Freed Willy: What Went Wrong for Sagnol at Bordeaux
At half-time of Willy Sagnol’s second match in charge of Bordeaux, at home to Monaco, his team were trailing 1-0 and fortunate to be only a goal down after a poor display. A technical switch after the break transformed the match and Bordeaux ran out 4-1 winners. Sagnol was lauded for his tactical nous and flexibility, but amidst the euphoria of that comeback, it was forgotten that Bordeaux were helped by an insipid 45 minutes from Monaco and by a couple of glaring refereeing errors – as well as the fact that Sagnol had set his team up badly from kick-off, necessitating the change in the first place.
Was Sagnol a proactive coach, controlling his team’s destiny, or was he a reactive leader, controlled by events around him? This early question set the template for the rest of Sagnol’s reign.
The former World Cup finalist’s first season in charge was a success as Bordeaux, helped by top scorer Diego Rolan’s 15 goals, and including a victory over Paris Saint-Germain, ended with a creditable sixth-place finish and Europa League qualification.
However, there were a couple of foreboding signs. The early attacking intent quickly dropped off to near-Francis Gillot levels. The need for tactical changes – and the inference of mistaken starting line-ups – continued. And, in November 2014, Sagnol became embroiled in a race-related furore when he naively declared in an interview that African players were useful for their physicality but less so for their technique and intelligence. Apologies were made for the stereotyping and generalisation – but again, only after the damage had already been done.
The jury was still out. Progress – or at the very least stability – was expected for his second season – the first full season in Bordeaux’s new Matmut Atlantique Stadium. However, this campaign has lurched from one disaster to another and, despite the tight nature of the table (first and last place aside) Bordeaux have never been higher than seventh and have spent all but six weeks of the season in the bottom half of the table.
Books could be written on the factors behind the team’s struggles and the extent of Sagnol’s responsibility for them. Yes, the team has struggled with suspensions and currently lie second-bottom of the fair play table. There have also been public fights between Diego Rolan and Nicolas Maurice-Belay, Nicolas Pallois and Thomas Touré and Jérôme Prior and Lamine Sané, with internal disciplinary issues for Rolan and Prior too. Of course, the players should take a lot of the flak, but it raises question marks over Sagnol’s control and authority over his troops.
Bordeaux have also suffered from a spate of injuries, some (Gregory Sertic, Cedric Carrasso) long-term. Hard to blame Sagnol here – although the club’s doctor was brought in on his insistence. Is this down just to bad luck or could something have been done to clear the treatment room a little?
Transfer movements – more out than in – have not helped matters on the pitch and in recent weeks the team has clearly missed the playmaking skills of Wahbi Khazri and the midfield rigour of Henri Saivet, both sold during the winter break. However, Sagnol has had a big say over incoming transfers, and none of January’s signatures (even last year’s signings – Isaac Kiese Thelin – Ed.) have come close to making an impact.
As a former world class defender, one would expect Sagnol at the very least to be able to have some influence over his backline. However, this season only Troyes have conceded more, Bordeaux has shipped four or more on seven occasions (including four times in the last seven matches), and the previously reliable-ish Sané has become a one-man hazmat zone.
The tactical changes that looked so cunning in August 2014 now look messy and desperate: in February alone Sagnol played a 4-5-1, a 4-4-2 (diamond), a 4-4-2 (standard) and a 3-4-3, speaking of a man struggling to exert control.
Despite all this, there is a sense that Sagnol could still be in place if he had learnt to keep his mouth shut. In the summer, he again publicly stated that “the objective is always to play attractive football”. With that in mind, a return of 38 goals scored is not good enough and the white seats of the Matmut only serve to highlight how few Bordelais are interested in going to see their team’s dour displays.
Then last month Sagnol suggested that he can’t be expected to do any better with only the seventh biggest budget in the league. Not only did the public criticism annoy his bosses; it also gave everyone a yardstick by which to measure him: currently 14th and five points above the drop zone, says it all.
Sagnol was forced to watch his last match in charge – Saturday’s 4-0 rout at the hands of second-bottom Toulouse – from the stands, after receiving a three-match suspension for publicly criticising a referee.
Sagnol does leave behind some positives. Under his guidance Rolan has shown flashes of brilliance, Saivet was converted from an attacker to an excellent holding midfielder, Khazri became a more consistent performer, and talented youngsters such as Enzo Crivelli, Adam Ounas and Frédéric Guilbert have broken into the first team. And this is, after all, his first front-line coaching job (save for eight matches in charge of France’s Under-21s). He will no doubt come back stronger, having learned some tough lessons.
But as he and Bordeaux part ways, a feeling of unfulfilled potential, both for the club and for Sagnol himself, lingers.