For her third year with the Girondines de Bordeaux jersey, Andrea Lardez has learned the lessons of last season, as all her teammates. The player who lived the arrival of Bordeaux in 2015, when she still played with Blanquefort in D2. With the reinforcements brought by the club this summer, the Bordelaises have capitalized their state of mind to rank 5th in this phase go. A good place in the ranking, it will manage to keep until the end of this season to stay in the elite. We discussed the Bordeaux project, its lateral position in the field and the beginning of the 2017/2018 fiscal year.



Soccer Hearts - In front of Soyaux you had played your last match of the first leg. If we talk about this derby, it was still "catastrophic conditions" to play it as said Sophie Istillart (teammate in Bordeaux), mixed zone?
Andréa Lardez - Yes, clearly. At first it was going on the field, but before the match we wondered if it would be maintained and the referee decided to maintain it. But the more we progressed in the match and the more the ground deteriorated and it completely limited the game. Then the incessant rain aggravated the situation, so it was complicated to make beautiful football.
It has happened to us to play on bad ground but at this point it was really the first time. Frankly I think it never happened to me to play on such fat ground.
It made us thwart, we should have scored early on because that's when we managed to best manage our game and the field was still practically exploitable.


Soccer Hearts - It's important the state of the field to play well ...
A. L. - Especially when you have a team that likes to play ball and wants to try to create the game. We are a team that likes to play football, simply. And there the conditions were not at all conducive to that in this match [against Soyaux].


Football Hearts - Today you are 5th, is it a place you thought or hoped to occupy by launching your season?
A. L. - 5th place I do not know. What is certain is that given the means put by the club at the inter-season, with the girls of last year who lived the galley season that we could have, by adding girls who have experience, which happened this summer. I think we had the idea of ​​being a little higher than we had been last season at the same time. Now the 5th place, that means we are still behind the four big teams of the championship so it's a bit of a surprise but it's not illogical given the results and work that we provide so we are satisfied and we will try to keep it as long as possible.


Football Hearts - Could the first game against Lille (lost 3-0) have been demoralizing for you? You really questioned yourself after this bad step.
A. L. - Demoralizing I do not think so. I think we might need this game to get to where we are, because we had made very good friendlies [against Guingamp and Soyaux]. So [face Lille] we may have arrived a little flower rifle, it's not a game we took lightly but it was a promoted and we were in a good momentum. We may have made things a little too simple and suddenly we were surprised. And I tell myself that this disappointment of the first game has served us and still serves us at the moment not to repeat the same mistakes.
Yes [we questioned] we thought we could not start a season like this and stay there, so we all got back to work and it pays so much better.


Soccer Hearts - To talk about you personally. In front of the PSG for example, I saw that you moved a lot on your line, on the defensive line but sometimes it hurt you to want to be everywhere (on Hermoso's attempt in the second half annihilated by Bordeaux). Is this something that Jérôme Dauba asks you?

AL - Yes, but we played in a system in 3-5-2 and in this formation there, the coach makes me back a little and aligns me on the three axial so I do more vertical movements, than horizontal on the along my line as a side. After that depends on the system, the opponent and the coach's choice.
It was a system we used against Lyon and that had worked rather well (defeat 2-0) so we reiterated against Paris and it worked well in the first half, but we suffered a little after (defeat 3-0).


Hearts of Foot - Because in front of Soyaux for example you climbed more but on your corridor. In relation to the opponent, do you have two types of game?

A. L. - Yes I was really positioned as a side shot. We were on defense at four, so when I'm positioned there, I tend to no longer take my hallway. It was also the expectations of the coach and it corresponds totally to my way of seeing the game and seeing the post, so I allow myself to mount more in this position there.


Hearts of Foot - You release a lot of serenity on the ground.

A. L. - I try to keep my serenity, but I have to gain in physical impact I think and I can also less throw myself.


Soccer Hearts - The three goals you have taken against Paris can be frustrating for you. I do not know if you saw them again. We always say that we can avoid them or that we should have avoided them?
A. L. - Yes we always think we could have avoided them, but we also said that we could have made one or two opportunities.


Hearts of Foot - Last season you managed to hang Paris (2-2) and thanks to this match you managed to keep you at the expense of ASSE.

A. L. - Yes I think this game was also used because we really played our survival in this game. PSG may have taken us too lightly because we were almost "condemned". In the end we stayed.


Soccer Hearts - I know that many midfielders are relocated sideways. Is that your case? Because we make more movements to the right and left in the middle than when we play sideways.

A. L. - No it's not really my case, it's the other way around. I tend to ... I prefer to play side, I prefer to play on the defensive line, but it's true that I have a tendency to project myself a little forward. I played middle a few times, but I think I have a defensive profile.
I played this job last year, but it's not really the position I favor. I try not to freeze as a side and I try to be available in several situations and can intervene in any case.


Soccer Hearts - We know that investing in women's clubs is important for the healthy development of a team and its players.

A. L. - Yes since last season, the club has the means, that it is financially at the level of recruitment. They decided to put in place federal contracts, which was not the case before. On the medical side also, we have medical staff available regularly, and the physio is more present for us. At the facility level too.

We are a part of the club and we try to integrate ourselves in the training center and in the club simply. The Girondins de Bordeaux project is spreading over the medium and long term. The club tries to keep a good dynamic and a good group that shares the same values ​​and the same desire to work, but reinforcing it with girls who have the experience of the D1 and may be even at the international level.


"We hoped we could have the opportunity to be part of

who could wear for the first time the jersey Girondins. "


Football Hearts - You come from the Blanquefort club before the merger with the FCGB. Is there a real pride to play for a club like Bordeaux for you?

A. L. - Yes. It's the club of the region. This is the pro club par excellence. It was a project that was in discussion, which we heard about in recent years in Blanquefort, so we hoped to have the opportunity to be part of those who could wear for the first time the jersey Girondins. It is done, and now that we are there, we hope to stay as long as possible.

Football Hearts - Compared to last season, which has been complicated, are you managing better this season?

A. L. - Yes, last year our main "problem" was the fact that we are amateur and that most girls work or study. It hurt us a lot in the investment, in the presence of training and in the intensity of the work that could be provided. This year we have a group that is pulled up compared to the girls who have arrived (Ali Nadjmi, Gathrat, Rodrigues, Nayler ...) and we try to hold on to it and suddenly, everyone stays in a same dynamic. We bring our state of mind and they bring their rigor and their investment. I think it's a good mix and that's what makes it turn out right now, so we try to keep that together.


Hearts of Football - To know a little more about you, I spoke with Sophie Istillart with whom you were called in France B team recently. That's what she told me: "We're close with Andrea, we've known each other for a few years now and we had the chance to be called at the same time as a France B team. We were happy to be able to share this first experience together, on the field, someone who never gives up, who gives everything in every game.He is someone very generous on and off the pitch, the first to help his teammates and someone very simple who keeps his head on his shoulders. "

A. L. - Yes I shared some years already with Sophie [in Blanquefort] and we were called together in B.
(smile) It's a Sophie description (laughs). I know that I have some technical shortcomings, that I try to compensate by the efforts, by the investment. I like being in the group that makes everything go well, who likes to relax the atmosphere because I think it's important to have a good group life, so I hope to participate to that.


At the end of our interview and following the message of Sophie Istillart, Andrea Lardez wanted to leave him a note.
A. L. - I thank Sophie for this attention and I also wanted to make a dedication. I call it "my pig".
Thanks a lot and see you soon.


Photo: Mica GBM