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

Last weekend, Lorient came down from Brittany to visit the Stade Geoffroy Guichard. For those of you who have no idea where this little fishing town is located, please have a look at the map.

This town has a population of about 60 000 inhabitants, and is mostly known for it’s fishing and tourism industries. For those of you who want to learn more: this link is in French.

It is also known for it’s rather underrated football club, FC Lorient, coached by none other than Christian Gourcuff, father of teenage heart-throb FC Girondins playmaker extraordinaire Yoann Gourcuff. Needless to say, they play a rather entertaining brand of possession oriented football over there, and have some great players to boot. Why nobody ever talks about guys like Marama Vahirua and Kevin Gameiro is completely beyond me. But as you will no doubt see in the highlights, these guys are very skilled, smart and can create chances out of nothing.

And that’s exactly what they did during the match against our boys in green. As you will no doubt have noticed from the stats, Sainté dominated possession, but were not able to create anything. In fact Lorient had fewer shots on goal, but more shots on target, and they made the most of their chances. The key to the game was defense. To paraphrase one match report that I read, the Lorient players

soon realized that the Saint Etienne defense is made of cardboard and took full advantage

Indeed. Sainté started with a Tavlaridis – N’Daw pairing in the center of defense, and it is obvious that N’Daw wasn’t comfortable at all in this role. He made many errors, and every time Lorient came down the pitch, it looked as if they might make something happen. Lorient scored very quickly off of a direct free kick that Vahirua sent into the top left hand corner. There was nothing Janot could do. They doubled their lead when defender Sosa headed in off of a corner. On the other end, Ilan, Bergessio and August Fernandez did not really threaten during the first half. In the second half, les Verts did much better and did create a few chances. Sako in particular played well and threatened with a long range effort that the Lorient keeper Fabien Audard had to palm over.

Analysis

Saint Etienne saw a lot of the ball, but their short passing game did not really create that many chances for their strikers and their wingers were reduced to some speculative efforts. Lorient were content to sit back and hit them on the counter. And they are excellent at one touch football, moving the ball down the pitch way too quickly for the poor Sainté defenders. In layman’s terms, Lorient are a much better team than Sainté and did whatever they wanted.

Blaise Matuidi re-injured his ankle early during this game and had to be replaced by Hautcoeur. Note that Loic Perrin still has not made his return for the team.

The fans have turned on the team, jeering them throughout the game and at one point Janot was telling them to shut up. That’s right, the players are now tellling their home support to keep quiet…

This leaves Sainté in 17th place, with 13 points, only one place off the relegation spots. Lens and Sochaux are ahead with 15 points and Boulogne is the first relegation candidate with 9 points.

Next week, the team are away to Le Mans (currently in 19th place) in a game that they should be able to get something from. Although on current form, anything is possible.

Match Highlights:

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!

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.

The derby:

ASSE 0 – 1 OL (Gomis 83′)

I actually got to watch this one on Setanta, so I do have a bit to say about the game. To me it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Sainté were very positive, with Mirallas, Payet and Bergessio getting forward whenever possible. Bergessio in particular was very good and the best chance that Sainté had all game came from his header off the bar. For once, Lloris was beaten… Defensively, I felt like Sainté was solid, but I wonder if Guirane N’daw’s best position is really at center back. He made a few errors and it looked like he wasn’t entirely comfortable out there. OL had a good chance with Lisandro Lopez hitting the post, or rather Jérémie Janot pushing his effort on to the upright. In the second half, it seems like Les Verts ran out of juice as they surrendered possession to Lyon again and again. This led to a bit of pressure on the goal and eventually, the game winning goal from Bafé Gomis, who couldn’t believe his luck when Janot punched a corner kick directly to him and all he had to do was tap in. The Alain Perrin Face was in full effect thereafter as he knew Saint Etienne would be on the losing once again to their hated rivals.

Random observations:

In case you are wondering what the Alain Perrin Face actually is, here is a sample:

Just try to look like you've got it under control....

The following game was at Nancy and the result…everything the fans could have hoped for…

ASSE 1 – 0 Nancy (Payet 71′)

This game was the mirror image of the previous one. Sainté played like a bunch of gutless cowards, got a goal against the run of play from Payet. His goal, predictably, was a solo effort where he took on the entire defense and blasted a long shot in the opposing goal. It looks great when it works…Apart from that, the team relied on great keeping by Janot to keep Nancy from equalising and taking the game. When I saw the highlights on Setanta, it was all Nancy except for the Payet effort so I don’t really have much to say about the team. It should be noted that Hilton Dos Reis (a striker) had to come on as right back (!) when Varrault injured himself only 15 minutes in. He actually did well in this game. This is how bad the injury situation is for Les Verts. They are now playing strikers in defensive roles.

Where does this leave us?

It leaves us 16th in the table with 13 points and a goal differential of -5. Sochaux is ahead of us with 15 points and Lens just behind with 12. Closest relegation fodder is Boulogne with 9 points.

Injury Update

First the good news…Augusto Fernandez is back and played against Nancy. He apparently played well and created some danger for the opposing team. Tavlaridis also played at the back, Ilan made a cameo as a sub. Matuidi and Perrin are back in training, as is Sanogo.

