ASSE moves to the field of FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in the Coupe de France, Thursday (6:45 p.m.). Claude Puel will be deprived of four key players, injured or suspended. Despite everything, the coach of AS Saint-Étienne remains very ambitious in the competition. He still dreams of a place in the final, like last year.
ASSE: Claude Puel dreams of a place in the final
ASSE reached the final of the Coupe de France last season, but lost the trophy against PSG (1-0), at the Stade de France. As they enter this season, AS Saint-Étienne has the same ambition to play in the final. Claude Puel would not deny himself, in any case, an opportunity to qualify for the European League, by winning the national trophy.
The Stéphanois coach and his team are therefore keen to play the competition to the full, starting with the trip to Montbéliard, against FC Sochaux, at the Auguste-Bonal stadium. “Last season, we were up to the competition by reaching the final where we did more than exist against Paris Saint-Germain, even at ten,” he recalled at a press conference. Wednesday. “This year, I hope that we will still be there,” said Claude Puel.
4 permanent Stéphanois absent at Sochaux
Facing the Lion Cubs, ASSE will be private Mathieu Debuchy and Romain Hamouma, injured, and Denis Bouanga and Lucas Gourna-Douath, suspended. The Greens coach has decided to leave Stéphane Moulin to rest and to start the youngster Stefan Bajic (19 years old). “Whatever the opponent, we build a team to qualify,” assured Claude Puel. Nevertheless, the latter is wary of the Sochaliens. “FC Sochaux is a very dynamic team which exerts a lot of pressure on the opponent from the start of the match. It is a formation which can pose problems for us, if we do not evolve at our best level and that we are not concentrated ”, warned the general manager of the Loire club.
As a reminder, ASSE eliminated FC Bastia-Borgo (3-0), Paris FC (3-2), AS Monaco (1-0) and SAS Épinal (2-1), on opposing ground . In the semi-final, it was Stade Rennes (holder of the trophy) that Claude Puel’s team had taken out (2-1), but this time to Geoffroy-Guichard.
Through ALEXIS