Winner of the Coupe de France two years ago, the Nantes club is struggling in Ligue 1. The days of the Caledonian coach are now numbered.
Without a victory since the end of August, Nantes finds itself in a roadblock before challenging Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday for the 13th day of Ligue 1 and Antoine Kombouaré’s days on the bench now seem numbered.
“Maintenance as quickly as possible”this is the only objective set by Franck Kita, deputy general director of the club, during the back-to-school press conference at the beginning of July. But to the seven points taken during the first three days, Nantes added only three during the following nine.
“We had matches that hurt us a lot, like against Angers (1-1), Saint-Etienne (2-2) and even Reims (1-2)”three matches in a row where the Canaries had led without winning, captain Pedro Chirivella underlined Thursday at a press conference.
Last Sunday, the reception of Le Havre, 19th, was the perfect opportunity to get back on track. With an avoidable goal conceded in the 3rd minute and a second on an apparently off-target shot deflected into his goal by Fabien Centonze, it turned into a nightmare.
The pressure put on by a few dozen individuals members of the Loire Brigade, who came to the edge of the pitch, causing the match to be temporarily stopped and a partial closed session for the upcoming derby against Rennes, further poisoned the atmosphere. .
In a club which has consumed 16 coaches – with two stints for Michel Der Zakarian and Kombouaré – in 17 years of presidency of Waldemar Kita, the epilogue already seems written even if the main person concerned pretends not to think about it. “Today, as long as no one tells me it’s over, I’m here”he said at a press conference.
While they had sacrificed Pierre Aristouy last season, after 13 days and when the club was 11th, the Kita seem more hesitant this time. On the one hand because of the very high cost of terminating the contract which still runs for a year and a half, while the club’s finances are weakened by the drop in TV rights. But also because they themselves will admit that the replacement of Aristouy by Jocelyn Gourvennec – before having to change again three and a half months later by recalling Kanak – had not resolved anything.
“We can do the sessions we do, we can have all the coaches in the world, if ultimately, on the pitch, we are not at the level individually on small details, in Ligue 1, it cannot work”Chirivella lucidly summarized.
However, beyond an agreed speech on his combativeness and his experience of the fight to maintain, or on the support of the group, not very evident on Sunday, the signals sent by the coach are really not good.
Apart from an immutable 4-3-3, we would be hard-pressed to say how FC Nantes wants to play, as what the players propose with the ball is vague and clumsy.
Likewise, his very changing compositions suggest that Kombouaré does not have a clear eleven in mind or not a sufficiently qualitative squad, or even both. Finally, his insistence on putting his team’s mediocre performances into perspective with carefully chosen statistics borders on denial.
“We had 70% of possession of the ball. We had crosses, we had shots, we entered, I think, around twenty times in the Le Havre area”he listed Thursday. Yes, but Nantes was only dangerous once, with a long shot from Moses Simon.
“We lack success. We perhaps also lack technical accuracy, certainly”he conceded, but “at least there were intentions to move forward”pleaded the coach again.
Moving forward, there will be no question at the Park. We will have to turn our backs and hope not to sink again. An honorable defeat could give Kombouaré a little more time, but a new shipwreck could undoubtedly send him overboard.
