Boxers in a hurry before the duel against Anglet

As the end of the season approaches, the Bordeaux Boxers could be compared to the three wise monkeys. One has his hands on his eyes, the other on his ears and the last on his mouth. They are believed to represent the wisdom of seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil. However, in the case of the Bordeaux players, it would be better for them to see, to hear and to say that things are not going well. After the non-match at home against Nice, it is even completely impossible not to talk about it.

“When we don’t win a duel, not a puck race and we don’t play with each other, it’s complicated to hope to win,” summarizes coach Olivier Dimet. “We were expecting a defensive game with a rhythm to put us to sleep, that’s exactly what happened and we fell into the trap,” explains the player elected man of the match on the Boxers side, Mathieu Pompei. We, although we played together in Cergy, we played too wide and as Nice closed the middle of the ice, it hurt us. »

They knew what to expect but still fell into the trap of being an inconsistent team. All without reaction during the match. Apart from Pompeii’s goal to save honor in the final minutes and the collision at the end of the second period which earned him 2 minutes in prison. Had he also done it to try to wake up his teammates? “Yes, it crossed my mind a little, but not too much,” confides the main person involved. It was mainly because I had eaten two or three shots of stick before and that was enough. “I was hoping maybe it would cheer my teammates up a little but unfortunately, it didn’t work.”

“A question of state of mind”

The weeks pass, the problems persist dangerously and with them the same questions: Don’t the players want to? Are they tired? Are they definitely waiting for the play-offs to make the famous efforts requested by the staff? The hockey season doesn’t leave much time to respond but Dimet still warns: “If we don’t go to Anglet this Tuesday (8:30 p.m.) with this feeling of urgency, if we don’t have the will to win our duels, we will lose again. It’s a question of state of mind. »

And even if there is a rebound on the Angloye ice, the yo-yo feeling will remain present and the 3rd place, which now only holds one point with Rouen, will not wait until the vice-champion of France is once again seriously assuming its status. “We’ve been talking about individual questioning for a while, we’re going to have to take action,” says Dimet. I’m not worried yet but we need a real awakening, an awareness about the next matches. Yes, but on the other hand, Hormadi is fighting to maintain its position, has already beaten Bordeaux three times in three matches and will not give up. In other words, the perfect poster to (again) bounce back or doubt a little more.