not manage to extricate herself from this bad spiral which worries for multiple factors.
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Players lacking confidence in this style of play …
“I am very disappointed, especially compared to the last two games because we lost the courage, we were not active enough, not enough protagonists in the matches, it’s a shame. This sentence from the coach after the defeat best sums up the difficulties of the moment in Nancy: the players are afraid. Fear of discovering yourself so much, of imbalance. The defenders are traumatized by the incessant waves in Picot. The broth against Toulouse (0-4), the same against Auxerre (1-4) … However, the counter-pressing requested by Stendel is uncompromising: if the entire team does not play the game of harassing the opposing ball carrier , it is fatally exposed to leaving boulevards between the lines and in depth with a distended block. « The style of play? Until then, it doesn’t work. It can work if everyone is involved, if we have the players for it, it’s a whole. But today, it doesn’t work. I’m wondering “, Giovanni Haag already confided frankly before this J6 match in Eastern Republican. In a nutshell, this reflects a big misunderstanding between the technician, his instructions, and the receptivity of his group, not serene with this way of seeing football on the field.
… But Daniel Stendel does not intend to change his mind
« Whistles in the stands? It is normal that the supporters are not happy. To help the team, the coach is ready to take responsibility for himself. But when the players are superior in defense and take goals, or when there are individual errors… We have to find solutions as a team, as a club. Do I feel threatened? I want to obtain victories and it is normal that I am criticized ”, Stendel reacted instantly with disappointment. The problem is that if the former Barnsley coach was recruited by Gauthier Ganaye, it is precisely to bring this style of play says “counterpressing” on League 2. But it is still necessary to have the appropriate players to apply it, and to know a little bit about the specificities of the division. Worse, with his many pre-season interviews, the president himself sold the gun on the style of play that ASNL was going to adopt with this new coach. Easy for old guys like Philippe Montanier or Jean-Marc Furlan to prepare their team to easily counter them. This Saturday, Stendel repeated that the team was more dangerous when it was going to recover the ball high, than when it had the possession. A change in style of play is therefore not to be expected, and the players will have to whip during the international break to agree and in unison under penalty of chaining disillusionment.
#ASNLAJA Too much excitement! Quickly led to score and lacking in confidence, the#ASNL never managed to get back into the game.
???? @NANCOMCY1, score partner
➡ https://t.co/afBuUitH2k pic.twitter.com/mG37OEBNXy— AS Nancy-Lorraine (@asnlofficiel) August 28, 2021
What grounds for hope for the future?
To end on a more positive note, Nancy will pick up professional defenders in the next few days. Injured before the start of the season, Thomas Basila made his return this Saturday. William Bianda has just arrived and will take advantage of the break to integrate and work physically. The experience of El Kaoutari, who will return from injury, will not be too much in this sector either. Sending the young Guessand (16) to the front against a Charbonnier had something a little suicidal in Stendel against the AJA … But these returns will not do everything, the ASNL must raise the tone in aggressiveness and in the use of the ball. In front, the line of attack is attractive with the trio Thiam, Biron, Jung. But here again the automatisms and movements must be fine-tuned. Just like the penalty kick scored by Bondo on Saturday night, where several players wanted to shoot, proof that everything is still a little hazy and that for the moment the collective expression is not at its maximum. The site is therefore still immense after more than a month of competition. And expectations will be increased tenfold after the break. Nancy cannot afford to start again on the same dynamic. Otherwise Gauthier Ganaye, who divides his time between Ostend and ASNL for the presidency of the two clubs, will have to make strong decisions before the accumulated delay is too important …
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