Coasting at the top of the French league only a few weeks ago,
defending champion Bordeaux has had its lead cut to three points
and been dumped out of the French Cup as fatigue takes its toll on
Laurent Blanc's team.
Bordeaux led by nine points at the winter break two months
ago, and the club seemed poised to sweep the domestic honors by
adding the French Cup and defending the League Cup trophy it won
last season.
But Bordeaux has won only one of its last four league games,
struggled to beat second-division struggler Sedan 1-0 in the League
Cup and lost 2-0 at home to Monaco in a French Cup game on
Wednesday night to end hopes of winning the treble.
"We're going through some tough times," Blanc said. "All the
players and staff must ask questions of themselves and lift their
heads up together. We have to make twice as much effort now."
It was the second straight home match without a goal for
Bordeaux, and the defense has started leaking goals, conceding six
in the last two games, including four in last weekend's defeat away
to Rennes.
Perhaps even more worrying for Blanc was his conclusion that
Monaco "wanted it more than us".
"We had real trouble getting our game together and we
defended badly," Blanc said after the Monaco defeat.
Defender Mathieu Chalme said that Sunday's home game against
resurgent Saint-Etienne is now crucial, whereas a few weeks ago it
would have been seen as yet another routine home win.
"We are (feeling) low at the moment. We have to get our
confidence back and show that we have character," Chalme said. "We
have to stop dreaming. We were thinking about the treble, but it's
over now. We have to move on."
Bordeaux has 48 points after 23 games, Montpellier has 45 and
Lille is third with 41.
Bordeaux's dip in form coincides with unsettling rumors
surrounding the team.
Blanc has been linked to the France job when Raymond Domenech
steps down after the World Cup, and striker Marouane Chamakh has
spent so much time talking about his on-off move to Arsenal that
his below-par performances on the field have gone largely
unnoticed.
Bordeaux's relatively small squad makes it difficult for
Blanc to rest key players, particularly when the Champions League
resumes. Bordeaux plays Olympiakos in the last 16 knockout round on
Feb. 23.
Club captain Alou Diarra pulled a thigh muscle last weekend,
France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff appears to be exhausted, scoring
only twice in the last 15 games, and Chamakh has netted just three
in the last 12.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain's inexorable slide down the
league table has seen it drop down to 15th place, a far cry from
ambitious early-season talk about finishing in the top three and
qualifying for the Champions League.
PSG fans called for coach Antoine Kombouare to quit after
Saturday's 3-0 home loss to Lorient - PSG's fourth straight league
defeat - and argued with aging club captain Claude Makelele.
Angry fans also waited for PSG's team bus in the early hours
of Wednesday morning after a drab and unconvincing 1-0 win against
part-timers Vesoul put PSG into the French Cup quarterfinals.
Kombouare invited them to come back to the training ground
later on Wednesday for more heated talks.
"It was my idea. The fans were waiting for us at 5 o'clock in
the morning and we were all tired. I invited them to come back in
the afternoon," Kombouare said. "They wanted to get their message
across: they are not happy with our results. They spoke about their
distress, their huge disappointment and to this day their
criticisms are justified."
Another defeat away to Nancy on Saturday, and Kombouare may
be sacked, less than a year after replacing Paul Le Guen.
In Saturday's other games, it is: Le Mans vs. Sochaux; Lille
vs. Boulogne; Monaco vs. Marseille; Montpellier vs. Grenoble;
Valenciennes vs. Nice, and Lyon vs. Lens.
At the bottom of the table, Grenoble is in last place with 10
points, and is joined in the relegation zone by Boulogne and Le
Mans. They both have 16 points and are a long away from safety,
with Nice in 17th on 23 points.
Auxerre plays Rennes, and Lorient faces Toulouse in Sunday's
other matches.
