Toulouse. The Fenix got back to work with the banana!
Six weeks after their last official match, the Toulouse handball players seemed delighted to return to their nest in the Sports Palace for a smooth recovery.
It goes to show that not everyone sulks when they go back to work: tanned and visibly very happy to be back together, the Toulouse handball players have now put an end to their vacation yesterday morning.
The appointment was set for 9 a.m. for a series of tests. “We take stock of the physical level of each by adapting to the different positions”, summarizes the coach Danijel Andjelkovic. The three newcomers – defender Bakary Diallo, goalkeeper Théodore Paul and full-back Baptiste Bonnefond (read below) – already seemed at home and their integration will continue from today in Andorra for an internship. “cohesion” of two and a half days. “We will have two physical training sessions, without the ball, the objective is to live well together, to create an atmosphere to be ready on Monday for the real recovery”, explains the Toulouse coach.
Frustrated by a missed last third of competition (5 defeats in the last 6 games), the Toulouse, ranked 7th in the end, have “the ambition to find Europe”, has already announced the latter who will have a new time to take out his box of tricks with a budget closer to 12th place than to the Top 6. “It’s still the collective that will have to allow us to perform. We’re going to try to reinvent ourselves a little”, he smiles on this subject .
Ayoub Abdi will miss the preparation
If the Toulouse staff needs a workforce at its best level to fulfill its objectives, it will probably also have to deal with injuries. Victim of a fracture of the fifth metatarsal during the Mediterranean Games, the Algerian international Ayoub Abdi should thus miss a large part of the preparation, forcing once again the Toulousains to tinker on the position of right back with the absence of the he other left-hander Matthieu Marmier (knee), out until February. Erwin Feuchtmann and Maxime Gilbert will again be involved.
Three young people from the training center (Piovan, Firmesse and Didelot) “have been targeted” and will have a card to play during this preparation. The championship calendar, which everyone is waiting for impatiently, is normally expected tomorrow, but the club has already communicated on the program of friendly matches with in particular a good poster against the Parisian French champion. The first official match is scheduled for September 6 on the occasion of the round of 16 of the Coupe de France on the floor of Pontault-Combault (D2). There are a little less than seven weeks left to be ready!
Camps and friendly matches
Giraudeau loaned to Frontignan
The training center is also back to work
Baptiste Bonnefond: “The speech
I liked the club”
Baptiste, why did you choose Toulouse?
At the end of February, I left Belarus (because of the war in Ukraine, editor’s note) to join Nîmes where I played the last two months of competition. The club offered me a three-year contract, but only from 2023, and I favored the stability of Fenix, with whom the discussions went very well. The club needed reinforcements at the back and the feeling went really well, especially with the president (Philippe Dallard, editor’s note).
What does the Fenix represent for a player like you, champion of France and winner of the Champions League with Montpellier?
Already, it is a club that offers a very interesting game, turned towards the show. They missed their last end of the season a little, in particular because of injuries and the sequence of meetings, but it is a team that is feared, which scares everyone. On a good day, the Fenix can knock out almost anyone and that’s the kind of challenge I’m looking for.
The club relies heavily on your experience. Did this confidence also influence your choice?
Of course. I want to help the club grow to reach a level and continue to progress. I liked the club talk. With the quality players who make up this group, we will try to make the most of our respective potential. The preparation will allow us to get to know each other better and things will fall into place slowly with the friendly matches. It will be necessary to confirm when the championship will start.
As an individual, what goals do you set for yourself?
I have always played in the big clubs, under pressure. It’s the first time that I’m not going to play in the European Cup, it’s going to be a bit special, but it will allow me to work on other aspects of my game, also physically. I have always been ambitious and I still am: the objective is to go as high as possible with Toulouse.