“From the moment we have to play it, we will do everything we can to get through this new round. We will present a solid team,” assures Olivier Pantaloni. For the coach of FC Lorient which has still not won in 2025, the question of playing or letting the Coupe de France slip away, even though the matches will now take place in the middle of the week (until the final) , does not really arise for a formation with a large workforce. Well almost !
Planned rotation
Because if the Corsican coach displays “the desire to go through one more round, because we are playing against a hierarchically inferior opponent”, he admits to not thinking of fielding his best team of the moment. “There will be a rebalancing in terms of playing time.”
Or even a change of system (from the now recurring 4-1-4-1 to the 4-4-2 at the start of the season?) because his two favorite forwards Bamba and Tosin, also elected best player of December in Ligue 2 on Tuesday, are on the flank, and that the third, Soumano, has already played 90 minutes against Metz… In defense, it is Adjei and Formose Mendy who are missing… while a crucial trip to Dunkirk (3rd of Ligue 2) is looming.
Advantage and disadvantages
In any case, the Lorient coach does not lose sight of his number one objective: “The priority of our season is the championship, of course. » He sees in this Coupe de France, a handicap of playing three matches in the week but also the advantage of being able to “keep everyone involved and to have this competition which pulls everyone up. »
Also, ultimately, what seemed to bother the Lorient technician the most was especially the gap with the round of 16 at Dunkirk which was being played on Tuesday evening. “They will have 24 hours of additional recovery while on top of that, we will have to travel”…
The likely teams
FC LORIENT: Leroy – Silva, Report, Talbi, James – Dog, Makengo, Ponceau, Le Bris – Pages, Soumano.
Substitutes: Mvogo (g.), Genton, Kalulu, Yongwa, Katseris, Diarra, Fadiga, Avom, Kroupi.
Coach: Olivier Pantaloni. Main absentees: Bamba and Adjei (ankle); Tosin (thigh), Mendy (adductor), Abergel (knee).
AS CANNES : Aymes – Vinci, Fisher, Adderrahmane, Smith – Ndiaye, Mambu, Ndoye (cap), Hafidi – Domingues, Abbas.
Coach: Damien Hott.
France
