ASSE – Le Mans: Janot saves the bacon
By: Benj |
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This game was on Dec 5, at Geoffroy Guichard. Saint Etienne were taking on a decent Sochaux team, were USMNT striker Charlie Davies was starting to make a name for himself before his unfortunate accident. This was an exciting 0 – 0 draw, with lots of chances for both sides but two keepers, Janot and Teddy Richert, who were on form.
Match Stats
0 – 0
Stade Geoffroy Guichard
Possession: 58% ASSE, 42% Sochaux
Shots on target / total shots: 4 / 17 ASSE, 5 / 10 Sochaux
Starting lineups:
ASSE: Janot, Ndaw, Benalouane, Sako, Matuidi, Hautcoeur, Landrin, Fernandes, Ilan, Bergessio, Mirallas.
Subs: Payet (70′), Rivière (84′)
Sochaux: Richert, Stevanovic, Drame, Faty, Carlao, Mikari, Perquis, Dalmat, Martin, Sverkos, Maurice – Belay
Subs: Butin (79′), Nogueira (79′)
Match Highlights
Incredibly enough, Saint Etienne has still not managed to move up (or down) in the table. They are in 17th spot with 15 points, ahead of Le Mans, who have 9 points as the first relegation candidate, and behind Nancy who have 17 points. Next match is Dec 10 at Lille…
Category: St Etienne Team News
Le Mans + Witch doctors at the club!
By: Benj | 1 Comment
Hello again, fellow masochists….
if you are a Saint Etienne fan, these are difficult days. The team seems like it’s stuck in quicksand, gradually sinking but very, very slowly. Often, I ask myself why I even bother to follow this team, but then I remind myself that this season at least, we have to try to be patient. I have been asked why Alain Perrin still has a job, and I think that part of the reason is that he has been pretty unfortunate with injuries so far this season. Some key players are still injured, particularly on the defensive end. Bayal is still out, as are Monsoreau and Andreu, Benalouane just returned for the Sochaux match and still needs match practice.
Read the rest of this entry »
Category: St Etienne Team NewsASSE – Lorient: no small fry
By: Benj | 3 Comments
Match statistics:
ASSE 0 – 2 Lorient
Vahirua 4′
Sosa 17′
Stade Geoffroy Guichard
Possession: 60% ASSE, 40% Lorient
Shots on target / Total shots: 4/19 for ASSE, 7/12 for Lorient
Crosses: 40 for ASSE, 12 Lorient
Category: St Etienne Team NewsBayal finally gets recognized…
By: Benj | 1 Comment
Finally, the press gives credit to one of Saint Etienne’s own. Mustapha Bayal Sall has been nominated for the prestigious Ballon de Plomb awarded by the online magazine Cahiers du Football. This award (the Lead Ball) is the opposite of the Ballon d’Or. We have a lot of reasons to be excited as for once, there is a strong chance that Saint Etienne may be bringing home some hardware.
Ballon de Plomb
This nomination recognizes years of mental errors, idiotic back passes and dodgy public statements by the nominee.
The criteria for the award are:
– lack of playing ability
– poor career choices
– unpleasant personality
Bayal’ s candidacy presents some compelling arguments:
– Stating he is one of the best defenders in Ligue 1
– Average of one mental error / game
– Agitating for a contract extension while out injured. Threatening to go back to Senegal if he didn’t get his way.
– Signing a contract for 2 different clubs at the same time
In addition, the Cahiers have a hilarious image to accompany the nomination:
During the rebuilding of Saint Etienne's defense, pedestrians are asked to use the designated walkways towards goal
News of the Lorient game coming soon!
Category: St Etienne Team NewsThe derby and what followed
By: Benj | 2 Comments
Hello again, loyal readers…
I apologize for not posting earlier but sometimes your personal life can get in the way of your other duties. I just wanted to take the opportunity to give you an update of the derby and the next match against Nancy.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsJust in time for the derby…
By: Benj | 13 Comments
The Saint Etienne blog is back! My name is Ben and I will be writing for the Saint Etienne Offside as of today. With the derby coming up, we have a lot on our plate, so let’s jump right in.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsWhere were we?
