By Aline Chatel
Published on 24 Jan 21 at 10:15
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After 21 days, the numbers are relentless. Not only do they not lie for the Stade Malherbe Caen, but above all they are crying out for the truth. Tenth of League 2 with seven wins, seven draws and seven losses, the club flying the American flag since the summer of 2020 has one of the worst dynamics in the championship. He is sixteenth in the standings of the last ten days with only one victory to his credit. In the same lapse of time, Clermont, Toulouse and Troyes took 15 points more than the Normans. Caen has not been so disappointing since the start of last season under the management of a certain Rui Almeida.
“The classification sanctions the true level of the team”
There are the points, and there is the game. The two go hand in hand in disturbing proportions. “The true level of Stade Malherbe is the current level and its ranking sanctions it, recognizes Pascal Dupraz with astonishing lucidity. We missed too many appointments. After 21 days, the level of the team is this. Malherbe can no longer hide behind false excuses which, moreover, only revealed his inconstancy at best, his inconsistency at worst.
The players do not give up but unfortunately after 21 games, we are in our place. It is not due to chance.
–“This team must play the top of the table”
Caen, who had built his good start to the season on a tight defense, lost the key. The goals taken from a set piece early in the match against Rodez (1-2), even though the Caennais had targeted this opposing strong point, confirm the immense excitement of the Red and Blue. Jonathan Rivierez is a case in point. “It’s not that there is less serenity in defense, it’s that we take goals,” he explains without really convincing. Caen is still as harmless against a regrouped block, the result is final.
We find it difficult to find each other and we do not create opportunities. When we lose 2-0, it’s immediately more complicated for us.
Therefore, the defender recognizes the failure of his team. “On paper, we have a team that must play at the top of the table,” he says. But we are tenth, which is not what we expected. With the potential this team has, we are not in our place. But on what we show on the ground, we are in our place. This Caen which announces the rise in two years, with a main shareholder eager to inject 15 to 20 million euros, is none other than a mid-table club at present.
Being in a soft stomach is hard. The season is still long. You have to work and go on. You have to win points quickly enough either to take cover or to look ahead.
–“The solutions are the same all the time”
Doing better is obviously a minimum for this Stade Malherbe that we could clearly see at the start of the season getting involved in the fight for the climb. “This team, with its young players, will do better in a while ”, assures a rather enigmatic Pascal Dupraz. How? ‘Or’ What ?
The solutions are the same all the time. There is often only one solution. It remains to be seen if it is now, if it is later. There will be a solution.
Is a departure possible? The Caen coach said it half-heartedly. “There are certainly people who will do better than me in the weeks to come. In the meantime, the one whose contract ends in less than six months is preparing a trip to Chambly, Saturday January 30, 2021. A match that no longer arouses great hopes or great fears …
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