SM Caen. Bruno Baltazar, an ambitious man in Malherbe

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Inducted on Sunday December 29, 2024, just a few hours after the dismissal of Nicolas Seube, the Portuguese Bruno Baltazar was officially presented this Tuesday, December 31, the day after his first training session. And, the least we can say is that the former coach of Radomiak Radom (Poland) does not hide behind his little finger.

“Caen is the ideal club to go to Ligue 1”

After a word of “professional solidarity” and “respect and admiration” for the career of his predecessor, Bruno Baltazar showed himself very ambitious.

The objective is first of all to maintain it, as high as possible. But you have to look high. My goal is to coach in Ligue 1, and SM Caen is the ideal club for that.

Throughout a tortuous journey, which took him from Cyprus to Poland, via England or Bulgaria, the 47-year-old coach never found the “stability” he was looking for. “I have known countries where it was a slaughter for coaches,” he smiled, in his perfect French. In Cyprus, I was champion but I was kicked out because we didn’t qualify for the European Cup.”

A dream, bring Malherbe back to Europe

Cet European horizonBruno Baltazar does not hesitate to mention it for his new club. “It’s a dream, a utopia today because we are closer to the National,” he admits. But, for me, SM Caen is a Ligue 1 clubstructured for Ligue 1, with Ligue 1 players and supporters.

To achieve this goal, the Lisbon native, who came with his assistant for eight years, Guilherme Ramos, is counting on a strong playing philosophy, based on “attractive and offensive” football.

I like my team to have the ball, because that's how we have the best chance of getting to the goal. But always with the objective of moving forward, of creating spaces to attack. While maintaining balance and being aggressive when losing the ball.

“No need to make a revolution”

According to him, the current workforce has the qualities necessary to turn things around. This is the impression he got when watching the team's matches, confirmed by the first training sessions he led. “There is a need to change things, but not to make a revolution,” believes Sabri Lamouchi’s former assistant at Nottingham Forest. There is a bit of a lack of collective quality, but there is a lot of individual quality.”

Bruno Baltazar has three days ahead of him to assimilate his precepts to his group, before the reception in Clermont, Friday January 3 (8 p.m.), in D'Ornano.

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