“I find it harsh” – Manager comes to West Ham man’s defence after social media criticism

RC Lens manager Yannick Cahuzac has urged Jean-Clair Todibo not to give too much attention to social media criticism while defending the online attacks against the West Ham United loanee.

On summer deadline day, West Ham allowed the centre-back to join the Ligue 1 side on loan.

The defender has so far played 185 minutes from four matches for Lens, and it includes two league starts.

Earlier this week, Cahuzac brought on Todibo in the second half in the 3-0 Champions League defeat to Club Brugge.

West Ham man subjected to criticism 

The French media slammed the 26-year-old for his poor display in RC Lens’ latest defeat. L’Equipe even blamed him for conceding [Joaquin Seys scored the goal] the second goal against Club Brugge.

Jean-Clair Todibo was recently also at the received end of criticism on social media.

RMC Sport says the West Ham United owned player has failed to establish himself as a leader while RC Lens are struggling defensively. This is partly because of injuries to the centre-back trio of Ismaëlo Ganiou, Jonathan Gradit and Maik Nawrocki.

Manager and Lens supporting West Ham player

Yannick Cahuzac has now come to defend the Frenchman. He reveals Jean-Clair Todibo has been late to training only once for a justified reason and RMC Sport have relayed his comments.

“I find it harsh, ‘JC’ is a true professional. He was only late once, and that was because his son had an asthma attack. He had warned me beforehand. We shouldn’t give it too much importance [to social media criticism],” he said.

“We knew that when we signed him. And he had a setback before the Standard match. He had a scare just before Monaco, which hampered his ability to play regularly. That’s why he was in a rehabilitation process. He needs to train regularly and get back to playing regularly to regain his form. But I have nothing to say about his mentality. We’re counting on him a lot.”

The West Ham man’s teammate, Florian Sotoca, has come out to support him. Sotoca said he’s “quite surprised” with the criticism aimed towards Todibo.

“He’s a very likeable guy, interested in others, and very active in communicating with both younger and older players. I have nothing but good things to say about JC. He’s very important to us. He’s a hard worker. I’m convinced he’ll be a great asset to us if he gets back to 100%,” Sotoca explained.