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Nantes are in front of their fans for the first time this season

The third team of Ligue A last season, Nantes, still don't have points in this season. To make matters worse, Nantes haven't won a set yet and the performance shown is very poor

Few people expected a disastrous performance of Nantes after two matches but the reality is that Nantes won no sets in away matches at Beauvais and Ajaccio. The word 'despair' is the best to describe their performance. There was nothing there that brought them to the third place of Ligue A last season and so far there are no reasons for satisfaction for coach Demar. Block was a trademark of the team last year and against Ajaccio they had only two direct points with the block in three sets and that is one of the reasons for the loss. They looked better offensively than they did against Beauvais but they couldn't compensate for the poor block and service. They were lead by Perez with 16 points and the Spaniard was the only player with two-digit number of points and that speaks enough.

 - We are in a difficult situation but only we can get ourselves out of it - said Jonas Aguenier, middle blocker of Nantes.

Nantes will play in front of their fans for the first time today, the arena Artur Dugast was a fort in the past seasons which rare teams left undefeated and they hope they will have their first win today. The opponent is ideal, Saint Nazaire is the weakest team of the league on paper and Nantes have to win tonight.

 - I am glad we are coming in front of our fans and we need their support. We haven't presented a lot of good stuff in the first two rounds and the result was like that as well. We failed in all elements of the game against Ajaccio, we are still not a team in the real sense of the word but against St. Nazaire we have no right to lose points - Demar is decisive.

The newcomers in the league had their first win in the second match, in the west of France they won against the powerful Chaumont after five sets. St. Nazaire played well against Rennes too in the first round, but on Saturday they had more efficient players which affected the score. Brazilian Cabral stuck out with 29 points of which six were aces, Troy had 26 and that duo will be the main strength of St. Nazaire. The experienced Sevillano played significantly better, scoring 14 points and doing a great job in defense.

They have shown character and stood up to the powerful Chaumont in which 1400 loud fans helped them. The fans were the key factor in the fifth set when St. Nazaire made up for -4 (2-6). What can worry the coach Gosselin is the exhausting pace. Troy is playing for the entire summer without significant rest and the Saturday match was a marathon of 130 minutes.

 - We played a terrific match and our win is deserved. We knew we were facing a tactically demanding opponent, the players gave their maximum and I also want to thank the fans. Without their support this win would have been impossible. We are turning for the neighborhood derby against Nantes now. They are a strong team and they should not be judged on the basis of the first matches - said the coach Gosselin.

It is hard to imagine that Nantes will be left empty-handed for their third game in a row, especially when playing in front of their own fans. St Nazaier is an ideal opponent to end the drought, they are the new-comers in this league and playing a game every three days is certainly not easy.
Nantes seldom lose points in front of their fans, especially not against teams that are below their level. Objectively speaking, coach Demar has one of the best teams in the league, while the same cannot be said of St Nazaire. I expect hosts to be full motivated and focused and I don't think St. Nazaire are able to threaten them this way. Three points for the hosts tonight.