For Christian Gourcuff, it's over.

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Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS / SIPA

  • Christian Gourcuff was fired this Tuesday morning and replaced by his deputy, Patrick Collot.

  • The management as a whole of Christian Gourcuff no longer seemed to pass within the Nantes locker room.

An inevitable end.

Christian Gourcuff learned on Tuesday morning that he was dismissed from his post.

The distressing defeat (0-4) of the Canaries against Strasbourg on Sunday ended - if there was still a need - to convince the management that it was necessary to separate from the Breton technician, who arrived in the summer of 2019 after the sudden departure by Vahid Halilhodzic.

Contacted, the Breton technician did not wish to speak.

"No, it is not opportune now," he replied late in the morning.

Gourcuff (65) had felt the wind blowing for several weeks.

On Thursday, management had set him a goal of six points over the next two games.

On Sunday, his accounting mission was ruined, and his fate sealed.

Beyond the poor results (5 victories in 23 games in Ligue 1 in 2020), it is the amorphous attitude of the players that convinced the management to decide.

The excellent first half against Metz (1-1) or the encouraging second period in Lens (1-1) a few days later seemed to be nothing but trompe-l'oeil.

Sunday's Alsatian slap revealed discomfort between the players and the coach.

When asked if he had felt let go by his players after the match, Gourcuff, touched, replied: "When we see the performance of the team, we can wonder ..."

Gourcuff was accused of a lack of authority and rigor.

A glaring neglect of schedules and discipline.

“They were so comfortable with Christian…” says a source knowledgeable about the life of the locker room.

A purring had set in.

Instead of settling conflicts, Gourcuff shunned them.

The icy relationship between the technical staff and the medical staff did not help the Breton in certain decisions.

"There is no unity between the two parties," blows another near the locker room.

Locked in his 4-4-2

Gourcuff's minimalist communication also tightened.

Certain elements would have appreciated to know why they did not play… or even why to everyone's surprise, they became holders, like Renaud Emond in Lens (1-1).

Other players had an immunity totem.

First, Ludovic Blas, full of talent, but still too irregular.

“He's his son,” we often heard in those around the club.

His rare words also posed a problem for his staff, who were annoyed at being often kept out of certain choices or decisions.

Finally, Gourcuff's obsession with his immutable 4-4-2 ended up locking the players into a system that did not give free rein to spontaneity and instinct.

FC Nantes had become as predictable as the rain in Brittany in autumn.

Christian Gourcuff, who had announced that the FCN would be his last experience, undoubtedly ended his career with this 0-4 against Strasbourg and this dismissal.

A fishtail end for the one who will have been escorted by success in one and only L1 club in France, Lorient and… its Hake.

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