In his career, Stéphane Borbiconi has worn the FC Metz jersey 181 times. The former garnet defender is never very far from his club of heart, he was besides Saturday evening at the Parc des Princes to attend the rout of the Club at the Croix de Lorraine and at the formalization of his descent into Ligue 2. “It was already a miracle to be still alive and to have the possibility of playing this place of play-off. Because three or four days ago, nobody believed in it. But it was still a mission. a little complicated since the Garnets did not completely have their destiny between their feet” he acknowledges.
head under water
The reasons for the fall of the garnet house are multiple. “We must take stock calmly, with height” believes Stéphane Borbiconi who remembers a “failed offseason” with the real-false start of Farid Boulaya, late arrivals… A failed start with the draw conceded from the start against Lille (3-3 after leading 3-1), a first victory after only 8 days (2-1 in Brest), badly negotiated turns against direct competitors, failing executives, cascading injuries and suspensions that never allowed Frederic Antonetti to have his full squad. “Everything happens quickly when your head is underwater and it’s complicated…”
Antonetti, stop or again?
The former central defender also entrusts his doubts about the management of the group by the Corsican technician. “He’s a coach that I appreciate. I appreciate his career, his 600 matches in Ligue 1” but he admits his disappointment with a coach he qualifies “authoritarian, a little locked in his certainties” and who may have done, according to him, “the season too many.” In these conditions, difficult for Stéphane Borbiconi to see Fréderic Antonetti maintained in his post. He sees him rather take on a role of sports director with his assistant Benoit Tavenot as number 1 on the bench. “It is only my intimate conviction” he specifies. This season leaves him in any case a bitter taste. “We had an ultra-defensive team all season long. We no longer thought about not losing, but about winning. While we have a workforce, in my eyes, more than enough to play maintenance! like Clermont, Lorient, Reims, Angers or Troyes finish ten points ahead of us?