the essential
Having scored in each of the three games he has played this season, without ever starting, Shavy Babicka is the man in form at the moment for Toulouse. Enough to give his coach food for thought regarding his playing time, before TFC’s trip to Brest this Sunday, September 22 (5 p.m.).
How long will Carles Martinez Novell be able to afford to do without Shavy Babicka at the start of a Ligue 1 match? The question is certainly provocative, but many TFC followers are legitimately asking it given the Gabonese’s performances since the start of the season.
Absent through injury on the first day, Babicka then went on to score a goal in each of the following matches (Nice, Marseille, Le Havre). All without ever having started. Before this weekend, the 24-year-old striker was quite simply the most decisive substitute in the five major European leagues, tied with Colombian Jhon Duran, Aston Villa striker.
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Shavy Babicka, who also scored during the international break with Gabon, is in good shape, and the question of his starting role was already being asked before last Sunday’s match against Le Havre, for which Frank Magri was suspended. His late return from international duty had been an argument to justify his absence from the starting eleven, but this Sunday, Carles Martinez Novell has all his attacking strengths at his disposal. The Catalan will have to make choices.
In balance with Magri or Aboukhlal?
In an offensive sector where Yann Gboho is performing well and seems untouchable, starting Shavy Babicka would imply, in the system currently used, removing Frank Magri or Zakaria Aboukhlal from the starting eleven; the former has not yet scored and is struggling to get his season off the ground, while the latter has never regained the explosiveness and efficiency he had before his knee injury last September.
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The first option would be a form of disavowal for the Agenais, in whom the Toulouse coach still has confidence. The second is made complex by Aboukhlal’s status within the squad, but seems the most logical, Babicka’s profile being much closer to that of the Moroccan than to that of Magri. Martinez Novell, who also defended Aboukhlal’s contribution to the game, also underlines that the speed and explosiveness of Babicka, who arrived last winter at TFC, are ideal at the end of the match: “Sometimes, the one who starts the match needs to work more, the spaces are smaller… And at the end of the match they can open up. So my job is to find the best moment for each player,” recalls the Catalan, who immediately qualifies: “Be careful, I’m not saying that Shavy should be a substitute in every match. But if someone told me that he scores every time he comes on, I would sign straight away.”
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In an attacking sector where he can also count on Joshua King, or even Miha Zajc, Martinez Novell appreciates having the choice. “I obviously understand that everyone wants to start matches, but I have to make choices. Today, I have a very good team, I want everyone to be important. Besides, we no longer talk about substitutes, but about finishers. I like that.” This season, the best of them is called Shavy Babicka, and he probably aspires to be a little more than that.
