Just in time for the derby…

By: Benj | October 29th, 2009

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.

Sainte_Fans

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:

Derby _Au_coeur_du_Chaudron
Uploaded by jerem75018. – More professional, college and classic sports videos.

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