AS Saint-Etienne : “The sales to avoid the descent? ” | ASSE News

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“We would have liked to have written about the evolution of football which we consider to be unhealthy. For this, we could have relied on an interview with David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union, who, on the France infos website, warned about the risks of a World Cup every two years. “He intends to write to Gianni Infantino to express his fears and expects some form of solidarity from the entire Olympic movement.” We would also have evoked the reflections of Claude Puel, questioned Friday on the subject. “This is overbidding. Everyone wants to eat their piece of the pie. These bodies use football not to improve it but to generate additional income. That does not please me. “

These words reflect popular common sense and could have won the support of Saint-Etienne supporters who are above all sports enthusiasts. But for them this is not a period of macroeconomics, of politics afterwards. Their concern is immediate, their wish is to see their team give back a bit of hope. We’re not talking about a dream, just that the nightmare comes to an end.

A copy and paste of the Nice lesson which was not retained

Instead, after the glow of the derby on softer music, it was the death knell of a gray that borders on darkness, which woke them up while on the lawn their defense that will not be called favorite plunged in a deep sleep. It was too much for ultras who traveled 1200 kilometers for that. They gave up counting to five, preferring to quit on the fourth goal as the hot Meinau turned icy cold for them. The box was feared against Lyon.

It was Strasbourg that bowed the Greens, but we are not going to go into the analysis of the fiasco. It is a copy and paste of the Nice lesson which was not retained. It is a disillusionment for those who imagined a new championship to start in Alsace with opponents less rated than in the first quarter of the championship. Claude Puel did not subscribe to this idea, and for good reason. He knows the strengths and especially the weaknesses of a group that he is obliged to defend despite everything. “I’m not going to overwhelm my players. We were very unhappy in the first half with a lot of facts that turned against us ”. This is true with a csc, an expulsion, a goalkeeper replacement, and Julien Stéphan abounded. “Saint-Etienne managed to give us difficulties at the start of the match… then exclusion changed the situation. “

But these facts of the game do not explain everything, nor “the work done by the Alsatian staff on the set pieces”. Above all, there are too many weaknesses in ASSE, which Wabhi Khazri said: “A lot of things are going to have to be improved to get out of this. We must not hide behind arbitration. We did good things in the first half but we took two goals on their only two forays ”.

If awareness remains at the stage of promises, it is the club that will be sold

There is nothing to add. Everyone understands that something must be changed if we want actions to follow Khazri’s words of “a legendary club that we must leave in Ligue 1”.

While not taboo for a long time, the word descent is hammered with more and more anguish. Relegation would be all the more catastrophic as the L1 will increase to eighteen clubs. Can we believe in a new miracle? Before the hour of accounts, there will be the period of the balances in January, month during which the leaders of Saint-Etienne seldom did good business, except when they put the means there. It was with Jean-Louis Gasset, because the situation was worrying. It is even more so today and if the awareness remains at the stage of promises, the whole club will be on the line. “

Didier BIGARD

to summarize

“If it has not been taboo for a long time, the word descent is hammered with more and more anxiety. A relegation would be all the more catastrophic as the L1 will increase to eighteen clubs. Can we believe in a new one. Miracle? Before the hour of the accounts, there will be the period of the balances in January, month during which the leaders of Saint-Etienne seldom did good business, except when they put the means there. It was with Jean-Louis Gasset, because the situation was worrying. It is even more so today, “said Bigard.

Laurent HESS