One would be tempted to qualify this Bordeaux-Troyes as a “pivotal match”, but which one is not one in this very special season? The Girondins have remained stuck in this last place in Ligue 1 for three days but there has been better since the arrival of David Guion in mid-February. If the draw in Clermontlast week, can feed the frustration of the group, he made the meeting against ESTAC, this Sunday at Matmut Atlantique, even more crucial.
Guion “not completely satisfied”
The first issue of this meeting is accounting. The Navy and White are short on points and this match against a competitor can have a trampoline effect on the winning team. A special and all the more important day for the teams which fight for the maintenance because, this Sunday at 1 p.m., Saint-Etienne (19th) receives Metz (18th). Like Bordeaux and ESTAC, all these teams have the same number of points.
Going for the three points against ESTAC would allow us to value the two draws – David Guion, coach of the Girondins de Bordeaux
The second issue is linked: it is for David Guion and his men to turn team renewal into points. “Going for the three points against ESTAC would allow us to enhance the two draws against Monaco and Clermont. I’m not totally satisfied because we didn’t win a match“, remarks the coach. This dynamic is unanimous: “No, we didn’t drop two points in Clermont but we showed good things“, smiles Gaëtan Poussin, the goalkeeper. His coach said he had asked his group to increase the level of requirements at the end of the season.
Take a psychological advantage in the race to maintain
To stay in the elite, the clubs prepare for it at the start of the season, physically and mentally. ESTAC, Metz, and Lorient are used to doing the lift, they know that the fight will be bitter until the end. For Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne, this status is new and these two historic clubs have had to deal with it for two to three seasons. “It’s a game that would really do the team good and it would showcase the hard work of the past three weeks.explains the coach. I see on the short term for this match against ESTAC.“A defeat against Troyes would put a blow on the heads but the Girondins will have other opportunities to make the difference, at home, with the reception of Metz, Saint-Étienne and Lorient by the end of the season.