At 54, and after many experiences in men's football, Hervé Renard was appointed coach of the French women's team, succeeding Corinne Deacon.
He will discover women's football for the first time.
Coaching men or women, is it so different?
Decryption with Fabrice Abriel, coach of FC Fleury 91, current 4th in D1 Arkema.
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Former player (PSG, Marseille, Lorient...) converted to coach in 2015, Fabrice Abriel coached men for five years. Aged 43
, he became assistant coach of the FC
Fleury 91 women's team in November 2020, before being promoted to number 1 in May 2021.
LE
FIGARO - What were the first things that struck you when you arrived in women's football?
Fabrice
ABRIEL
-
The first thing, and I think it's the most important, is that you shouldn't compare.
These are different characteristics.
As a coach, each time you change year, club or age category, you always have to adapt according to the level.
So it's already a matter of properly assessing the level of the trained public, and then adapting their game ideas. I have game ideas, I have to adapt them and share them.
An important point is the proper adaptation of the communication.
“There is an academic side to women”
What are the technical-tactical differences between male and female players?
There is an academic side to the women that we find in the U19 Nationals, in the training centers.
Tactically, they are very academic.
We can put something in place, it responds immediately.
I find that they are much more rigorous, much more attentive, much more disciplined.
The difference is mainly on the athletic resource, we are not on the same strength / speed data.
Léa Le Garrec (FCFleury 91) with the ball in front of Eugénie Le Sommer (Olympique Lyonnais) on March 17, 2023. Frédéric Chambert / Panoramic
Éric Blahic (ex-assistant of Deacon appreciated by the players) should accompany Hervé Renard. How important can it be?
Its very important.
It's a time saver and it allows you not to be mistaken.
He will be able to quickly guide the coach on decision-making, on an organization.
Players, I know they need to have habits and not change them.
Whereas in football, we tend more towards the adaptation of the situation.
It was not always understood (in his debut at Fleury, editor's note).
We explained to them that, in football, at any time, things could change.
For example, if you schedule a training session at 10 a.m., and the evening before, at 10 p.m., you say “
finally, session at noon
”, it may bother them.
But in the end, your job is to play, and you are waiting for that.
You cannot program a life.
There's this still somewhat amateurish side to the girls that they don't understand.
But that will change next year (a Professional League could see the light of day from the 2023-24 season, Ed).
They do not yet have the training for this profession.
This is still the discrepancy.
The delay in training is still felt at the professional level?
Yes.
The young player learns to become a professional through a training course.
The player... We see it less on the new players, but on the old ones, we see that there is no such training in the profession.
Somehow, it is therefore an adaptation and an individual experience.
Among the boys, there is this training that takes you to the job, including at the level of media coverage, nutrition, all the performance tools.
I think it's very important that the player has as much information as possible to know herself as an athlete.