“It's a huge disappointment, a frustration, even anger”: Patrice Canayer's analysis after France's elimination from the Olympic Games

Guillaume Gille's French team was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games. Midi Libre/FFHB – Michael Esdourrubailh/Icon Sport

A key witness for Midi Libre during these Paris 2024 Olympic Games, former MHB coach Patrice Canayer returned to the defeat of the French handball team in the quarter-finals against Germany (35-34), Wednesday, August 7.

How do you analyze this defeat ?

It's very complicated to analyze because when you lose like that on the wire, you always tend to see the very negative side. If you had won the match by one goal, you would have seen things in a very positive way. If you lose by one goal, you see them in a very negative way. However, the truth is to be found somewhere between the two. For me, it's a huge disappointment, a frustration, even anger. Because it's a match that we should have won and that we didn't know how to win. And that is disappointing.

The positive point, I would say, is that we have found at times a level of play that is the one we are used to seeing with our national team. But at times, we have also fallen back into a certain number of faults, defects. Which means that we have not been able to eliminate this German team that, however, we really had the impression of dominating. What is clear is that nothing happened as things should have happened.

I saw that there was a timeout, it was clear, it was taken very quickly. Afterwards, in this kind of situation, when you don't take it and you win, you're a champion and when you take it and you lose, you shouldn't have taken it. So the question is, what did we do with this timeout?? Because it's not illogical to have a timeout six seconds from the end.

Also read: “In handball, we're not in the Kleenex coaches”: Guillaume Gille strengthened in his position despite France's elimination from the Olympics

Afterwards, what I see is in the action that was played, we played it like in American football by putting the ball behind. We are already one less, there are four players who start in front with calls for the ball in front. When you play handball at a given moment, even in youth teams, you learn to keep the ball in this kind of situation, with players who turn around the ball carrier and not who throw themselves in front.

Mem spoke during this time-out before losing the ball, doesn't that show the limits of this self-management ?

I don't know if that's the limit, maybe you can win like that. Afterwards, the choices of the way to manage, they are specific to each coach and each team. What is clear is that I have always considered that at a given moment, someone has to decide. And that the one who is most able to make a decision in this kind of situation, because it's his job, because he's the one with the coolest head, because he's the one who is there for that, who is not in the physical fatigue of the match, for me, it's the coach. But this management style in the French team has been around for X years and it hasn't stopped them from winning titles. In any case, this isn't my idea of ​​managing downtime in these important moments.

Also read: VIDEO. "Listen to me! Calm down" : Gille ignored, Mem who speaks before his blunder… the catastrophic timeout of the Blues of handball

Is this the biggest failure of the French team in 20 years ?

I was in Athens in 2004 when we were eliminated in the quarter-finals. We asked ourselves the same questions and the French team came back. What is important today is to overcome the frustration, the anger that can exist to perhaps question ourselves. Either you say it's good, it's bad luck and everything is fine. Or, at some point, you rest, you do a real analysis and then we all get back to work.

What I would like to say is that when the French team succeeds, it is theirs, that of the staff, of all French handball and all the French coaches. When a team experiences a failure and we can talk about a failure, it is also everyone's responsibility. It is not only the responsibility of Dika Mem or Guillaume Gille. But all this corresponds to what I have seen of French handball for several years now, which can also be explained by the results of French clubs which have been less good for 3-4 years, just like the youth selections.

Guillaume Gille's choices have not paid off, should we change coaches in your opinion ?

It's not my problem. I'm not the president of the French Handball Federation. It's not my problem. What we can say, in all honesty, is that overall, all the French players who could be selected were present. For me, I don't see any scandal in the selection and in the players who were selected out of the 18, during the preparation. I don't see any. I said it and I repeat it, I would have taken Nikola Karabatic too. On the other hand, the use of players is something else.

That is to say ?

When you start the competition with Karl Konan playing only ten minutes per match in defense, while you have taken an exclusive defender… As far as I know, Didier Dinart started and finished the matches… Valentin Porte initially defended on the wing and then moved to position 2, creating a real strength with Konan on the right, thus finding a defensive base.

Isn't there a project concerning the offensive game left to the responsibility of the players ?

There is a choice that has been made for years. It is a managerial choice and a strategic choice that is clean. And they have won titles with that. A left-handed point guard is good but not having a right-handed player can cause problems. The use of the wingers' game too… But it is the players' responsibility to work in continuity. We have guards who, very often, take shots very quickly.

It's their choice. What is clear is that this choice has shown, I think, some limits. But I come back to a point that I spoke about a lot, after our elimination in the European Cup against Kiel, it is on the emotional factor. That is to say that we must not forget that at one point, we dominated Germany. We were at +6 with +7 balls. Then we let them come back into the match. This emotional and tactical instability has meant that we can play like a medal-winning team while being very, very vulnerable.

The beautiful tribute to Karabatic, Porte and Gérard

Could this position of coach be of interest to you ?

It doesn't even cross my mind. I'm at peace today to talk about it. At 63, I think I have a bit of experience. Having a collaboration to develop and work in the right direction, yes. There are plenty of other positions than coach. Participate in a reflection on the evolution of French men's handball, know how things can evolve, certainly.

I think that today, since 2018, the French men's results, whether European clubs, whether the national team, whether it is the youth selections, are less convincing. I find, for example, that today, there is no young Frenchman of great talent showing up in the French team. world must take some responsibility, this must be an indicator signal, perhaps of a slightly different way of working, that we must put in place tomorrow.

Nikola Karabatic retired after this match, how did you feel?

Everyone knows that we had an extremely difficult end to our collaboration. But I can't lose sight of the fact that we worked together for over ten years and that I've known him almost since he was born. He's a huge champion and the greatest competitor I've ever trained. I think we don't realise today what Nikola Karabatic's retirement represents. For me, he's an exceptional athlete and champion who will leave a huge void in French handball. That's clear. But time passes, there was the Richardson era, there was the Karabatic era, and now, we have to know the era of who will arrive to take up the torch.

These were also the last matches of Vincent Gérard and Valentin Porte…

These are three players that I have trained for quite a long time. Vincent is the phoenix. He's the one we finally say, do we need him? And then who, in important moments, is there, as he did with us when he helped us win the Champions League. He is not someone who is in permanent stability, but on the other hand, who is long-term and who is capable, in very big meetings, of being very present. He showed once again, after one of his other struggles, that he was truly a competitor who was also quite impressive. I found that he produced very high quality Games. He is a character, he is a very generous personality, very controversial because he sometimes has attitudes that can be disturbing. But it’s also his way of motivating himself and moving forward. It has allowed him to build a very great career. We still lose a goalkeeper who, while not having always been unanimous, has always been extremely important in the results of the French team.

And your former captain, Valentin Porte ?

Valentin, I'm going to situate him more from a human point of view. When you do this job, you meet sports people and meet people. With Valentin, it's both a sports person and a human person. He's a guy I loved coaching. He's a person I'm going to really enjoy being around once he's finished his career. I was sad for him because I would have liked it to end better for him. But he's a guy… I don't even want to talk about the player, but beyond the player, he's a great guy. I was very sad for him after the match.

Do you think he didn't get the place he deserved in the French team ?

He perhaps embodies a way of seeing team sport that is fading, disappearing. A vision where everyone puts themselves at the service of the team and where the defensive sector is at least as important as the offensive sector. I think he embodied the tradition of French handball and the continuity of French handball very well. I hope that what Vincent, Nikola and Valentin were able to embody will be taken up by the younger generation. Because we have to be careful that we don't stray from what made French handball strong.

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