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Football/Soccer - Mess at FC Nantes: Off-field tragedies overshadow Nantes' travails
PRESSURE ON BORDEAUX
Bordeaux goalkeeper Ulrich Rame admits the pressure is on his side to pick up three points against Nantes following the defeat to Paris St Germain last time out.
Les Girondins, expected to be genuine title contenders this season after running Lyon close last term, slipped to a 1-0 reverse at the Parc des Princes last weekend despite dominating large parts of the contest.
With Lyon and Marseille only one point ahead of them after two games played, the defeat is not disastrous by any means.
But Rame knows Bordeaux need to respond at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday.
"There will be a lot of pressure on us in the match against Nantes," said the veteran custodian, whose side beat Caen 2-1 in their opening league match.
"The defeat at the Parc des Princes was more a question of our state of mind than anything else. We must quickly get back on the right path.
"The past is the past. Last season has gone and we must from now on start again from a new base.
"We mustn't rest on our laurels just because of what we did last year. And we can't think the season is going to be easy because we won the Trophee des Champions. It is the other way round actually."
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc is again expected to be without striker Marouane Chamakh, who is closing in on a return to action after his ankle injury.
Summer signing Diego Placente is not yet match fit and will again play for the reserves this weekend.
Nantes, back in the top flight after a year in Ligue 2, have picked up one point from the first two games.
Centre-half and captain Jean-Jacques Pierre is out after sustaining a broken cheekbone in midweek, and he will be replaced by Yoann Poulard.
Christian Bekamenga is in the squad after returning from Olympics duty with Cameroon.
David Sommeil's heart attack and the death of two Marseille fans put the weekend's Ligue 1 action into perspective
Tuesday August 26 2008 09:57 BST
Nantes got through four different coaches the last time they were in Ligue 1 and by the end of this week the newly-promoted side could be on their second of the season after losing 2-0 to Bordeaux at the weekend.
Current boss Michel Der Zakarian, a former title winner with Nantes in 1983, was under pressure as soon as he guided the team back into the top flight after one year in Ligue 2. His Nantes side had foregone la jeu à la nantaise, the quick-passing style made famous by the academy that produced the likes of Marcel Desailly and Didier Deschamps, and instead scrapped their way to promotion. New owner Waldemar Kita who, upon taking over in the summer of 2007, dropped the 'Atlantique' from Nantes's name, changed the club badge, tried to bring in Jean-Pierre Papin as coach, and then rewarded Der Zakarian with a one-year contract. This summer he tried and failed to appoint Henri Michel, who coached Ivory Coast at the World Cup, as technical director.
Nantes are joint-bottom of the table with one point from three games, and the ambitious Kita is looking at the situation "and how best we can re-motivate the players". Alain Perrin, fresh from coaching Lyon to the double last season, is reported to be top of his wish-list. "He is a good coach but there are others," Kita said ominously.
Kita is as guilty as the Nantes fans of expecting too much this season. The squad has too many second-division players to finish in Ligue 1's top half, while the glory days are long gone - Nantes were the last team to win the title, in 2000, before Lyon's dominance began, and the last French side to reach the Champions League semi-finals, losing 4-3 on aggregate to eventual winners Juventus. "The scent of crisis at Nantes," was France Football's front-page headline.
In truth, the problems began with the sacking of Raynald Denoueix after a tricky few months in 2001, the season following that title success. Just as Newcastle have never recovered from the dismissal of Bobby Robson, so Nantes have lacked stability and success ever since. Denoueix, meanwhile, took unfancied Real Sociedad to within one game of the 2003 La Liga title but, despite receiving offers from both Lyon and L'OM, has not coached since 2004.
On Sunday night, Nantes conceded a goal in the first five minutes for the second week running, as David Bellion latched on to Michael Gravgaard's backpass only to be upended by goalkeeper Tony Heurtebis. Cavegol scored the penalty . "We have to start asking questions like why the strikers get no service and why we start matches so poorly," said Nantes midfielder Ricardo Faty. "It's too early to panic," responded Der Zakarian, whose words look set to fall on deaf ears. Fernando's late volley sealed the win for Bordeaux, who have bounced back from last week's loss to Paris Saint-Germain and are third in a familiar-looking top three behind Marseille and Lyon, both of whom won this weekend.
Marseille president Pape Diouf wanted his team's match at Le Havre postponed after two fans were killed in a car crash on their way to the game. The fans refused to sing during the match and after Bolo Zenden's free-kick won the game, coach Eric Gerets would not talk football.
"There are times when you just don't care about the result, and this is one of them," he said. "Today, this club lost two players." And yet his players showed considerable mental strength to come away with the points: their defence looks stronger now Ronald Zubar, red-carded on Saturday, is partnering Hilton in the middle, and with Mathieu Valbuena yet to return from injury and Elliot Grandin impressing in his cameos as substitute, Marseille are early leaders, ahead of Lyon with the same goal difference (+5) but more goals scored.
Grenoble came back down to earth from their two early wins after a 2-0 loss at Lyon, but they emerged with some credit, as Daniel Moreira troubled a worryingly out-of-form Cris. Lyon coach Claude Puel had the luxury of experimenting with his team: Karim Benzema started wide-left with Frédéric Piquionne in the middle, while Mathieu Bodmer played at centre-back with Jean-Alain Boumsong stuck on the bench; but he is yet to decide on a preferred formation. "Having seen the players work in training, I can now see why Lyon have been French champions for seven years," said their first goalscorer Jean II Makoun.
Next week, Lyon have a derby against Saint-Etienne, whose 1-0 defeat at Le Mans left coach Laurent Roussey struggling for answers. "I just don't recognise my team," he said. "I can't understand the lack of commitment from older players and even the younger guys who played with hunger last year look different to me as well." This is in stark contrast to Le Mans, who once again sold their best players this summer (seven of last year's starting XI) but have found decent new ones to replace them. Their match-winner was one-time Portsmouth player Thorstein Helstad, who scored his second goal in as many games.
Looking up at Le Mans from bottom spot in the table is their former coach Rudy Garcia, who is struggling for points at Lille. They lost 2-1 at Rennes and the departures of Makoun and more significantly, Puel, are looking harder to fill than those of Bodmer, Kader Keita and Peter Odemwingie in previous years. This might be a tough season for them.
Elsewhere, Stéphane Sessegnon showed what an important player he could become in scoring PSG's excellent equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Sochaux, while Valenciennes, without defender David Sommeil, who suffered a heart attack in training last week, continued their brilliant home record with a 3-1 win over Lorient. Sommeil, 34, collapsed after training on Wednesday and was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by two team-mates, David Ducourtioux and Rafael Schmitz. He is now out of intensive care but is not expected to play again. That, and the Marseille fans' tragedy, puts the problems of Nantes and their quick-fix owner into some perspective.
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Off-field tragedies overshadow Nantes' travails
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