Florent Toniutti: “Not everything revolves around him, but a lot of things as soon as there is a problem, in fact”

“Not everything revolves around him, but a lot of things whenever there's a problem, actually. I remember a sequence at home, against Avranches, where Bordeaux could not come out. We try to start on the left, Avranches slides, and this side is blocked. Same right side. So we come back to Lassana Diabaté, who plays long on Andy Carroll. Since no one was out behind him, he controls his chest, puts the ball on the ground, turns around, and it then goes towards the wings. There are ways for Bordeaux to go up the field without going through him, and by going on the ground, by going to combine on the sides. But it's true that if there is a problem, we extend on him, and it becomes a duel, second balls, and we move on. Afterwards, as long as he is on the field, you might as well play with him, because he is still well above the division. Certainly, it is not ultra mobile, but it is hard to move. Besides, it's quite funny to see the way opponents try to manage it. On Châteaubriant, they tried to take two shots. But by doing that, if he won his duel, behind, there were huge spaces to attack in depth. Against Avranches, they were trying to put someone on him, and this player had difficulty so he left him… And at the end of the match against Avranches, on the crosses which aimed at him in the area, there was a defender who didn't even play the ball, who just tried to jump at the same time as him to disrupt his momentum. It's true that for Bordeaux then, the room for improvement will be to create things more on the sides, to have midfielders capable of doing more things with the ball because until now the midfielders are in a fairly sober role . Perhaps it’s Thomas Trazié who will bring something different to this area.”