AS Saint-Etienne will have to show a better face than last season in the coming weeks. Claude Puel will no longer have the right to make mistakes.
Saint-Etienne fans know that the past season has been traumatic. Apart from a good course in the Coupe de France, Claude Puel’s players flirted with the relegation zone in Ligue 1. A ranking unworthy of the standing of the Greens. In the coming weeks, the Forez club will have to start strong in Ligue 1. But Saint-Etienne still faces efficiency problems in front of goal, which is starting to be a problem. Denis Balbir will not say the opposite.
“The Greens must rediscover certain values”
In a column for But Football Club, the reporter set the Greens’ transfer window priorities. “We lost track of this efficient Saint-Etienne team in July, which had made a big Coupe de France final ten to eleven against PSG. The Greens must rediscover certain values. The key to all of this is being able to benefit from a close-knit group at the top level. I think it will come back even if the stories with Stéphane Ruffier, with Dinard’s “blacklist”, did not help matters. Now was that really a surprise? We knew that Claude Puel wanted to build with young players like Neyou and others, not with the old executives, and that it would take a little time for them to take their marks. Let’s say that, for the moment, the thing that worries me the most is the lack of offensive effectiveness. Losing a game 3-2 in preparation is not a big deal. But to go on a two-game losing streak 3-0 and 1-0 without creating a lot of situations for yourself is a little more boring. Either way, for AS Saint-Etienne, the truth will be that of the competition. At the moment, there is no alarm bell to sound. On the second transfer window, I read that Claude Puel wanted to make “two or three recruits at most”. For me, the main recruiting post should be the left side. In modern football, the laterals are of paramount importance. You can see how much a boy like Thomas Meunier can miss at PSG when he’s not around… Sainté really needs a player on the left. After that, for sure a goal scorer would not be too much even if Krasso and Abi are there. Considering the state of the finances, I know this is difficult. A confirmed goalscorer is expensive and today, it is a utopia to imagine this kind of signing at ASSE “said Denis Balbir, who will be expecting a lot from ASSE this season in Ligue 1.