La Rochelle (10th/14 pts) – Thouars (7th/17 pts), Saturday December 21 at 7 p.m. After five unsuccessful matches, the machine seemed to have been restarted by the two successes against Périgny (1-2) and Buxerolles (3-1). But the heavy defeat at Nueil-les-Aubiers (7-1) puts the Rochelais back in the face of their difficulties. In Deux-Sèvres, the exclusion of Amadou Soumah, when the score was 2-0, precipitated the fall with five goals conceded in 20 minutes.
“It’s a match to forget. In this type of opposition style, it is often the team trying to play the game that gets trapped, notes La Rochelle coach William Fraboulet. After the exclusion of our attacker, it was a collective wreck with individual errors. It was not FC Nueillaubiers who won, it was us who gave them the match. This slap in the face is hard to swallow, but you have to move forward and work harder in training. »
A defense to review
Obviously, the whole club is waiting for a real reaction. But the coach is aware of the difficulties. “We are starting from a very long way this year, so our ranking is not surprising. We always hope and want to do better, but we must not forget everything that has happened since the start of the season. There is one match left before the break, with a victory against Thouars, we would be good…”
The current situation is quite complicated. “We end the year 2024 with a team decimated by injuries and suspensions, but those who play will give their all to finish on a good note,” hopes William Fraboulet. The defensive sector must be reshuffled since Robin, Razavet, Popsé, Oumarou and Fofana will be absent for this meeting. Thouars Foot 79 has only won once on the road this season, at Rochefort (1-2) and Pierre Naudet's men remain with a defeat conceded to Périgny, on December 14 (2-0).
Bressuire (5th/18 pts) – Périgny (3rd/19 pts), Saturday December 21 at 7 p.m. In a positive spiral, Damien Leclère's men have the opportunity to become autumn champions for their first season in Regional 1. “It's not a goal, we laugh about it among ourselves but for us, our strength is is to take match after match… We are going to face a top player in the group whose objective is to climb. What is positive is that really, for 2-3 months we have been playing good football, we are solid defensively and above all we see a great group of friends and you can feel it on the pitch. »
Périgny decided not to take reinforcements during the break because, very satisfied with his group, the coach praises the qualities of his squad, which is their primary quality according to him. In a very tight championship, Périgny therefore has the opportunity to steal first place from Feytiat, the leader with 20 points but with one more match. In the rearview mirror, opponent Bressuire can also afford this provisional throne with a victory.
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