Les Verts Action thread - St-Etienne 04/05 [R]

Finally, following the PSG, OM & Toulouse result thread, here's one in hommage of one of the best club in all of France...

L'Association sportive de Saint-Étienne

Official site http://www.asse.fr/Assehtml/accueil.asp

It's only in french and is pretty poor except for the nice "Mediatheque" where some nice tiffos are available.

First, a look to the past:

Giants in the 60's & 70's, they have fallen on hard times after years of mismanagement. However, with the great support of their fans, they are now on the upswing & ready to regain their place in the L1 spotlights.

Here's the trophy case (the best one in France, no matter what our Marseille counterpart say )

Foundation: 1933

10 France title L1:
1956-57, 1963-64, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76 & 1980-81

6 Coupes de France:
1961-62, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1974-75 & 1976-77

Coupe Drago: (whatever that is...)
1951, 1957

Champions Cup Cup (old CL):
1976 - final
1975 - semis
10 qualifications (when it meant something)

UEFA Cup :
4 qualifications

Records held by Les Verts amongts others:

Most L1 titles: 10
Most consecutive titles: 4 (under threat from Lyon this year )
Most double Cup-League title: 4

Greatest players ever:

Michel Platini (1979-1982) - Don't know him? Well, grab an history book my friend and learn his legend
Oswaldo Piazza (1972-1979) - A rock at the back, now in as a consultant
Hervé Revelli (1964-1971) - 175 goals for Les Verts
Georges Bereta (1960-1974) - 41 France cap

Next: the 04/05 recap

 

Summer time action recap

After winning the L2 title and promotion, Frederic Antonetti is fired by the new management. What’s better than this to start an off-season???

In:

Hits:
- Feindouno, F (loan from Bordeaux) – Real dynamite since his arrival
- Piquionne, F (loan from Rennes) – Dynamite with Feindouno
- Zokora, DM (Genk) – a real nice DM youngster
- Ilunga, LB (Espanyol Barcelone) – Really good addition to the defense

Not sure yet:
- Baup, Manager – back at the helm after a turn in the 90’s and a L1 title with Bordeaux
- Zo.Camara, CB/RB (Lens) – famous in Leeds for his help in relegating the club last year
- Marin, F/M (Auxerre) – a lot of heart, but just not much class
- Le Crom, GK (p.Guingamp) – hasn’t played yet

Misses (as of now, could blossom):
Garrido, RB (loan from Valence) – The adaptation is hard, not really good at the moment
Le Tallec, F (p.Liverpool) – has been injured, no real impact


Out:
Nothing interesting here, most lower league talent players leaving

 

Matchday 1: Les Verts 0 – Monaco 1
Goal : Chevaton 2’
Summary: Camara makes a fool of himself, Monaco scores early and then bunkers. That’s it.

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
GK: Janot : 5,5
LB: Illunga : 5
CB: Hognon : 5
CB: Camara : 4,5
RB: Carteron : 5
DM: Sablé (cap): 5,5
DM: Zokora : 5
LM: Hellbuyck : 6
RM: F.Mendy : 4,5 (Gomis, 46’ : 5,5)
F: Citony : 5,5 (Compan, 76’)
F: Piquionne : 5

Matchday 2: Lens 3 – Les Verts 0
Goals: Keita (26’ & 39’), Cousin (72’)
Summary: Welcome to the L1, young Verts L

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
GK: Janot : 4
LB: Illunga : 4,5
CB: Hognon : 4
CB: Camara : 4,5
RB: Carteron : 4 (Garrido, 46’ : 4,5)
DM: Sablé (cap): 5
DM: Zokora : 5
LM: Hellbuyck : 6
RM: Perrin : 3,5
F: Citony : 4
F: Piquionne : 4,5

2 matches, 2 losses. Ouch...

