The Brazilian Otavio and his replacement Jean-Michaël Seri.

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Daniel Vaquero / SIPA

  • In full collapse, the Girondins de Bordeaux travel to Saint-Etienne this Sunday (3 p.m.) for a new crucial match in the race for maintenance.

  • Since Otavio's injury in mid-January, the Bordelais have not been able to win and above all are taking water from all sides on the defensive level with nearly two goals conceded per game.

  • Without his “warrior” and with a Jean-Michaël Seri not up to the task for the moment, Jean-Louis Gasset will have to find a solution very quickly to avoid a big fear at the end of the season.

Sometimes a season hangs on a detail.

At an ordinary training center.

This is what Jean-Louis Gasset must say to himself every morning since that cursed Wednesday, January 20, 2021. The day he saw his midfielder Otavio collapse on the lawns of the castle of Haillan due to a rupture of the left Achilles tendon.

Immediately, the Bordeaux coach became aware of the enormous loss it was for his team.

Two days later, he appeared with his face closed in front of the press deploring the serious injury of “his warrior”, “an outstanding professional” and a “leader who brings a smile to the locker room,” says JLG.

Girondins de Bordeaux: End of season for Otavio victim of a ruptured Achilles tendon https://t.co/hX8byh4NCa via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/D4ZDDfUoKE

- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) January 20, 2021

Over the years, the Brazilian had become one of the executives of this Girondins team despite criticism from some supporters and observers about his often lateral play and his lack of initiative.

A real fighter, the number 6 had held the house all by himself in the midfield for several months.

Alone, he was on the field but also in the entire Bordeaux workforce and this is the big tile for the club.

"Otavio's injury hurt us a lot", admits today a leader of the Girondins while the Navy and White have just chained eight defeats in ten Ligue 1 games before moving this Sunday (3 pm) to Saint Etienne.

The midfielder has become a no man's land

To understand the extent to which Otavio's injury is a tipping point in the Bordeaux season, it is often necessary to refer to the figures.

There is clearly a before and an after.

First of all in terms of results since with the midfielder, Bordeaux had 39% wins this season (with seven wins, five draws and six losses in 18 games).

Since then, the Girondins have two wins (Angers and Dijon), one draw and nine defeats in 12 games (17% wins).

But the most glaring stat is surely that of the goals conceded.

With the Brazilian, the scapular club conceded since the start of the season just one goal per game, without him it is almost double with 1.8 goals conceded per game (25 goals in 14 games).

Difficult to win a match under these conditions.

But beyond the figures, there is the content and this impression that the Girondins have been taking water from all sides for two and a half months.

Sometimes, the midfielder looks like a huge no man's land and that from the first minutes of play. These are real waves of opponents that fall on the Bordeaux defense like the matches against Nîmes, Metz or Strasbourg during the week last.

“It's the problem of these essential players who run a lot for others,” explains Jean-Louis Gasset, “we don't really realize it at the time, but when they are not there, we can see it immediately.

It is as if by chance that the adversary pierces us easily.

So when you lose your heart of the game, which is eight miles away in every game and you don't have players to furnish, it gets complicated.

“Even impossible for a team like the Girondins.

No one left to sacrifice for others

That is for the collective aspect.

Indeed, the player himself is also terribly missed by the Navy and White.

Once again, it is good to recall a few figures.

Otavio is averaging three tackles, one and a half interception and two clearances per game for 90% of successful passes this season.

A player "who plays as he trains" for Gasset, that is to say "always at 100%".

The coach specifies:

We especially lost a player who gives us a taste for sacrifice.

Today, that's what we miss, players who have a taste for sacrifice ”.

Indeed in modern football where we prefer the wheels and other leg passes, it does not run the streets this type of players.

The Girondins have tried the blow by going to look for Jean-Michaël Seri but for the moment, this bet is missed (a victory, a draw and seven defeats with the former Niçois).

Even if a manager recalls that he "does the maximum but arrives in conditions which are not optimal" and that "we must not compare the two players because they do not have the same characteristics", the observation is without equivocal.

Seri, it's averaging one tackle, one-and-a-half interception and one clearance per game for 86% of successful passes.

Our file on the Girondins

But above all, the player loaned by Fulham tends to play 8 or even 10 rather than 6, which often unbalances the whole block since Jean-Louis Gasset prefers to associate him with Yacine Adli rather than Toma Basic.

If the latter is often criticized by his coach for not playing forward enough, he at least has the advantage of not going into the collision anyhow and always ensuring his defensive withdrawal in the image. also a Tom Lacoux.

In any case, at the point where the Girondins are at, we will have to try something for the ex-deputy of Laurent Blanc.

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