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Bayer Leverkusen won 52 matches, got out of impossible situations but, in the final of the Europa League, the Germans were completely diluted under the weight of pressure that had perhaps become too great. In this game, we can talk about tactics, individual and collective talent, statistics, trajectory but all this does not carry much weight when the context is so overwhelming. Gamberge is the poison that spoiled the Bayer final.
On a completely different scale, and very far from the European and even national finals, Saint-Etienne has been experiencing for several weeks the fear that paralyzes you. The one that turns a candidate for promotion into a team incapable of winning on the pitch of an 18th in L2 who had nothing left to gain. The defeat at Quevilly-Rouen last week (2-1), while the L1 literally held out its arms to the Greens, is only the latest manifestation of this fear which paralyzes Olivier Dall’Oglio’s men. Angers has validated his ticket, ASSE is in the waiting room. Launched into an impossible mission, Saint-Etienne, which was 14 points behind the SCO on February 3, played three months without any pressure.
Ajaccio – Guingamp: two missed match points
Carried by a monstrous Irvin Cardona and a Geoffroy-Guichard who became incandescent again, the Greens climbed the ladder week after week without really realizing what they were accomplishing. When reality exploded in their faces, when they finally found themselves in the first two places, they fell for the first time in Ajaccio in a match where the heroes of the comeback were completely off their mark.
Saint-Etienne players defeated in Ajaccio, in Ligue 2.
Credit: Imago
Having become hunters again and no longer hunted, they had three victories in a row, took back control and then… screwed up. Two points taken in three matches, two goals ahead at Guingamp for an unthinkable draw and a very difficult to imagine defeat at Robert Diochon last Friday. It’s as if the Greens, who still missed at least two match points, did not want this rise as if they were petrified by the stakes. The problem is that Rodez, their opponent on Friday for the playoff match, arrives with the wind at his back and with nothing to lose. Nobody expected to see the Aveyronnais at the gates of Ligue 1.
Yes, I was harder, I had to let go of certain things
Friday at Geoffroy-Guichard, the heavy pressure will rest entirely on the frail green shoulders. “It will take determination, boldness, warned Olivier Dall’Oglio at a press conference this Thursday. Rodez has nothing to lose, do we? We have to leave that, concentrate on our team.” How can we put heads right, desecrate the event and make the atmosphere lighter? Friday, in Rouen, the placid Olivier Dall’Oglio flew into a rage. The walls shook. However, this is not the style of the house but it was a question of getting a reaction from a group which is giving in under the weight of expectations. “Yes, I was harder, I had to let go of certain things,” explained the coach. “But it’s for them, it doesn’t make me happy. We say things and move on.” But has ASSE really moved on or is it sinking day after day into the fear that petrifies it?
2024-05-23 22:51:00
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