Times are tough for the promoted Martigues who experienced a nightmare this Tuesday evening on the pitch of FC Metz (6-0 defeat) during the 6th day of Ligue 2. After the meeting, the coach Thierry Laurey still took the time to analyze this heavy setback with, despite everything, an interesting first 35 minutes before giving too many gifts to the opponent.
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“It seems quite simple to me: when you give goals to the opponent, you pay for it. We have too many defensive shortcomings. Against Grenoble, we were down to 10 in the second half but there, we were equal in numbers and there was no reason to melt away from the 35th minute. On the second goal, there was a general apathy on set pieces. We can’t give up like that. The boys fought, but we gave the first goals to Metz and they were just waiting for that. We don’t have total confidence, we want to secure the ball back instead of going forward. We had opportunities on the wings, we had to insist on that. When I see the first three goals, it’s in an armchair. It’s not possible in Ligue 2 to concede goals like that! I especially don’t want to target anyone because I’m the one primarily responsible. But if we are not more rigorous, we will not be able to exist. The game plan was the right one, but we cannot put Metz in an armchair. We lack far too much defensive rigor. The players will have to sublimate themselves a little because no one will give them any gifts. There is also communication to have, we can manage to stem the attacks.
We played against teams from the Top 5, okay. But it’s not because they’re better than us that we have to lose. From the first goal onwards, we took too many waves with unnecessary turnovers. Mentally, we have big shortcomings. We’re going to have to improve on that and find players who are capable of responding every time. If we don’t ask ourselves the question today, it’s because we’re not aware of it. We haven’t scored in four games and we’ve conceded too many goals. We can’t behave like that, not that the guys don’t care, but we have shortcomings. Afterwards, we gave off a bit of an illusion in the second half with the Metz goalkeeper who made some great saves. But football isn’t just about doing 3-4 actions. It’s mostly about not conceding and it’s not because you concede a goal that it’s over (…). Today we have to keep quiet, continue to work and be more pragmatic. We can’t give the opponent such balls. I’m very motivated to get back into the fight on Friday against Dunkirk. Losing in Metz is not an infamy, but not like we lost tonight.”
Source: Maritima Media
Photo Sylvain Thomas/FEP/Icon Sport
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