This Saturday, Amiens Métropole Volley-Ball travels to Vincennes as part of the 5th day of the championship. The opportunity for Ali Nouaour's men to take their first points against a team with confidence, but which remains within their reach. An Amiens victory is expected and would launch their season.
Faced with Vincennois freshly promoted to Elite, « there must be trust. Watching the game again quietly on Sunday afternoon […] against the Rennes team, we had a rather good match. With Mehdi, we wanted to encourage the players. It's true that we still had a good performance, little was missing to get a tie-break and a first victory. Today on paper, it is Vincennes which has one more victory than us and an honorable defeat against Beauvais 3-2. These are practically matches that are played to 6 points […] You have to go there with the knife between your teeth » declared Ali Nouaour.
After 4 matches against teams which are currently between 1st and 5th place in the ranking, “I told the players that we had a series of matches which was logically within our reach if we managed to play like we did against Calais or against Rennes. You have to know how to respect your opponent even if it is a team which, last year, played in national 2” indicated Ali Nouaour. The Amiens coach returned to the individual experience that the Amiénois possess in contrast to the Vincennois. You will still have to be very careful: « This is a team that will fight. Above all, don't take the easy route. Every match is going to be a battle whether we play against the first or we play against the last. The last currently is us, it might be time to leave this last place. It requires a match and an imperative victory against Vincennes without putting pressure on yourself.” In order to prepare for this meeting, the Amiens staff took into account the physical and mental state of their players: “We felt the players were a little tired. Indeed, with the start of the championship that we had with the big teams that we were able to play, we had to be there physically […] We played a few more games so that the players, despite the four defeats in a row, could keep smiling in preparation for this second part of the first part of the championship. […] These four matches, plus a French Cup match, are well within our reach. You have to take it step by step and that means a great performance against Vincennes.” affirmed the Samarian coach.
The keys to the match
In order to best prepare for this meeting, Ali Nouaour studied the Vincennes team. According to him, « their game is quite simple. We will have to be clean in the block/def relationship but also serve well« because against Beauvais, Vincennes was disturbed in the service, “so it’s up to us to serve well. I think it will be in the reception service duel. We have to be strong, I think that's their weak point. Of the two matches that I was able to see, this remains their weak point where the passer moves a lot, but the attackers manage to make the difference. So we will have to serve well and set up our block/defense to recover as many balls as possible and score the point behind.” One of the keys to the match also lies in the concentration that the players will have during the match: “against Rennes, we saw three rotations when we missed the serve. If we have a good block/def relationship, perhaps work a little more tactically and technically on the service and then trust the collective more […] You have to know how to stay the course from the first point of the first set to the last point of the last set. We have to stay focused. Afterwards, we have a Coupe de France round against a national 3 so that could allow us to achieve victories. Who says victory says confidence before tackling the derby against Beauvais. For now, we need to concentrate, you have to take it game by game and it starts with Vincennes« confided Ali Nouaour.
Elite Championship 5th day
Saturday November 2, 8 p.m., Vincennes, Georges Pompidou Cultural Center: Vincennes Volley Club (6th, 3 pts) – AMVB (9th, 0 pts)
Etienne Rycek
Photo credit: Kevin Devigne – Gazettesports.fr