 

Matchday 3 : Les Verts 1 – Strasbourg 1

Goals :
St-Etienne Le Tallec 35’
Strasbourg Farnerud 83’

Summary : Wow, a goal for… but then a lead squandered which is the theme of the season

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 5,5
Illunga : 5,5
Z.Camara : 4,5
Hognon : 5
Garrido : 5
Zokora : 6
Sablé (cap) : 6
Hellebuyck : 6,5
Feindouno : 6,5
Pinquionne : 5,5 (Gomis, 82’)
Le Tallec : 6 (Compan, 73’)

Camara struggles again, but the arrival od Feindouno on loan (with a purcahse option) revitalizes the offense. He’s no Henry, but he’ll do just fine.

Matchday 4: PSG 2 – Les Verts 2

Goals:
PSG : Pauleta (71’ penalty), Ogbeche (74’)
St-Etienne: Piquionne (65’ & 88’)

Summary : Nice effort, but PSG wasn’t on fire at the time (still isn’t but they’re better than at that time). PSG defense gives the draw on a horrible defending play on the last goal.

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 6
Ilunga : 5
Z.Camara : 5,5
Hognon : 5,5
Garrido : 5,5
Zokora : 6
Sablé (cap) : 6
Hellebuyck : 5,5 (B.Gomis, 85eme)
P.Feindouno : 6
Le Tallec : 5,5 (Marin, 77eme)
Piquionne : 7 (Perrin, 91eme)

So, 2 pts out of 4 games. The relegation battle is on…

 

Matchday 5: Les Verts 0 – Nantes 0

Summary : A draw is generous as Nantes was the better club on that day.

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 5,5
Garrido : 5
Hognon : 5,5
Z.Camara : 5
Ilunga : 5,5
Zokora : 5,5
Sablé (cap) : 6
Hellebuyck : 5,5
Feindouno : 6 (Marin, 90')
Le Tallec : 4,5 (Compan, 67')
Piquionne : 5,5

For those counting, that’s 3 pts out of 5 matchdays. So far, I’m really happy Istres is around to be last in the table.

Matchday 6: Ajaccio 1 – Les Verts 1

Goals:
Ajaccio: Lucas (93’)
Saint-Etienne : Feindouno (42’)

Summary : Not a nice match, but a victory was coming. That’s until the very last action of the game… The manager tries the defensive switch option and it fails, but you’ll see that strategy won’t matter much as any formula couldn’t help hold on up to now.

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 5,5
Garrido : 5,5
Z.Camara : 6
Hognon : 6
Ilunga : 6
Sablé (cap) : 5,5
Zokora : 6
Hellebuyck : 6
Marin : 4,5 (Carteron, 67')
Feindouno : 6,5 (F.Diawara, 89')
Piquionne : 6 (Gomis, 77')

An another draw… up to 4 pts

 

The first one was really nice as Piquionne really rises to get it. Then, the only reason you score twice is that our composure is horrible when trying to hold on to a lead. That comes with experience, which the group is too young to have.

Letizi isn't to blame for the second one. How about the clowns that were your CB in that game?

Anyway, we'll see you later in the Chaudron

 

Matchday 7: Les Verts 3 (Yes… 3!!!) – Auxerre 1

Summary : Alleluia!!! St-Etienne finally win to climb up the bottom. Marin goes crazy against his old club.

Goals:
St-Etienne: Ilunga (2’), Marin (14’ et 37’)
Auxerre : Mathis (91’)

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 6
Ilunga : 5,5
Hognon : 5,5
Z.Camara : 6
Garrido : 5,5
Sablé (cap) : 6
Zokora : 6
F.Mendy : 5,5
Feindouno : 6,5 (Perrin, 90’)
Marin : 7 (Citony, 71’)
Piquionne : 6 (Gomis, 86’)

A win removes all the doubts (for one week) as St-Etienne look like staying up.

Matchday 8: Sochaux 2 – Les Verts 1

Goals:
Sochaux : Isabey (4’) & Oruma (76’)
Saint-Etienne : Piquionne (33’)

Summary : Back to the grim reality… Tough start, but St-Etienne gets back in the game. However Sochaux raises its game and wins it

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 5,5
Garrido : 5,5
Z.Camara : 5,5
Hognon : 6
Ilunga : 5
Sablé (cap) : 5,5
Zokora : 6,5
Hellebuyck : 5 (Mendy, 81’)
Marin : 5 (Compan, 72’)
Feindouno : 5,5
Piquionne : 6,5

Ah, the up & down of a promoted team…

 

Matchday 9: Les Verts 2 – Lyon 3

Summary : Throwing it all away… Lack of composure at a game’s end bites again as the derby is lost in the last few minutes.

