Handball: David Degouy and Usam Nîmes, one month later

David Degouy et l’Usam dans le vif du sujet. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Starligue. Le nouvel entraîneur de l’Usam, qui a repris le 15 juillet et part en tournoi en Roumanie ce jeudi 15 août, fait le point à trois semaines de la reprise.

A month has gone by quickly ?

"For me, yes ! For the players, I'm less sure", smiles David Degouy. The pace is high, the time range too, as well as the demands. "We are at the end of the first block. We have laid all the foundations. We're where I wanted to be."

First game in 19 days, it'll come quickly ?

“Yes, now everything will speed up with the series of friendly matches. The players will have to raise the bar in terms of aggressiveness. We will have 7 away games out of our first 11 matches, including the top 3 on the program (PSG, Nantes, Montpellier), we will have to be ready.”

Starting with a round of 16 of the Coupe de France in Nancy (D2) on Tuesday September 3 and the visit of the Parisian champion on Saturday September 7. Hence the need to quickly “get into the competitive spirit. For me, there is no such thing as a friendly match. The first against Pontault, we won 35-23, but I showed the players, on video, that we had the ability to concede less than 20 goals and score more than 40. We had 84% efficiency in fast play and 45% in set attack. You have to reach 55% if you want to travel well, says the new Nîmes coach.During the next four games, playing time will be shared. But if I'm not satisfied with the content, I can change everything…"

Individual interviews every three weeks and videos

The Degouy-Balmossière duo saw all the players in individual interviews at the start of the season, in mid-July. Belote this week. And repeat before the three official moves of the season, in early September. This will be the case regularly throughout the year.

“To tell them what we expect of them, and for them to tell us how they feel”, specifies the technician, who has made available to the workforce “more than 11 hours of video, so that they can immerse themselves in their opponents, their partners, the game plan, etc”, he explains. Nothing will be left to chance. Come on, see you in a month for an initial assessment…

A Turkish club and two Romanians

THE GROUP Potaissa Turda – Usam and Dinamo Bucharest – Besiktas Istanbul: these are the semi-final matches of the Cluj tournament, which will be played this Friday in Romania. Final and match for 3rd place on Saturday. Turda finished 4th in the last national championship and is regularly European.

The USAM group that will be traveling: Pardin, Soyez (left), Konradsson, Acquevillo, Luciano Costa, Gibelin, Derisbourg, Rebichon, Vincent, Gibernon, Kaczor, Poyet, Kamtchop-Baril, Guironnet, Chiron, Guigues, Varlet.

Tobie (broken foot), Sissoko (knee), Abdelhak (Olympics/injured thigh), Sanad (Olympics, return Monday) and Peyre (return Euro U20) are absent.

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