“For the moment, everything is a little too rosy,” Laurent Courtois told us during the visit of The Press at the team’s training camp in Orlando last February.
“Everyone gave me an extraordinary welcome, the players are receptive,” he added. But when failure happens, what do we do? Do we start to doubt, foil and no longer do what we said we would do? That’s a little bit of my fear. »
Three months later, despite an encouraging start to the season, the pink turned to swampy green. CF Montreal is on a streak of just one victory in 12 games, in all competitions. The athletic director who hired the head coach is gone. There was, in all likelihood, a trade request from the team’s Most Valuable Player in 2023. The infirmary is full. The players who remain disappoint at the basic level of desire to play. The supporters express their discontent. And everyone seems to be running out of solutions.
“Group life is going to be essential,” Courtois said in the lobby of the team hotel in Florida. It’s up to me to help everyone find the happy medium. »
This is precisely where he seems to be, the Frenchman, at the end of May. Between.
Between the need to protect his players from criticism – he repeated again Friday morning, at the Nutrilait Center, that “it’s [son] work to find a way to make the lows less low.”
And between the need to whip his troops, to make them accountable for this “lack of commitment” that the CFM has been talking about for a month.
Maybe it’s in his personality. Maybe it’s inexperience, too, or a process of learning who he wants to be as a coach.
During this interview with the representative of your newspaper this winter, he said he had learned a lot from his coach José Luis Juan Sánchez Solá, aka “Chelis”, during his stay with Chivas USA, in MLS. An inspiration for his technician profile today.
“He showed me the passion for his players,” he emphasized. He was able to defend his players against everyone. It was the first time I felt a coach so biased, who preferred to be on the side of the players over everything else. It was a pretty incredible experience for me. »
Reread “Nancy, Courtois and the logical sequence”
But when players fail to meet expectations game after game, how do you make them understand the sense of urgency?
“No one felt that extra spark in us,” Courtois conceded about his club’s elimination against Hamilton Forge in the Canada Cup. Especially since we had a script that we controlled. I have no response. I don’t explain it. We all have ambitions. For ourselves, for our families. […] Beyond that, I’m not going to question everything. There are players who are in doubt. There are players who are looking for their best form. And there are players who are simply in difficulty. »
“I couldn’t find the chemistry [mercredi]. It was painful. But at some point you have to tear it all out. »
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“Tear it all out. » A comment which indirectly resonated with George Campbell on Friday morning. The American defender’s speech only lasted two minutes, but he offered a piece of information that allows us to better understand the state of mind of the group of players currently.
PHOTO ERIC BOLTE, USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS CON
Defender George Campbell (in blue)
“We talked a lot [des problèmes de l’équipe], but at some point, talking about it is not enough, he argued. We must look in the mirror and move from words to action. Going there 100% on our own. Because no one is going to tell you how much effort you have to put in, it has to come from you. We are having discussions, but there must be action now. »
At the other extreme, Samuel Piette monopolized 23 minutes of the 45 scheduled for the press conference – and don’t read this as a complaint, on the contrary.
Especially not when the captain of the CFM allows us to use the word “ flip flops » in a sports text from a serious media outlet.
“When you want to put pressure, but you do it while jogging, trotting, at 2 miles an hour, it’s not very intimidating for the defender [adverse] who is on the ball, explained the Quebecer. We lack the intensity in that. On the dry cleaning, on challenges, on attacking ball carriers. We are in reaction, and not in anticipation. »
“What shocks me the most is when we lose the ball and those around us don’t necessarily react. […] When I talk about desire, it’s a lot compared to that. But there wasn’t a match where we said to ourselves: “today, we’re going to take it easy, we’re going to go out peacefully, we’re going to put our flip flops”. We’re going all out. But when you score goals or there is an individual error, it weighs a little. »
“He banged his fist on the table”
Interim president and sporting director Gabriel Gervais reported to training for a second consecutive day on Friday. Olivier Renard did it regularly when he was DS, but Gervais, quite less. What message did he want to send, particularly on Thursday?
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Gabriel Gervais, president and interim sporting director of CF Montréal
“On the field, or at the meeting? “, asked Laurent Courtois when Sydney Fowo, of BPM Sports, asked him the question, revealing at the same time that Gervais also attended a session with the team.
“He’s the president, he goes on the field whenever he wants. It’s always to bring a positive wave and to try to be constructive for the future. »
“He says: guys, we have to show something else. We are all experiencing difficulty and pain, and now is the time to come together and show more, individually and collectively. He slammed his fist on the table, and there it was. »
Good intentions. Beautiful words. An alleged need for a sense of urgency. Extensively used mirrors. All this will be put to the test once again, Saturday evening, against Nashville, at Saputo stadium.