Yoann 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 News
ASSE — Lens (delayed match)
By: Richard | Add Comments
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 NewsSaint Etienne 4, Le Mans 1
By: Richard | 1 Comment
Great news;
Saturday, Saint-Etienne played the 31st match of the season (it’s important to note that both Saint Etienne & Lens are a game behind) against a powerful Le Mans team.
Former Liverpool striker Anthony Le Tallec put Le Mans ahead in the 32nd minute with a lucky goal. Midfielder Geoffrey Dernis (who had the best game he’s had all season) scored twice in the 42nd and 63rd before setting up Bafetimbi Gomis for his 11th goal of the season in the 56th minute.
This, combined with the game behind, puts Saint Etienne in a very good position.
Currently 9th (43 points) — if you (optimistically) factor in the extra three points that would come form a game-behind-victory, they would climb to 5th (46 points).
(I know, I know — always the optimist, but I’ve been right so far!)
Here are the highlights
Now for the numbers;
The first table here is the regular standings as of yesterday.
(31 games played, 43 pts)
If you look at overall goals scored so far (next table), we’re in 5th spot with 37
finally;
the embarrassing one; we’re at the very top of the “away losses” table with 11
Category: St Etienne Team NewsJosé Mourinho signs on as ASSE Manager(!?!!?)
By: Richard | 8 Comments
I just read this article online about Mourinho signing today to manage Saint Etienne next season. This is totally incredible, and completly unexpected.
I’m so happy and confused.
It seems Laurent Roussey was wanting out next season, and Mourinho jumped at the opportunity to, in his words “manage such a legendary team such as Saint Etienne”.
I had no idea Bernard Caiazzo had this kind of money to spend, but I’m totally happy.
All I can say is “wow!”
Category: St Etienne Team NewsNo Game No Gain
By: Richard | Add Comments
So we don’t play this weekend, which will probably see us drop a few spots on the table, but don’t get discouraged, dear ASSE fans!
Janot (who has been out for over two months with a shoulder injury) is back, and played the entire first half in our friendly against the Congo DR on Thursday.
That’s right, we played a friendly against the Congo DR on Thursday, and won 3-0, thanks to first-half goals from Ilan (5) and Guarin (10), and a goal by Nivaldo (59) in the second half. Anyway, Jérémie Janot seems elated to be back, and gave this interview to the Saint Etienne official website.
We have a home game against Le Mans next week, who has been in terrible form lately (I know I won’t offend anyone by saying this, because there’s no Le Mans blog) they haven’t won a game since their victory over Valenciennes in mid-February. (I’m not kidding — look it up) and with Janot back, and a confidence-building game against a team that’s 70th on FIFA’s international rankings, I think we’re in good shape.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsAuxerre 1 — ASSE 3 and our European chances
By: Richard | 4 Comments
Well, let me start off by saying that I was wrong.
Totally wrong.
Pedretti played (initial reports were that he’d be out)
More importantly though, we scored four goals! (albeit, the first one was in our own net)
Pascal Feindouno had an incredible game (I counted seven chances) and was rewarded with an 81′ goal.
We were down 1-0 at the half, and kept taking chances the entire time.
Here are the two better of the goals.
1-1
1-3
Now;
call me crazy, but it seems (don’t laugh) a European place is not outside of the realm of possibility for us.
(I said don’t laugh)
We have 8 matches left against the following:
1. Home vs Le Mans (6th)
2. Home vs Lens (17th)
3. Away vs Sochaux (16th)
4. Home vs Lorient (8th)
5. Away vs Metz (20th)
6. Home vs Lille (7th)
7. Away vs PSG (18th)
8. Home vs Monaco (13th)
Put in that perspective, it seems that we could finish the season strong. Our three ramaining away games are against teams that are in danger of being relegated. Le Mans & Lille are always tough. Lens and PSG might be backed into a relagation corner by the time we face them, so they’ll either be dangerous, or totally self-destructive, and have given up. But, all-in-all these are winable games.
I know you’re reading this and giggling to yourself, but I think it’s possible.
There’s still a faint glimmer of hope, and if I’m wactching games mid-week next season, I’ll at least be able to say that I knew we’d make it.
Category: St Etienne Team NewsAuxerre — Saint-Étienne preview
By: Richard | 5 Comments
So we play Auxerre (away) this weekend.
Bad News First:
We have yet to beat Auxerre this season, despite this being the fourth time we play them. We lost 1-0 away in the Coupe de la Ligue back in September, tied at home in in a league match in October, and lost 3-2 away in the round of 32 in the Coupe de France.
On top of this, Moustapha Sall will be serving out his ban for being sent-off against Toulouse last week, and we haven’t scored a goal all month. Furthermore, our away record is dead last in the league (8 pts coming from 2 wins, 2 ties and 11 losses) and the 9 point gap between us and the UEFA Cup would be almost impossible to close without a victory here. ugh.
But I’m a die-hard optimist. The good news is that Auxerre haven’t exactly been setting Ligue 1 on fire recently, and they may still be without Pedretti, who is injured.
PLUS, we have this guy on our side!
how could we lose?
My prediction:
Auxerre 0 — ASSE 1
Category: St Etienne Team NewsIntroduction
By: Richard | 10 Comments
OK first of all, I guess I should introduce myself; I’m Richard St.Ofle, I’m an artist, designer and an obsessive football fan. I’ll be writing the Saint-Étienne blog (yeah, I know — I’m coming in late in the season). I have my own site here.
Anyway, despite having lived in Paris for a few, I’ve been an ASSE man for years (get it?). I now live in Sacramento, where Saint-Étienne is huge. Every August 7th, (Loïc Perrin’s birthday) we have a parade in his honor.
I’m kidding of course. Living in Sacramento does afford me the luxury of wearing my team colors any day of the week without having to worry about being beaten up by Lyon fans, or our record this season, or our spot on the table, or news about who may or may not be going where next season. No one here knows/cares.
Anyway, please contact me with any questions, comments or whatever at etienne(at)theoffside(dot)com.
Allez Les Verts
Category: St Etienne Team News
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