AS Saint-Etienne : PSG – ASSE – shelving, treble and tension: Khazri – Puel, story of a big mess | ASSE News

You had to see him celebrate his goals in Angers and Nîmes. Or rather not to celebrate them. Two crucial mines, perhaps the most important goals of the season for the Greens, greeted simply by a finger pointed to the sky and a closed face. No outpouring of joy, no frenzied rushing, sobriety. To Geoffroy-Guichard, for his hat-trick against Bordeaux, a heart drawn with his hands undoubtedly intended for his relatives. And that’s all. Is it the absence of an audience that doesn’t really invite you to let yourself be overwhelmed by your emotions? Perhaps. But we must especially remember what Wahbi Khazri went through this season to understand why he does not scream his happiness every time he shakes the nets now.

Shortly after his arrival on the bench of the Greens, Claude Puel was quickly scathing about the case of his attacker: “I don’t ask him to walk on water, just to run on the ground“, tackled the coach of the Greens in October 2019. And since then, the relationship between the two men has not calmed down. The former LOSC coach has debunked the statutes, that of Khazri in the lead. Last summer, his high salary (200,000 euros per month) had made him a target for Puel and management in its cost reduction policy, within a club in financial difficulty both because of the health crisis and that of TV rights.

Sidelined during the summer and winter transfer window, he has missed a dozen matches this season. “Khazri, Boudebouz, Ruffier…? Yes and so ? Teams also regenerate every season“, Puel explained simply in September. But as the former Rennais never found a point of fall, the coach had no other choice but to reinstate him for apathetic performances. Except during his first six months. in Saint-Etienne, Khazri often appeared harmless, when he was not injured or suspended. In 2019-2020, he scored only three goals in Ligue 1 (2 assists) against thirteen goals (including 12 on the first twenty days) in 2018-2019 (6 assists) .And since then, nothing, or almost until the trip to Angers.

The wrongs are necessarily shared: on the one hand, a disappointing player in a match. On the other, a coach who does not do everything to give him confidence. However, Khazri remains the greatest talent of the Greens, especially in a workforce that suffers from the absence of a scorer and offensive creation. To put it another way, in this team he is absolutely essential and he has never been treated as such. Quite the contrary.

“I’ve always been a not too bad player, I try to bring what I can do. Afterwards, you have to have confidence“, he justified himself after his goal in Angers in a barely masked reference to the uncompromising management of Claude Puel. Before being even more precise after the first hat-trick of his career last week:”It’s not an easy season for me, I have the confidence of my teammates, I work, I am serious. When I am trusted, it usually doesn’t go too badly. I’ve never been a bad player, just because I wasn’t playing doesn’t mean I wasn’t good.“

“Wahbi made himself indispensable (…). He has made the effort in recent weeks“, replied Puel as if to justify the way he treated the Tunisian during the season. A pass that leaves little suspense on the fate that will be reserved for him next summer, despite his states of Spring service. The only truth: it was he who saved the skin of the Greens and their coach in Ligue 1. By scoring five goals in the last four matches (for three wins), he freed Saint-Etienne from the weight of an end of season with a knife. “I am lucky to have partners who are great with me, and a family that supports me. “Not a word for the coach. As with the celebrations, it cannot be a coincidence.