“Bordeaux played with ten men” – French pundits slam one-cap Super Eagles striker

The Anglo-Nigerian forward is yet to find the back of the net this term and is already an easy target for critics

Two French football analysts, Laurent Brun and Christophe Monzie, have taken a swipe at Girondins Bordeaux striker Josh Maja for his low output in Ligue 2 thus far this season.

Maja stayed put at Bordeaux despite Les Girondins‘ demotion from Ligue 1 to the second-tier last campaign.

And the 23-year-old has started all of Bordeaux’s league games, with the club recording two victories and a draw to go joint-top on the table with Guingamp.

The former Sunderland forward did not make any goal contribution in the 0-0 draw at home to Valenciennes and the 3-0 win away to Rodez.

But Maja provided the assist to the winner in Bordeaux’s 1-0 triumph over Niort on Saturday.

What did Maja’s critics say?

However, Maja, whose only Super Eagles appearance came in the friendly draw with Ukraine in 2019, has not impressed a couple of French pundits.

On their ARL podcast (via Girondins4ever), Laurent Brun and Christophe Monzie took a swipe at Maja for playing like an uninterested participant.

Brun highlighted that because of Maja, Bordeaux were constrained as though they played with a man deficit.

“I put a damper on Josh Maja even if he participated in the second goal,” Brun noted.

“I find that Bordeaux played with ten men. I’m sorry, I have nothing against Josh Maja, but I found him totally absent in this match.

“We will have to ask ourselves the right questions because a centre-forward has to weigh in something, and I find he did not weigh on this encounter.”

Christophe Monzie agreed with his colleague’s submission, noting that every Bordeaux player impressed except the one-cap Nigeria international.

“In the two matches he (Maja) played against Valenciennes and Rodez, that’s the enigma,” Monzie added.

“The only false note of the evening is him. The rest, Fransérgio was good, we will say. Dilane Bakwa was good. The defense was absolutely flawless. Tom Lacoux raked a lot of balls. Jacques Ekomié was really very good.”

Maja will get the chance to shut down his critics when Bordeaux make the trip to the Stade des Alpes to face Grenoble Foot 38 next Monday.