Strasbourg (AFP)

After five seasons, a rise in L1, three maintains and a Coupe de la Ligue, Thierry Laurey expected to leave Strasbourg calmly but Racing (16th), far from relegation at the end of April, has not yet secured his place in the elite next season.

"We experience this every year, when you have a budget like ours, when you have a squad like ours, you know that at the start of the season you can be in danger", sketched the Alsatian coach on Friday, before the trip to Nice on Sunday.

Two days from the end, the club is only one point ahead of the Nantes barrage, and three over Nîmes, the first relegation.

However, the danger seemed far away at half-time in the game against the Canaries on April 25, when Strasbourg led 1-0.

At that time, the Alsatians were virtually twelve points ahead of them.

But Nantes won (1-2), and the gap has narrowed like hell.

"In the last matches, the disappointment is the second period against Nantes, it was not up to what we expected from a match like this, it was a turning point", confirmed Laurey .

A missed turning point, which started the Alsatian tumble but especially the Nantes start which chained two successes in stride to pick up the shorts of the Strasbourg people unable to win for five matches, their worst series this season.

"It started against Nantes. We gave the + boost + to Nantes and afterwards they won everything. It's difficult of course, because we missed a lot of opportunities to be calmer but we remain positive to seek this maintenance ", confided captain Stefan Mitrovic at a pre-match press conference.

- "You let it go" -

With Thierry Laurey, no need to insist on his end of reign, he only came to a press conference "to talk about the match".

The rest ?

"You drop it, it's that simple ..."

This week, its president Marc Keller, usually not very talkative, also brushed aside these questions in the local press (DNA), but above all sent a message to his players.

"We must feel a reaction almost a revolt ... irreproachable behavior" with "warriors" on the ground.

"I hope it will be useful. Marc wanted to reassure everyone and put people in front of their responsibilities. I want determination, aggressiveness. We have to be a little more violent and show that we are competitors, professionals but without doing anything ", summarized Thierry Laurey.

The situation is perilous but the Strasbourg coach warns against any idea of ​​"revolution".

He especially points to "errors which are expensive" but refuses to speak of "bad matches", even against Montpellier (2-3) Sunday when the Alsatians were led 3-0 in the 48th minute.

In Nice, a defeat would not condemn Strasbourg, which would then play its lead in L1 against Lorient in the last match.

“There is suspense on all floors, you should be happy,” Laurey concluded.

© 2021 AFP