MHSC – Nice: “We would like him to be a little more protected”, this season Téji Savanier receives shock treatment

Téji Savanier, chased here by Lille's Benjamin André, is one of the players on whom the most fouls are committed in L1. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

The captain of MHSC, host of Nice this Sunday, December 15 (3 p.m.), is rarely spared by his opponents. A trend that seems to be getting stronger and stronger this season.

Téji Savanier rarely goes unnoticed. And not only because, recently, he has been turning up at Grammont in his latest Ferrari 4×4. On the pitch, the Montpellier HSC captain often finds himself at the heart of the storm, sometimes guilty, sometimes victim. And increasingly on the ground, a clear trend in a season in which the leader seems to be receiving shock treatment.

A bruised ankle in Saint-Étienne after a tackle by Yunis Abdelhamid, a bump on the head against Lille following a head-to-head with Ayyoub Bouaddi: in recent weeks, the 33-year-old has not been spared. Without the referees seeming moved, like the elbow given by Rémy Cabella to the MHSC midfielder. As a warning to everyone.

“You shouldn't look for it too much”

“Is it the fact that we are Montpellier, a small team ? I don't know. But it's true that we would like it to be a little more protected”, replies his partner, right-back Enzo Tchato. In Montpellier, where coach Jean-Louis Gasset was asked by the LFP disciplinary committee not to “fall into paranoia”, the question of the treatment of his leader is not new. Three of the last trips brought him back to the surface: in Lens (3 fouls suffered), Saint-Étienne (5) and Reims (5), no one was more affected on the field.

Savanier, a key player, would he also pay for his (very) strong character and his (too) sharp tongue ? “We all know Téji. We know he has a strong character. The referees and opponents know it. You don't have to look for him too much”, smiles Tchato.

The figure: 34

Last season, Téji Savanier was the second player in L1 to suffer the most fouls (97 in total), behind Lille's Tiago Santos (100). During the current season, he gave up his place to his teammate Arnaud Nordin (39), overtaken by Strasbourg's Bakwa (47), but remains the fifth most shaken in the elite (34).

Toulouse's Casseres found it. During their last two meetings, he managed to make the Montpellier player go crazy, sent off each time. Two mood swings as many illustrations of the dark side of a player that the French whistles have learned to identify. Since his discovery of the elite with Nîmes in 2018, he has been sent off nine times, for 39 yellow cards in 181 matches. An unfortunate tendency that maintains a reputation, probably not encouraging anyone to take care of the N.11 who is a scumbag.

Fair-play and “cold-bloodedness”

“We're not asking for anything at all. But if he's captain, I think he can go and ask for an explanation”, Gasset says, referring to the last trip to Lens. At Bollaert, before missing two golden opportunities, Savanier demanded a yellow card after a sole from the Northerner Diouf on Maksimovic. “For 3, 4 days, he couldn't walk. When he arrived, who got a yellow card ? Téji”, he regrets.

“It's the atmosphere at the moment when everyone is like me: paranoid, thinking that they are angry with us, that we are being refereed badly”, adds Gasset, coach of the last in L1 but also last in the fair play rankings.

Serious ailments for which the man with the cap prescribes his shock treatment. “If we do what we have to do, if we keep our cool, it will pass. But we have to convince ourselves of it.” Savanier first.

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