Decryption – The Parisian club moves this Saturday with a direct competitor for maintenance, Perpignan. Four days from the end of the regular season, the pink soldiers are trying to get up and avoid the worst.
Do not give in to vertigo, push back to the attraction of the void. The Stade Français sits on the edge of the abyss at the time of going to challenge Perpignan, this Saturday in Aimé-Giral. The two teams occupy 13th place, a small point in front of the red lantern, the promoted Vannes. A three-way fight to avoid finishing last (direct relegation) or penultimate (dam on the field of the unhappy finalist of Pro D2). To avoid the worst.
From leaders to supporters, including staff, fear embraces. What would be the future of the Parisian club if he had to leave the elite for the first time since his return to the summit in 1997? Will the owner, the Helvetico-German businessman Hans Peter Wild, continue to maintain the team in artificial breathing? Since the wealthy boss of Capri-Sun resumed the Stade Français, in 2017, he said he had to inject almost 20 million euros per year. Without the slightest result. Hopes born of a semi-final last season sank over the long way of the cross with the current one.
Rumors report a bored, but also irritated president. Through the bibes that exploded the staff during the season: Karim Ghezal then Laurent Labit were thanked, the bar being entrusted to English Paul Gustard (who would dream of leaving at Leicester at the end of the season …). By players with double -speed motivation in a workforce shared between club historicals – which do not “Do not want to be part of the first generation to bring down the Stade Français en Pro D2” –and the reported parts, which affect their wages and await the verdict to monet their talent elsewhere (fifteen would even be at the end of the contract and the leo Barré nugget would have a departure clause in his in the event of relegation). In summary, there is cottage at all levels, and the Parisian ship, in full storm, could sink body and soul.
Certainly we did not win outside, but that does not mean that it will be impossible. It will be a motivation for us to tell ourselves that we are able to seek this victory outside which would allow us to take out our heads a little
Macalou Rescue
Obviously, facing the microphones, everyone says the opposite. Finally, those who continue to express themselves. For the past few weeks, Julien Tastet, the forward coach (also leaving), has been the attendant for the staff. On the players side, it is the Titis Sekou Macalou and Lester Etien who repeat in a loop that the awareness has finally occurred, that the click is soon, that the situation is not so desperate.
However, it has become. By aligning three consecutive defeats (in Montpellier, against Toulouse at home, at the neighbor of Racing 92), by conceding 114 points (38 on average) during these three games, by always displaying the same scenario (in the match until the break, total collapse on the return from the locker room), the Parisians are increasingly worrying. Crash in big words – “revolt”, «Adn you club», “Impossible is not Paris” – Without paying for acts.
This week again, we have attended the same impulses, the same promises, vain so far. The Stade Français is indeed the worst team of the Top 14 outside: no victory and a tiny defensive bonus point brought back from Brittany… Sekou Macalou evacuates the statistics. “The luck we have in this sport is that, every week, we can question ourselves. Certainly we did not win outside, but that does not mean that it will be impossible. It will be a motivation for us to tell ourselves that we are able to seek this victory outside which would allow us to take out our heads a little. We will hang on that: for us, nothing is impossible… ”
-“The mind has been our problem since the start of the season”
Lester Etien goes in the same direction, tightens the spectrum. “I have the impression that the mind has been a bit of our problem since the start of the season. We have the players for, we have the team for, we have the infrastructures for, but it is mentally that we have a little trouble. We know that we can go win in Perpignan. This is only a question of mentality ”estimates the winger. But precisely, did this good mentality, have all his teammates? “She has really changed for two weeks, Sow the Cristolien at the Stade Français since 2018. It is our role to the ancients that everyone realizes that we are not far from bringing down the club and that we have to move … “ Even those who are about to leave the club? “Honestly, we don’t discuss this for now. We all have different contracts but we are all in the same boat. There is a month of competition, we are not on the next! ”
In any case, morale is quite affected – “After the defeat against Racing, we spent a very complicated week, the head down”admits Macalou – and the hour serious enough to push Matthieu Blin, an emblematic ex -farmer of the club and now consultant in charge of the fray, to mobilize the historic channel to invigorate the troop. “A lot of elders left us little messages to say the importance of the club, to remind us of what place we were today and that we had to completely change the sights. But that it was not finished, hastens to add Lester Etien. That, until the end, you have to give everything. It is a bit of DNA of the Stade Français. Until the last day, it’s not over … it puts a little pressure, but a positive pressure. We know that we are followed, supported, and it feels good. ”
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It’s not over, it’s true. Provided you reconnect as quickly as possible with victory. If possible this Saturday with a direct competitor and in a boiling arena. A real final for maintenance? «Non, replies the Parisian winger. We are not there yet. There are three games behind, including two at home. This trip is super important, this is not the death match. The season does not end on Saturday. “ Same bell sound at Sekou Maclou. “Each match will be a final. So we’re going to hang on to the end and we’ll see “evacuates the third-line. “There are four left, Extend Julien Tastet. You can’t just focus on it. To say if you win it, you are saved, if you lose it, the season is over, it’s wrong. We will have to take points with each meeting. This is only the first step in our quest for maintenance, in front, it is true, to a direct competitor. ”
We were a little more demanding on certain individual attitudes in the field, in duels, in supports, but by valuing everything we do well
Julien feels
What were the levers activated, for two weeks, to try to reconnect with success? Have the game, have the strategy evolved? “If we do the same thing, we will have the same results. So we changed 2-3 things in training, to find another dynamic. But we cannot question everything in four games from the end ”summarizes Macalou. The staff applied himself not to despair Billancourt. “With a different approach, in a constructive way.” More coué method than incessant reproaches. “We had a period of exchange to understand the evilsexplains Julien Tastet. We do things well but we lack consistency. We studied in particular the problem of half-time. How to evolve to start on the same level of performance after the break, because this is what puts us in difficulty. ”
All while taking care not to drive a little more a group already morally affected. “We strive to enhance all our positive actions even more, to give them confidence to express their full potential. We did not take the side of a video session of an hour where we are yelling, where we point the responsibilities of the players. On the contrary, we have shown them that when we respect the roles, that we put intensity, that we are technically clean, we manage to put our game in place and to be effective. We were just a little more demanding on certain individual attitudes in the field, in duels, in supports, but by valuing everything we do well … “
Cuddly therapy in summary, to hope, finally, bring back a victory on the move. While recalling the agitated past of a French stadium finding itself in the revolt, in an additional soul, when the situation becomes desperate. The famous DNA of the lightning club. “I hope this legend will continue to exist, grimace more than SEKOU MACALOU. We do not say no to all these little beliefs, we need it … But we are mainly counting on the work and the efforts that we have to make to let go and get back to win. ”
