En Avant Guingamp had never shown this face until now. Even in Clermont, during the heavy defeat at the beginning of October (4-1), Sylvain Ripoll's men had largely existed, dominating an opponent who had finally taken advantage of their defensive wanderings to win. Saturday afternoon, at Moustoir, the first half, and in particular the start of the match, was one-sided. And the gap that separated them from their neighbor was gigantic.
Immaturity
“I don’t know if we were tense but we didn’t seem liberated,” explained the Guingamp coach after the game. We entered the game being a little wait-and-see. » Far from the level displayed last week, his players missed their start to the game and experienced enormous difficulty in rising to the occasion.
Faced with a Morbihan team that was clearly superior on a technical level, in particular, En Avant displayed a glaring lack of maturity on the defensive level. As evidenced by the three goals conceded, each time following big errors, it lacks this solidity which could sometimes compensate for a certain deficit in quality against the big teams in this championship.
Lemonnier injured
“It shows that we have a young team in terms of experience, in personal professional experience,” notes Ripoll. When we compare with Lorient, we see that this team is capable of getting through its weak times by giving very little. It is certainly this naivety which was one of the differences against Lorient. It also shows that we still have a lot of work to do, that we can still improve a lot. This experience, this experience, these are important elements over the duration of a season. »
At Moustoir, however, it was Pierre Lemonnier, the most capped of the Guingamp defenders, who showed feverishness for a long time, before leaving his place shortly before the hour mark following pain behind his thigh. A real blow for a team which is already paying dearly for the absence of Donatien Gomis whose return is not announced for several weeks.
A joker in the pipeline?
Against Lorient, the Costarmoricans were able, in any case, to measure the gap which separates them from the very top of the Ligue 2 table and a team programmed for the elite. If Matthis Riou's teammates are advancing, or even outperforming given the density of their squad, they remain constrained by certain limits, particularly on the defensive level.
This will be all the more the case with Lemonnier's injury which weakens a central defense already on a thread. This is why the idea of recruiting a joker is gaining ground among the staff and managers and the arrival of a central hinge player cannot be ruled out before Christmas. An element with impact, probably, and above all a little bit of experience.
