The last chance match! It’s precisely this kind of expression that we don’t want to hear in Oyonnax. “No one said those words in the group,” says Christopher Vaotoa. At the same time, the pillar is lucid: “We are all aware of the situation and the importance of the match against Perpignan, we all have that in the back of our minds”. Perpignan is in the barrage, ten points ahead. A defeat on Saturday and it will take a miracle to survive.
So since there is no point in talking about the worst, we cling to hope. “We tell ourselves that we are always masters of our destiny,” insists manager Joe El Abd. The draw in Clermont even gave us even more reason to believe in it. Even the match lost against Montpellier gave us confidence because it was a match that we could have won. »
But the facts are stubborn: Oyonnax means no victory in 2024, the last dating back to December 29 against Pau. These are defeats against Lyon and the MHR, competitors for maintenance. And it is these ten points behind the USAP which seem insurmountable.
Managing the end of the season and departure rumors
“The context is there. Against Perpignan, it will be more than a match for us, believes Irakli Mirtskhulava. We prepare ourselves mentally because the stakes are very high for them as for us. We have to have a big match. There is no mental fatigue otherwise we would have given up, we would not have obtained this zero result in Clermont when we were in a very complicated situation. »
These two points reported from Clermont two weeks ago changed a lot of things in people’s minds, revived a form of sacred union which could have been cracked between the bad results, the announcements of player departures at the end of the season (Cassang and Millet in Lyon, Reybier at UBB, Crédoz in Pau) and the rumors around Joe El Abd expected in Castres.
The Oyomen manager reaffirmed this week that he had no contact with the CO: “I told the players that we did not need that to put obstacles in the way, we need ‘all be focused on the next eight matches. It’s almost a third of the Championship with five home matches. “. Eight finals to go.