By: Jonathan | 5 Comments
Time to get this blog going again. That was a bit of a long break – sorry about that, my wife gave birth to our first child towards the end of 2008 and I have been quite busy since then! It’s a boy, so I intend to bring him up as a Francophile and a St Etienne fan. I can try, anyway.
St Etienne have been busy too – being awful. With a meagre total of 20 points so far, they are only one place (and three points) off the relegation zone. They’ve also just been knocked out of the Coupe de France. They are still in the UEFA Cup, but very unlikely to win it, so the priority until May has to be “le maintien”. Can they do it, or is this once-great club heading for yet another spell in Ligue 2? Find out here in the coming months on The Offside’s St Etienne page.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsSt Etienne 1 PSG 0
By: Jonathan | 2 Comments
That’s more like it. Out of the relegation zone, and a superb goal to boot:
Thank you, Mouhamadou Dabo. I doubt we’ll see a better goal all season. Hopefully, following the UEFA Cup win against Tel Aviv last Thursday, this will enable Les Verts to get their season back on track. They are still only 16th though, and Pascal Feindouno is being annoying again, running off to Qatar without permission. However things turn out this time, it’s only a matter of time now before he leaves.
Another problem: Mirallas is out for three weeks. He still hasn’t played a single game for his new club.
Next game is away to Guingamp in the league cup tomorrow, before a tough test in Bordeaux next Sunday.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsCaen 2 St Etienne 0
By: Jonathan | Add Comments
Well that’s it I think, the start of the new season is now officially a disaster for St Etienne. Five games, four defeats and only two goals scored has left les Verts in the relegation zone, pretty much the exact opposite of where pre-season expectations had placed them. (Not quite as bad as Spurs in England, who have spent big, talked big and been rewarded with last place in the league, but that’s another story, which I will leave to my English colleagues on The Offside.) Manager Laurent Roussey says he is “trying to be calm”, but that must be pretty difficult when you have just lost your third match in a row and, adding to insult to injury, your team has had not one but TWO goals disallowed. That followed the ludicrous penalty awarded against St Etienne in the first game of the season at Valenciennes.
I haven’t seen the incidents in question – two Gomis goals ruled out for offside, apparently – but I have seen Caen’s goals, and all you can say is that once again, St Etienne’s defending was very poor. On both occasions, Viviani pulled off a save (you could argue that he might have done better) and each time, the Caen forwards reacted quickly to knock in the rebound while les Verts just stood around ball-watching. You can watch the goals here. Roussey defended his players, saying they had done well and had simply been the victims of more bad refereeing, but these guys need to sharpen up, and fast. They have their first UEFA Cup game on Thursday and they won’t be making much progress with defending like this. Progress in the UEFA Cup looks like their best chance of securing European football next season, as they already look unlikely to qualify through the league. Is it too early to say they have a relegation battle on their hands?
UPDATE: The ref has admitted that the second Gomis goal should have stood and maybe the first one too. Credit to him for that, but it’s not much consolation for the Stephanois!
Category: St Etienne Team NewsSt Etienne 0 Lyon 1
By: Jonathan | 2 Comments
Not sure if this is one of St Etienne’s worst ever starts to a season, but it is now officially really bad. Three defeats in the first four games. Sheesh. And the team has failed to score in each of those defeats. Not looking good so far.
Yet more poor defending on Saturday. They simply allowed a striker far too much space, just as they did against Le Mans. Excellent goal from Benzema though:
And afer all Piquionne’s posturing, he only played for the last 17 minutes, making little impact. So that little episode can be forgotten about.
Never mind the UEFA Cup – St Etienne have to sort out their league form, and fast.
Category: St Etienne Team News
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