Tarbes-Lourdes faces Sables Vendée this evening (8 p.m.) at the Quai de l’Adour.
This is a hard blow for the Tarbes-Lourdes Union. Marius Chambre will not play this evening against Sables Vendée. “At the end of the last training session, Marius injured his adductor. He will be absent for three weeks,” his coach Stéphane Dao told us.
Without its captain-leader-scorer, what can the Bigourdane team do? “You have to trust the players who remain. It’s always better to be complete, but as I say, you always field the best possible team on the big day” replies Dao. Still without the Lithuanian Augustinas Venckus who will return to the squad at the start of next year, with Thibault Alexis who is gradually improving his physical condition, a little injury here, another there, the Union must face the difficulties of the moment. Which made the Bigourdan technician say: “We’re not going to cry, we’re not going to forfeit. We’re going to play.”
Forget Levallois
The squad still has some good numbers like the great Mike Joseph, Tom Wiscart Goetz who will eventually find his favorite position with Pierre Hourné Raubet, Fabien Ateba important in delicate moments, Niels Pharose always precious, Jules Leroux whose physicality counts, Mo Queta aerial and scorer, Tidiane Badiane a strong one who must regain his confidence… There is really enough to make a competitive team which will also be able to count this evening on a very favorable to the Quai de l’Adour.
As long as we forget the defeat at Levallois. Stéphane Dao hopes so: “We have to. We have no choice. We will see if it was well digested or not. We did our self-criticism. We came back to the 4 or 5 mistakes we made in the last minute and in overtime.”
Ambitious Vendéens
And now the Sables Vendée appear where the U’boys had conceded a narrow defeat (93-89) on October 4.
A revenge? It’s a match that must be won. It’s not a revenge” replies Stéphane Dao who adds: “They have good players in all lines. It’s like all Nationale 1 teams in a very competitive championship.”
We think of the winger Klein, author of 20 points against Angers recently, of Mipoka, Maughmer and Prolhac, usual scorers, of Ludovic Martel, the ex-unionist, very present in the racket, of Lessort, Gassama, strong men of the The workforce led by François Sence.
Les Sables still aim to place in the top seven. They are currently 9th with 23 points for 7 wins and 9 losses.
“Apply what you know how to do”
And to beat them, Stéphane Dao hopes: “We will try to apply what we know how to do best. And do it very well. Without worrying about the opponent. We know the strengths of the Sables. We will have to make a copy where we are, that we be irreproachable in what we want to develop.”
Furthermore, the Pyrenees coach did not fail to notice that in an advanced match, Challans defeated Quimper on Wednesday evening (77-68): “It proves that everyone can beat everyone. We have to do be careful. I often hear about 2nd place. I repeat that you have to be in the top seven before doing anything else, to try to be in the top five. And. we must respect all opponents. In what we want to do, there is no fire in the lake As long as we have our destiny in our hands… I think that the truce will do a lot of good. and injuries to get off to a good start in January If we had said in September that we would be in this position at the end of December, there are not many who would not have signed…”
