Like it or not, the proverbial elephant in the room came to the Nutrilait Center on Tuesday morning.
Mathieu Choinière spoke to the media in anticipation of CF Montréal’s return match against Forge FC, Wednesday evening at Saputo stadium, as part of the Canadian Championship. However, with the exception of a few questions after the defeat against the Columbus Crew last Wednesday, he spoke for the first time since what is known as “the Olivier Renard affair”.
The midfielder, remember, would have asked the CFM to exchange him, dissatisfied with the contractual offer he would have received. Since this bombshell broke, Renard has left his position as sports director. He and the president of Bleu-blanc-noir, Gabriel Gervais, mutually blamed each other for “differences” leading to the divorce. And the player, himself, went with a celebration which at least left room for interpretation after scoring on a penalty against the Crew.
Choinière, therefore, sat behind the microphones to discuss the match against Forge FC. But inevitably, a certain cloud linked to this soap opera hovered above him.
So let’s try to clarify everything with the main person concerned: Mathieu, did you, yes or no, ask to be exchanged?
The question was simple, direct. The answer was much less so.
As I can tell you, I am here right now. I am playing my matches. All I want is to help the team perform well and win as many matches as possible. Helping my teammates, helping the staff and helping the whole club perform well.
Mathieu Choinière
Well, okay… And how did he experience this whole saga, when rumors about him are still rife and CF Montreal is in complete disarray on the field?
“These are factors that the whole team cannot control. It’s not in our power to decide all that. [La façon dont] We managed all that by staying focused on the field and worrying about the rest of us. »
It appears that the mystery will not be solved today.
“Stay the course” despite everything
What is not mysterious, however, are the problems that CF Montreal is experiencing on the pitch these days. Troubles which reached their climax on Saturday, during this humiliating 5-1 thaw at the hands of Toronto FC.
“It was a painful match,” admitted head coach Laurent Courtois. Not so much the fact of losing, but we would have liked more revolt, self-sacrifice and resilience. »
PHOTO GERRY ANGUS, USA TODAY SPORTS
CF Montreal suffered a bitter 5-1 loss on Saturday in Toronto
Despite these setbacks, the pilot intends to “stay the course” and does not intend to revise the club’s way of doing things unduly. Where changes are desired, however, is in terms of the “commitment” and “solidarity” displayed by players during their recent outings.
There are situations where we are content to do our job, while there is always more to do. And not just the players: everyone, at our level, has a little more to give and we have to go back to the basics a little more.
Laurent Courtois, head coach of CF Montreal
“We have to go back to what we were doing well and come in with a mentality of wanting to win the match,” says Mathieu Choinière. […] We have to rediscover this rage to want to win and perform every day. »
If there is a positive side to all of this, in a way, it is that Courtois can take advantage of this bad streak to learn more about the deep identity of his squad and his personnel.
“Despite all the areas of turbulence that we experience, it allows me to know myself and to know the people in these situations. We look at who provides solutions or who just has a problem,” he describes.
“ [Les joueurs] have already shown it, so we know they are capable. The difficulty is being able to repeat, to be consistent,” he adds.
We will therefore see on Wednesday evening, against the Forge, if CF Montreal will finally be able to find a solution to its problems.