Pre-Lyon round-up
By: Jonathan |
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It’s a big week for St Etienne. The draw for the UEFA Cup takes place at 13h on Friday. This will provide Les Verts with their first opponents from outside France in 26 years (unless you count the Intertoto Cup in 2005).
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.
Category: St Etienne Team News
A good crowd
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Some clubs would be glad to get this many supporters at a normal game, let alone at a training session. So come on, les Verts, how about a decent performance against Lyon to give the fans something to shout about?
Category: St Etienne Team NewsLe Mans 1 St Etienne 0
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Dear oh dear. Another away game, another defeat. This was not the best way to prepare for next weekend’s crucial derby clash with Lyon. Was last season’s fifth place a false dawn?
The match report on the club site makes it sound as if St Etienne had plenty of possession, but were caught out by a quick counter-attack in the first half and just could not score despite laying siege to the Le Mans goal.
Here’s the winning goal - looks like really poor defending to me. There’s no way Helstad should have been allowed that much space inside the box:
Manager Laurent Roussey described the defeat as “worrying”, saying that the match was basically the same as the game against Valenciennes, except that this time the winning goal was not a controversial one. “We didn’t have the resources or the talent to get back on level terms,” he said. “I just don’t recognise my team. I can’t understand the lack of commitment from older players and even the younger guys who played with hunger last year look different to me as well.”
Category: St Etienne Team NewsPiquionne’s fit of pique
By: Jonathan | 2 Comments
You may have heard of Frédéric Piquionne. He played for St Etienne for two and a half seasons, scoring 23 goals before being loaned to Monaco. He now plays for Olympique Lyonnais and has decided to stir things up ahead of the derby with les Verts by claiming that even while he was at St Etienne, he “already felt at home at Lyon”. He would go to matches in Lyon, did his shopping in the city and took advantage of its nightlife. He is now looking forward to “shutting a few people up” when he returns to Geoffroy-Guichard with his new club at the end of August. There is no love lost between him and the people who run ASSE: “They didn’t want to let me leave and now that I have left, they spit on me. I will not be shaking their hands.” A full account of his comments is here.
St Etienne’s grands fromages have responded, publishing a statement on the club website accusing Piquionne of “defamation”. They also criticise him for claiming that St Etienne fans would throw things at him, noting that the club’s supporters have just been voted the best in the league for the second season in a row.
Best supporters in the league or not, Piquionne has certainly guaranteed himself a hostile reception in “the Cauldron” on the 31st. St Etienne have another game before that, of course, this Saturday, when they play at Le Mans, but supporters are already thinking about the derby with Lyon. There was a big queue for tickets when they went on sale at the stadium earlier this week.
In other news, Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas says that the deal to take him from Lille to St Etienne should soon be done. In his head, he is “already at St Etienne”. Christophe Landrin, who missed the game against Sochaux through injury, says it’s nothing serious and that he could be involved against Le Mans. Loïc Perrin, another absentee on Saturday, is also back in the reckoning.
According to France Football, St Etienne’s Brazilian striker Ilan could soon be returning home. Flamengo is his most likely destination, as long as the two clubs can agree on a price.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsSt Etienne 2 Sochaux 1
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Sorry, I got the time of the game wrong in the last post - it was at 19h, not 21h. Oops! Anyway, the main thing is that St Etienne won it, even though the visitors, by all accounts, had the better of the second half. Manager Laurent Roussey was really disappointed with the way the match ended, commenting later that “if we play like that, our main aim should simply be making sure we stay up, as soon as possible.” Brief highlights here:
You have to say that penalty decision was almost as generous as the one that went against St Etienne last week. Apparently the guy who scored it, Pascal Feindouno, could be off to a club in the United Arab Emirates. Unlike many other players, he doesn’t try to hide the fact that the key reason for the move would be money. “Three million euros a year, it’s incredible!” he said, with €€€ signs flashing in both eyes, possibly.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsA new record
By: Jonathan | 2 Comments
There was more evidence of St Etienne’s popularity yesterday when the club revealed that it had sold 17,419 season tickets for 2008/9. This beats the previous record of 17,144, set in 2005 when les Verts had just achieved their best league position (6th) for many years. Last season, of course, they finished 5th and qualified for the UEFA Cup, meaning that this year the club will get its first taste of European competition since 1982.
