The ax fell. The Girondins de Bordeaux will play in Ligue 2 next year. At the end of one of their worst exercises within the elite, the men of David Guion, red lantern, are officially relegated despite their 4-2 victory in Brest, Saturday May 21. Five figures largely explain such a disaster.
It’s official, the Girondins will evolve next year in @Ligue2BKT.
We would like to thank the Navy and White lovers for their support and hope to experience better days together soon. ⚪ pic.twitter.com/0qbG8vWbLv– FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) May 21, 2022
91 goals conceded
Worst defense of the five major European championships, the Bordelais have sunk throughout the season. With only two games without seeing their nets shake (0-0 against Lille and against Lorient), the Girondins have not gone far from a sad record of an entire season without “clean sheet”. A beleaguered defense and rarely flawless goalkeepers explain these 91 goals in particular. The Bordelais have seven games with at least four goals conceded.
This fragility got the better of Vladimir Petkovic, first coach of the year on the banks of the Garonne. The 14 goals conceded in three consecutive games at the end of January against Rennes (6-0 defeat), Strasbourg (4-3 victory) and Reims (5-0 defeat), marked the end of the adventure of the Swiss coach who had eliminated the Blues during the last Euro.
0.78 points per game for David Guion
Arriving as a firefighter on duty to try to save the Bordeaux soldier, David Guion failed in his mission. Since his arrival in mid-February, the French technician has only had two victories (against Metz on April 10 and Brest on the last day).
He even does worse than his Swiss counterpart (0.87 points per game against 0.78 for Guion) who nevertheless left the club as a red lantern. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine Guion staying after these three months without revolt spent in Gironde.
2 wins in the last 16 matches
In the maintenance race, the final sprint is often decisive. However, for Bordeaux, it never started. With only one victory between the end of January and this last day, the Bordelais had simply beaten FC Metz, another relegated. With four defeats and two draws between the 32nd and 37th day, David Guion’s men were unable to keep pace, in particular due to the very poorly managed end of the match. In total, the Girondins won only 6 times this season, for 13 draws and 19 defeats.
26 points lost after opening the scoring
It’s a big black spot in the Bordeaux season. Quite consistently up front, the Girondins dropped 26 points in their fight for survival in Ligue 1 after opening the scoring. Thus, on April 20, they missed a big opportunity to come back to Saint-Etienne, play-off, by conceding a 2-2 draw after having quickly led 2-0 against the Greens.
Bis repeated, four days later, at La Beaujoire against FC Nantes. After leading (2-0, then 3-2), Benoît Costil’s teammates collapsed, losing 5-3. These two disappointments, one after the other, got the better of the already feverish mentality of the workforce. Humiliated at Angers (4-1), Bordeaux had already seemed in Ligue 2.
First sporting relegation since 1960
After 30 seasons in the top flight since the rise in 1992, Bordeaux returned to Ligue 2. At the time, the Girondins had been demoted by the DNCG for their budget deficit. We have to go back to 1960 to find Bordeaux down to the second division because of its sporting results. 2022 will remain sadly historic for the club with the scapular.