The bad news.. Bayal is still out. Varrault injured himself during the game, Benalouane is also out and Bergessio hilariously scratched Janot on the face as he was trying to congratulate him for his performance against Nancy… forcing the keeper to wear a band aid during his press conference.

Quote of the day

Souvent touché, jamais coulé

(Janot, after bouncing back from his mistake against OL with a great performance against Nancy).

(Often hit, never sunk)

Next game is at home against Lorient, after the international break.

This time, I have to say allez les Bleus as they will try to qualify for the World Cup against Ireland.

First, to get you in the right mood for the derby (the Lyon hating mood…) here are a couple incendiary quotes:

“In matters of football, Lyon will always be the suburb of Saint Etienne” Roger Rocher (former club president)

“OL is a bourgeois club with boring supporters” Robert Nouzaret (former manager)

and a video from the Saint Etienne office of propaganda:

Gripping stuff….(Janot’s acrobatic jump kick of the goal post in particular).

Ok, back to reality…

As the video painfully highlights, Sainte have not won a derby since the 93/94 season. This derby has been rather one sided, and OL have had their way with the ASSE (sorry…) in many of the more recent meetings. A particularly bad memory for Sainte fans is the 2006 derby which OL won 4 – 0 and clinched the title as a result.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, which will be at 9 pm (France time) at the Chaudron, there seems to be little reason for optimism. Saint Etienne currently is sitting comfortably in the 16th spot with 10 points and a goal differential of -2, while OL are 4th with 20 points and a goal differential of only +2 (!). Ok, we would kill to be in their place, but for OL fans, this must be a bit disappointing.

Yes, the game is at home, but so was last week’s and that didn’t stop Valenciennes (best attack in League 1 so far) from waltzing in and collecting all three points after some comical defending from Les Verts and heroic keeping from N’Dy Assembe. Things are going to have to tighten up at the back if Sainte are to have a chance in this game. Moreover, Lyon got embarrassed at Nice last time out and will be even more desperate for a win.

It’s also true that Lyon have some injury problems, but that’s something this Saint Etienne team is very familiar with. Currently, Ilan, Augusto Fernandez, Tavlaridis and Landrin are doubtful for the game, and Bayal is in Senegal taking a vacation getting treatment for a stress fracture on one of his toes (!!!). His return date has not been specified… Yet more proof that this club is run by a bunch of amateurs (I’m looking at you Rommeyer). There may be something more to this story, but that is all the info we have for now. On the plus side, Emmanuel Rivière is back from injury.

This game also marks the return of Bafe Gomis to the Geoffroy Guichard stadium and I have a feeling he will not be getting a particularly warm reception after taking most of last season off. His good performances were few and far between and he didn’t seem to be particularly motivated. The fans will probably be sure to remind him of this.

Expected lineup:

With the above mentionned injury concerns, it’s a bit of a toss up. My feeling (based on absolutely nothing) is that Perrin will go with something like this:

Janot
Monsoreau Tavlaridis Benalouane Ndaw
Matuidi Gelson
Mirallas Payet
Rivière Bergessio

I expect Sainte to be very defensive in this game, and Bergessio and Rivière to drop back and harass the Lyon midfielders as much as possible. It will not have escaped Perrin (I hope) that Nice were able to win by sitting back and hitting Lyon on the counter, using Bagayoko’s physicality and Remy’s speed to put their defense on the back foot. He’s probably going to try the same thing here and hope that Matuidi and Gelson can keep possession long enough for Sainte to launch a few counters of their own. If they can hold Lyon off for the first 20 minutes or so, anything can happen.

Allez les Verts!

Updated Team Sheet:

L’ Equipe has the lineup for Saturday’s game

Janot, Coulibaly – Varrault, Benalouane, Andreu, N’Daw – A. Fernandez, Sako, Landrin, Gelson, Hautcoeur, Matuidi, Payet – Ilan, Bergessio, Mirallas, Dos Reis, Rivière

So no Monsoreau or Tavla in defence, but Augusto Fernandez is back, as is Christophe Landrin. Ilan will also be available.

With this group of players, here’s the lineup I would like to see:

Janot
Landrin N’Daw Benalouane Varrault
Matuidi Gelson
Mirallas Payet
Bergessio Ilan

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.

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.

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!

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.

Then, on Sunday, le derby against Lyon. St Etienne, who have held their training sessions in secret this week, have not beaten their hated neighbours since 5 April 1994. Could this be the weekend they finally notch a win? On current form, it seems unlikely. They have lost both of their away matches this season, amassing a grand total of no goals in the process. Few will expect the end of that run against the team that has won seven championships in a row. But they nearly managed it last season – they led 1-0 until the 92nd minute, when Lyon sneaked an equaliser. “We just need to do the same thing we did last year, but without conceding a goal this time,” says midfielder Christophe Landrin.

Latest transfer rumour – Arsenal want Matuidi. Can’t see that happening myself unless the Gunners agree to sign a huge cheque, which is not something they are really known for.

One player who is definitely going – Daniel Bilos. His contract, which had a year left to run, has been cancelled by mutual consent. He’d been struggling with injury since November 2007.