i changed the thread title; with 71 posts in 2 years there's no need not to continue with the same thread. ASSE did very well to hang on against bruges, but in the last half hour it was all they could do just to hang on to the ball when they had it, and when they didn't they needed a lot of heroism in their own box. much better play against nancy though, from everyone except perhaps gomis who is very uneven this season. machado i've only seen this year at sainté, but if he had a weight problem it's forgotten now.
I think Etienne can push hard at UEFA Cup for a reason : since they will probably finish at mid-table in Ligue 1,they can focus totally at UEFA. And I think they have a good team to win it. Of course,seems that Milan,Fiorentina,CSKA and City can be the biggest threats (and OM if get the spot too),but they have a good chance to get over.
Hopefully he will give oppertunities to players who were in the old manager's doghouse like Grax and Matsui.
Lille - Saint Etienne 4-0 all goals http://goalclub.eu/playvideo/france-league-1/10.12.2009_Lille-4-0-Saint-Etienne/570
lille is getting a bit monotonous... four goals, four goals, four goals... de la suite dans les idées as they say.
SAADI PASSE PRO : Idriss Saadi a signé son premier contrat professionnel avec Saint-Etienne. A 19 ans, l'attaquant, formé chez les Verts,s'est engagé pour trois saisons avec son club formateur
No need to bump this thread just for this crap signing. He had like 1 goal in over 100 matches at Sunderland. If this is Payet's replacement then ouch.
well, even payet (the real payet) as a replacement for payet (the fantasy payet) would be a pretty raw deal... though the comparison is pomonagrume, malbranque at zéro franc is a better replacement for payet than payet at 9 briques to replace gervinho. even when he was at OL i was never a big steed fan (much prefer emma) but he's not gotten 30+ matches year after year in the EPL on his good looks.
They've lost Payet, Matuidi & Riviere. Alonso will be injured during most of the season. They can't get rid of burdens like Sanogo who has a huge salary. How can they do well ?
Sinama Pongolle > Riviere plus they have Bergessio Clement is no Matuidi but hes good for a team like this. Payet > Malbranque but Payet have half a good season and didnt want to be there plus Malbranque will be highly motivated. They signed who Paulão had a great season with Braga still have Bocanegra and Ruffier in goal who should be France's #3 (sorry Carrasso). I think they CAN contend for 4th-6th place but if they finish 7-9 its no surprise.
everyone forgets Bakary Sako ! and how about Guirane N'Daw,Josuha Guilavogui ? Idriss Saadi the "GREEN BENZ"
Actually he had 2, but who's counting. And you are right. In the American vernacular, he has been a stiff.
green benz?... let's wait & see... but for the others (and plenty others than that) i agree sainté always finds a fieldful of gamers... boca for example! battles même combat! mignot annonce la couleur! ruffier, n'en parlons plus! clément fits right in! NO BRAG JUST FACT! for paulão i'll take SB333's word for it, his knowledge is broader than mine. for sinama-pongolle i'll give him the benefit of the doubt but he seems more a stiff to me than malbranque... after all, 2 goals in 100 outings from an offensive-leaning all-rounder at FFC and sunderland is at least as good as about 10 in three seasons from a full-blown colchonero striker. bergessio is a quandary. sometimes he's a genius. sometimes at least he tries, sometimes not even that. it all adds up to an ironclad hold on the top half of the table, a europa shot, and little more. but i'd sooner root for them than for marseille for example, qui pètent plus haut que leur cul depuis toujours... this season they'll need to stand in line for the eiffel tower like everyone else to smell their own farts!
- Sinama Pongolle has been good 1 season in his whole career...I can't believe this guy still benefits of a good reputation because people predicted to him and Le Tallec a bright future while they were in L2. Sinama Pongolle is the bellion of Saint Etienne. - Ruffier is overrated. He doesn't know how to come out. If he were playing in a mediatic club, he would get heavy criticisms for that. At first, it's funny to see him doing those crazy saves just for the flash of the camera but it doesn't last long. His limits are obvious and we've seen it even with the national team. - As for Clement, the only thing he has for him is that he's warrior. He's very poor technically. Him & Chantome associated at PSG was a nightmare. it was horrible in terms of strength and PSG midfield got outplayed fairly easily. It's probably enough for Saint Etienne but not to be a serious contender for a spot in Europa League. - I don't like Bocanegra. He's way too slow.
sinama-pongolle (and bergessio) gave useless a whole new meaning last night. ASSE'S two goals you can't even call réalisme or even réussite. the correct term is le cul bordé de nouilles. blind luck. ruffier was excellent last night and not just on his line. i agree about clément and never regretted his leaving OL, but the warrior attitude and some blind luck can win you a lot of points in a season. bocanegra slow? well, yeah! he may not beat the record for fewest km run in a season all positions but his main competition would be goalkeepers; among fullbacks he's the leader hands down. it's possible i run more than boca some sunday mornings and i'm 54. but he really does have a sense of placement and if on a team with guys like batlles and mignot he's the captain (despite his hesitant french) there's a reason.
Would this be a decent over view of this nice club? I am really new to Saint Etienne. I am very curious. I know the general history that is provided at the website along with wikepedia. I have seen a few matches on tv along with youtube videos and I love the supporters culture and atmosphere provided at the matches. I am curious as I know I didn't see everything in just the matches I have been able to see. What type of style of play do they play? Is it an attacking style with lots of possession or more from a counter attack point of view? What is their academy like? Is it ranked highly amongst French clubs? Thanks for any information! The response: The supporters culture is indeed very strong, the strongest in France with Marseille. But it's usually said that the atmosphere in Sainté stadium is even better than Marseille's, because we sing 90 min. long, and because the stadium is "closed" so the sound doesn't go "in the wind" if you know what I mean. That's why the noise keeps IN the stadium, making the atmosphere very hot and nervous. The type of football we play really depend on the coach we have. We've been 10x French champions and went to CL final in 1976, thanks to our offensive play based on very good wing players like Rocheteau or Janvion for example. As for today, since we're back in First League (2004), we had 5 coaches: - Baup 2004-2006, very defensive but also very performant (we had in 2005-2006 one of the best defenses of French First League history! Our goalkeeper didn't take one single goal at Geoffroy-Guichard during 1534 minutes) - Hasek 2006-2007 and Roussey 2007-2008 : very offensive play, based on 4 great offensive players (Dernis-Feindouno-Gomis-Piquionne the first year, and Dernis-Feindouno-Gomis-Payet the second). - Perrin 2008-2009 : it was a bad year and a bad coach. We played quite defensive and the results were not good. - Galtier - 2009-present : we usually play quite defensive (4 defenders, 2 or even 3 defensive midfielders) but it's quite efficient (we're a "hard to play" team, we rarely lose by more than 1 goal). Galtier likes to recruit hard-workers. Our academy is very good as some very good players came out recently from it: - Gomis (who was sold for 15M euros!) - Dabo (who played in French NT and then in Sevilla) - and also Ghoulam, Néry, Perrin, Saadi, Guilavogui for example (who are still in our team today. Most of them play in French U21 team). We also have an incredible player named Kurt Zouma. This guy just turned 17 and is already a fantastic central defender. He has a lot of physical & technical abilities. Probably a future excellent player. It will be hard ot keep him, but we'll try our best So here you go, I'm available if you have any other question .have a very good day!! and "allez les verts"