Goals:
St-Etienne: Marin (48’), Feindouno (61’)
Lyon : Juninho (34’ & 87’) & Govou (91’)

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 6,5
Ilunga : 5,5
Hognon : 4,5
Z.Camara : 5
Carteron : 4,5
Zokora : 5
Sablé (cap) : 5,5
Hellebuyck : 5
Feindouno : 7
Marin : 5,5
Piquionne : 5,5 (Compan, 91eme)

Not a great performance, but it didn’t matter after 86 minutes. Then all hell broke loose… Lyon gets the bragging rights until the return leg.


Matchday 10 : Marseille 1 – Les Verts 1

Goals:
Marseille : Koke (Way ************ing too late… that would be the 95’)
Saint-Etienne : Feindouno (16’)

Summary : Late goal again and again... After the Barthez blunder, St-Etienne went into a shell and tried to kill the game. There was some time wasting, but nothing really out of line. The ref, who already had made a homer decision by not carding a very dangerous play, found 6 minutes of added time. St-Etienne held on for 4 ½ …

The manager said “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I’ll correct him with this : “What doesn’t kill you with results like this make you go nuts”

Of course, the Marseille fans will find no problem with the time added on, but if l’OM would have been leading there would have been 3-4 minutes tops.

Team (notes from Foot365.fr)
Janot : 6
Garrido : 3,5 Congrats on the worst note of the year…
Z. Camara : 7
Hognon : 6,5
(S. Hernandez, 54eme)
Ilunga : 6
Sablé (cap) : 6
Zokora : 5,5
Hellebuyck : 5 (Perrin, 61eme)
Marin : 4,5 (Compan, 68eme)
Feindouno : 6,5
Piquionne : 5

Camara shines here (even with the late goal), but Garrido really worries as he is beaten pretty bad all night long.

So, that’s 8 pts and a 17th place. We’re first non-relegated with Ajaccio, Istres and Strasbourg behind. So, I’m still confident we’ll pull it off.

 

Ah...Ah...Ah. Really funny. 01/21/05 is the date. We'll see who laughs last.

 

Saturday's game - live on TV5 (at least in Canada)

Les Verts - Bordeaux​

Elie Baup's old team comes to town. Should be interesting...

Team news for St-Etienne:

Frédéric Mendy is out, but Hognon (back) and Hellebuyck (busted lip gifted by l'OM) are back in contention

Also, Mickaël Dogbé is gone. Only is family will be saddened by this.

Projected lineup:

-----------Feindouno--Piquionne----------
Hellebuyck---------------------------Marin
-----------Sablé (c)----Zokora-----------
Ilunga-----Camara-----Hognon-----Garrido
------------------Janot------------------

Note: Le Tallec is training again, so he could shuffle the cards quite a bit by bumping Marin to the bench.

 

Wow!!! It didn't take you long to dish out the dirt...

The famous passport story. That's still a touchy subject for Vert fanatic that see a conspiracy in everything. Every club has its dark clouds, but I prefer to think forward on such things (I'd have to read on it to argument as didn't follow football back then)

Ganu, I don't my your contribution. Just keep it clean (and now to search for a scandal from PSG to post it on your thread )

 

Janot is cool even with his wacky suits (The tiger one http://www.photoasse.com/galerie/album22/Maillot_Janot_ASSE_OL or even more horrible the pink one http://www.photoasse.com/galerie/album22/exclusivit_Maillot_Rose)

The CM database is out of whack, but Zokora is one of my favorites right now at the club.

As for Sable, if he was a mercenary, he'd be in the EPL. However, he's old fashion and likes his club. A true hero in these times.

 

You better hope because one more L1 season and the finances will be even more healthy and the club will rise up the table.