‘If you play stupid all the time, you’ll be punished’ – Antoine Kombouaré sends message to Nantes president | OneFootball

Antoine Kombouaré has hit out at the FC Nantes president Waldemar Kita after last night’s defeat to Lille OSC with a pointed message. Despite the loss, results in other games meant that with one final match to play Nantes had created a four-point buffer between them and FC Metz in the relegation playoff spot.

Kombouaré had achieved what he had set out to do when appointed as the third manager of the season for Les Canaris. A third relegation in Nantes history had been avoided, but the experienced head coach was not impressed with what he had seen, and the events that have led to Nantes teetering on the brink of a drop to Ligue 2.

Nantes safe but matters remain tense between manager and president

“We are safe despite this defeat and despite this record which will haunt my nights for a long time, nine consecutive losses (at home), we are safe thanks to my friends at Strasbourg,” Kombouaré stated to the press. The manager continued, “I tell myself that I will work for two years here if President Kita lets me work for two years.”

Kombouaré added, “You can’t play it safe every year, one day you’re going to end up falling but that’s life. If you play stupid all the time, at one point you’re punished, and that’s what could happen to us. We’re in our 11th season in a row in Ligue 1 but in the last three or four, we have not been far from the drop.”

The Nantes manager ended his sharp remarks to the club president by calling on Kita to recruit this summer so that he could avoid another season sitting near the bottom of the table.

GFFN | Nick Hartland