Ten matches, still no victory and a painful 19th place: the Brestois started as badly this season as they finished the last, but with enough assets to hope to recover, even if it will be complicated on Saturday in Lille. During their last visit to the Pierre Mauroy stadium in February, the Brestois, installed in the middle of the table with a comfortable lead on the relegation zone, had snatched a draw (0-0) from the future champions of France. But since then, it is the tumble, with for only assets a victory in March against the red lantern Dijon (3-1) and a very last on April 24 in Saint-Etienne (2-1). After a breath of relegation in May, Brest sees the specter of his last foray into L1 between 2010 and 2013: a convincing first season, a second at thetorn off and the third completed at the bottom of the hole.
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League 1 standings
"
Whether it is the staff, the players, the management, everyone is thinking
", recently acknowledged coach Michel Der Zakarian. Arrived this summer, "
Der Zak
" has long scolded, before showing more encouraging in recent weeks. "
I am not going to yell all the time,
" he explained, without refraining from "
jostling
" the players at times. Sunday, after a new underperformance against Reims (1-1), he began by bitching against his defenders who remained "
5 meters from the marking
" on the opening of the score in Reims and against a workforce who "
played at the baballe
”in the first period. Before recognizing: "
We had the merit of coming back
".
Thanks to a sumptuous volley from Franck Honorat, one of the only “
Ty-Zefs
” really in good shape this season.
If we watch the matches carefully, we are not lost.
We are not an alarming team.
Lilian Brassier
Because the Brestois are essentially on alternating current, capable of big absences but also of upsetting any team. Facing PSG in August, they thought they could return to 3-3 before being punished on a cons (2-4). This season, Brest is also the only L1 team to have scored in each of its ten matches. “
If we watch the matches carefully, we are not lost. We are not an alarming team. It will turn out, it is impossible for it to stay that way because we give it to ourselves on the ground,
”assured defender Lilian Brassier in an interview with the daily Ouest France. However, this commitment is not obvious to everyone: “
There are players who showed great qualities a year ago.
Today, we wonder if some have already played football,
”denounced the sports director, Grégory Lorenzi, in an interview with Telegram last week.
“
Obviously, there is a problem.
But they did not become bad players overnight,
”he insisted.
It is still time for union
He, who had almost no budget to recruit this summer, relied on these talents. Like the attacking midfielder Romain Faivre, a revelation at the start of last season and still valuable in August, which seems to be extinct since the failure of his transfer to AC Milan. But while the crisis is brewing in Saint-Etienne, the other resident of the red zone, it is still time for union in Brest. Michel Der Zakarian's position even seems more solid than that of his Lille counterpart Jocelyn Gourvennec. And the supporters are still there, with encouraging banners. For the moment, Brest is only 3 points from 17th place, and even if the schedule is getting tougher (trip to Lille and Lorient, reception of Monaco and Lens), “
Der Zak
” keeps morale up: “
Lille lost in Clermont, we have to put in mind that we are able to go and win there
”.
