2023-08-27 16:55:00
Shocked, devastated, collapsed, pissed off… you can use whatever words you want following the terrible elimination of the French team in the first round of the 2023 World Cup. All these words perfectly characterize Nicolas’ emotional state. Batum, who spoke without jargon following the defeat once morest Latvia.
It’s at the microphone of Rémi Reverchon from BeIN Sports that Nico told his four truths. Of course, Batum has assumed its share of responsibility in the failure of the Blues, who completely broke down in the last quarter once morest Latvia to leave the World Cup through the very small door. But the captain of the EDF above all asked for a global questioning, at all levels.
“Everyone has to question themselves: players, coach, federation, even up there EVERYONE has to question themselves with what happened this summer, and why it wasn’t good. That we deprive ourselves of certain players, that we lose players under certain conditions, everyone must be committed!”
The sentence that must be remembered in this statement filled with emotion is the last.
Obviously, Nicolas Batum did not appreciate the absence of leader Thomas Heurtel, deprived of selection since his signing in the Russian club Zenith Saint-Petersburg in the midst of the war with Ukraine. Heurtel has a very large experience in Blue with a hundred selections and numerous participations in major international competitions. In particular, he was part of the last two epics at the Tokyo Olympics and EuroBasket, each time with a silver medal at the end.
“It was my last World Cup” chained Nico to Rémi Reverchon’s microphone. “Dude, you know me, I missed summers but I did everything for this fucking shirt. And when you deprive yourself of certain guys, in competitions like that… man, we’re fucking together, we’ve been putting something in place for years, we might be world champion. We messed up (the players) of course, but there is a big questioning of a lot of people.
Strong words from Nico, which are to be directly linked to the limits of the French team in the position of leader on this World Cup. While Nando De Colo was expelled from the game in the fourth quarter once morest Latvia, and Sylvain Francisco unfortunately showed his inexperience at the worst moment, the Blues simply collapsed offensively. As a result, EDF is already going home when it was aiming for a gold medal one year before the Paris Olympics.
The Olympic Games which will represent Nico Batum’s very last competition with the French team. So he wanted to leave a last message before going to the locker room with his head down…
“I have one year left with this team. We need everyone in Paris, we need the best conditions, I don’t give a damn regarding politics or whatever, we need the best French team possible.
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Source text : beIN Sports
Nicolas Batum’s words following defeat:pic.twitter.com/D9jtmbnHh9
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) August 27, 2023
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#rant #Nicolas #Batum #elimination #France
