They are not debined. Authors of a more than mediocre performance against a surprising Ukrainian team, the Brestois did not seek to escape their responsibilities. Well aware of not having been up to the task, everyone underlined how their defeat punished crippling errors at this level: those of Chardonnet, author of a completely failed control on the opening score, and Bizot, guilty of having mowed down Azarov in the area. “These two goals are two gifts that we gave them,” says Kenny Lala.
“We missed out…”
However, it was collectively that the Brestois failed on Wednesday evening, and no one wanted to dwell on these individual errors. “We missed out on this match. We conceded two goals which could have been avoidable but overall, even without these two goals, I think we would not have deserved to win tonight,” said Hugo Magnetti.
“We didn’t recognize the team”
Not one to mince his words, their coach Éric Roy deemed his players' start to the match “incomprehensible”, without falling into anger either. “It’s a stranger to me. There was nothing to lose and on the contrary everything to gain because our European campaign was already successful. It's incomprehensible to see that in the first half hour, we didn't play at all. We didn't exist because collectively, we weren't together. We didn’t recognize the team.”
-And the Brest coach continued: “We lacked energy and quality. And from the moment you don't play, you're far from the opponent, you have a team block that's broken and you don't win a duel, it's difficult.” A poor performance punished by two equally “largely avoidable” goals, including a first “almost gag” according to Éric Roy. But who, “on arrival, makes the difference”…