According to ASSE chief executive Vincent Tong-Cuong, the club will not be selling any more season tickets, as that would be unfair to supporters from other parts of the country who cannot make it to every game. “St Etienne is one of the best-supported clubs in the country,” he said. “The current capacity of Geoffroy-Guichard (35,525) does not allow us to meet demand. We have to limit the proportion of season ticket holders to roughly 50% of the stadium’s capacity.”
St Etienne will be looking to reward the faith of those season ticket holders tomorrow, when they play their first home game of the season against Sochaux. Kick-off is at 21h French time. They will be looking for a decent result to wipe out the disappointment of last Saturday’s defeat at Valenciennes, where they lost 1-0 thanks to an extremely poor penalty decision:
Category: St Etienne Team NewsJanot to Lille?
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Goalkeeper Jérémie Janot could leave St Etienne before the end of the month, according to French national sports daily l’Equipe. Janot missed part of the 2007/8 Ligue 1 season through injury, and when he returned to fitness, he could not regain his place in the side from Jody Viviani. He is not prepared to remain second-choice, the paper said.
His destination? It could be Lille, whose keeper Tony Silva has moved to Trabzonspor in Turkey. Although Lille’s current first choice is Grégory Malicki, manager Rudi Garcia would like him to have some competition and he knows Janot well from his time on the coaching staff at St Etienne. Lille’s Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas, currently on duty with the national team at the Olympics, could be a part of the transaction.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsGeoffroy-Guichard Mark II?
By: Jonathan | 3 Comments
St Etienne could move to a new stadium in the next few years, according to club president Bernard Caïazzo. In an interview with local paper Le Progrès, he said it would be better to start from scratch than to redevelop the current arena, the legendary Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. “It’s difficult to turn old into new and we can’t play 2-3 seasons in front of 20,000 spectators while the stadium turns into a building site,” he said. “We already need special permission to play our European games there.”
The only sticking point is the usual one - money. Who would pay for a new stadium? Geoffroy-Guichard (nicknamed “The Cauldron”), originally built in 1930 and renovated for the European Championships in 1984 and the World Cup in 1998, belongs to the local authority. Asking taxpayers to foot the bill is out of the question, and for the time being at least, there is no sign of a private investor.
If the club were to get a bigger venue, filling it would not be a problem. St Etienne are one of the best-supported clubs in France and have more than 17,000 season ticket holders. Geoffroy-Guichard currently holds over 35,000 fans - but in the mid-80s, before all-seater stadia became the norm, attendances were close to 50,000.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsYoann Gourcuff at Saint Etienne?
By: Richard | 9 Comments
According to Le Parisien it’s possible (although, admittedly, they also go on to say that it has little chance of coming to fruitrition).
The former Rennais & France U-21 international would fit in incredibly well at Saint Etienne, and it seems there is room for him.
Who knows?
Let’s file this under hopefully, but probably not.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsASSE — Lens (delayed match)
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Lens is fignting to stay in the top-flight, so this shouldn’t be that much of a challange on paper, but Lens is always tough, and they have a better away record than we do.
PSG fans should be pulling for us too.
You should be able to see the game here.
If we win this game, we’ll move into 5th spot.
Actually, even if we tie the game, we’ll be in 5th spot.
Lens’ situation is a bit more tricky, and they’ll stay in 16th with either a win or a draw.
With a loss, they could drop, as Lens, PSG, Toulouse, and Strasbourg are tied at 35pts.
Tricky stuff.
Allez Les Verts!
Category: St Etienne Team News
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