Interviewed by So Foot before his ouster last month, the former Montpellier coach estimated that if the competition was higher in Montpellier, Téji Savanir would no longer have his place in the team.
Is it because he knew he was threatened when carrying out this lengthy interview with So Foot that Michel Der Zakarian allowed himself some liberties? The former Montpellier coach was still in office when he attacked Téji Savanier with very harsh words, severely criticizing the attacking midfielder's lifestyle, incompatible according to him with the high level.
“He is impulsive and that penalizes us”
“He and Khazri, I've been fighting with them for a year and a half to make them lose weight. But I gave up…”, lamented Der Zakarian last month, when he unknowingly responded to his last interview as MHSC coach.
“It's a question of personal will, and they don't want to lose weight, they think they're good at that weight. Well no, they're athletes in the face, you can't have five, even eight kilos in too much over the duration of a match, you explode or you disappear, he still castigated.
They're lucky they don't have any competition, otherwise they wouldn't be playing.
Savanier sent off… for Gasset's first match
Michel Der Zakarian is convinced that Savanier could have qualified for the French team “if he had worked harder and better”. The French technician believes that “his way of living, in his community with the family” prevented him from being “a top player” in the long term. Der Zakarian, while emphasizing the player's technique and vision, expressed other reservations about him, notably this propensity to bail.
“He is impulsive and that penalizes us. Even though we have discussed it with him, when the wires touch, he has difficulty controlling himself, managing this injustice that he feels. Last year, I hoped that 'he would finish the season without being sent off, and in Toulouse, he got one.'
Coincidence, or not, the facts once again proved Michel Der Zakarian right. During the first match following the sidelining of the coach, since replaced by Jean-Louis Gasset, Téji Savanier collected yet another red card… against Toulouse (0-3). Since the start of his career, Savanier has accumulated 37 warnings and 9 exclusions in 178 matches played in the elite.
