Zapping Goal! Football club Top 20: players at the end of their contract
“The draw in the derby against OL had given rise to some hopes and ASSE fell back into a nightmare on Sunday afternoon in Strasbourg (1-5). Individually and collectively, the Greens have sunk. Zaydou Youssouf, who had made a good impression against the Lyonnais fifteen days earlier, was the symbol of this day when we went from hope to despair. The midfielder scored against his camp, is the cause of the injury of his goalkeeper Etienne Green before being severely sent off a few minutes later.
Defensively, Saint-Etienne is sinking. As a bonus, ASSE has not been successful. She has the posts and the refereeing against. Even when the team reacts and comes back to 2-1 ten to eleven, they get corrected behind. There is a cascade of problems, trouble and ten games without a win, it’s starting to take a long time. Only Brest is in the same situation, which is to say how badly the Greens are doing. It is very alarming. Even if we feel a desire for revolt among the players, we need power. Wanting is no longer enough. This Saint-Etienne team remains too limited with some players not evolving in their position like Mahdi Camara on the right …
“I don’t think the players let go of Claude Puel”
Some believe that the players have let go of Claude Puel at La Meinau. It’s not my case. In any case, I do not hope so. The start of the match is interesting, the players seem concerned, involved in the reaction to 2-0 for Strasbourg. Now, with everything that befalls the team, it’s complicated. At 10 against 11, against a team that plays at home and has great qualities (especially offensive with the Gameiro, Ajorque and Diallo), the march is simply too high. The defeat is heavy but I do not think that the group has let go of the coach.
In this, Wahbi Khazri and Ryad Boudebouz are good examples. They were dismissed by Claude Puel and despite everything they embody hope and carry the team. The real problem is that there is a lack of technical quality in this team, defensive and collective quality too. ASSE plays today with too limited elements. Whether it was with Claude Puel, X or Y, it would be the same. Of course, we can say that an electric shock and a new trainer can reverse the dynamics. Sometimes it works but it is very exceptional, most often it does not change anything over time. We can change things but the quality of the players will remain the same. It is clearly involved and for a long time.
“It is up to the presidents to hand over the values of the club to the players”
It’s good to give young people a chance. We realize that when there is too much, it is less good. In the meantime, there are too many executive players inside this team. A Denis Bouanga is evolving today below its real value. Harold Moukoudi is irregular, sometimes interesting, sometimes catastrophic. Timothée Kolodziejczak is more often bad than good … These are annoying individual bankruptcies in a team which often changes starting eleven. Because of injuries, because of the players in the selection, ASSE struggles to find a typical team. And we are not talking about number 9, which arrived at the end of August, which remains a mystery …
What are the possible levers to straighten the bar? The easy way out is to change the coach, but that is expensive with uncertain returns. The other lever is to increase the number of individual interviews with the players. The two presidents will also have to bang their fists on the table instead of hiding. We must put the values of the club in front of the players. Afterwards, I don’t see what can be done in addition. “
The ASSE chronicle by Denis Balbir
Denis Balbir returned to the heavy defeat of ASSE on the lawn of RC Strasbourg (1-5). If Claude Puel is necessarily in the hot seat because of the results, the consultant points to another responsibility in Forez.
