AS Saint-Etienne : Didier Bigard’s meeting: “We needed a striker, we took a goalkeeper” | ASSE News

Zapping Goal! soccer club ASSE: the Greens’ tribute to Loïc Perrin

“In Saint-Étienne, we like to wait for the last hours of the Mercato. At least Pascal Dupraz is warned” we concluded this column two weeks ago. We would have liked this month of January to prove us wrong. But this winter is like last summer, like all seasons of all seasons in Saint-Etienne. In August we hope for a good deal while waiting for the sales and six months later, it is at the bottom of the dusty cupboards of the reserves that we hope for the forgotten pearl. Without spending too much on it.

History of cutting Claude Puel a suit to the size of those offered to his predecessors, from Christophe Galtier disqualified, to Ghislain Printant qualified as eternal number two, Roland Romeyer affirmed that he had had full latitude to build the team ” We talked about it with my partner in June. We had the means to recruit. Players wanted to stay, others were available. It was a choice of the general manager. What we didn’t spend last summer, we will spend now. The money was budgeted.”

We had doubts, they were not lifted by the arrivals of Joris Gnagnon, Bakary Sako, Sada Thioub, or even Eliaquim Mangala, the most expensive defender in the world in 2014, but who only played 38 matches in four years. and a half as recalled by Canal Plus. We wish everyone the best because the future of the club depends on it, but we are entitled to mention their lack of competition, if not competitiveness. No need to go far back in time to support this caution. The passages of Anthony Modeste or Panagiotis Retsos were a success for the city’s medical profession, not for ASSE, and we understood that Dupraz had some questions about Gnagnon’s state of form. Let the fans cross their fingers, very hard and very quickly because time is running out, it is an understatement after the results of this weekend.

It will not be enough, to score points, to caress the supporters in the direction of their bristling hairs

Last week we called for action to be taken, for the means promised to be recruited, after announcing that Dupraz would have to fight for reinforcements. Was he strong enough for this? The conditions of his arrival did not give him the same weapons as Jean-Louis Gasset, because unlike Laurent Blanc’s ex-assistant, he was in demand, because the green jersey has made him dream since his youth years. From there to make concessions?

We can only salute his solidarity with his hierarchy, supported in an interview with Progrès “Loïc (Perrin) is exceptional. Jeff (Soucasse)… he is a great president. Samuel (Rustem)… is of rare intelligence. I can’t argue with them, we don’t have time, we have four months to live. You’d really have to be stupid to argue with each other.” We hope that everyone displays the same state of mind and that no one in the club plays against their side. We are not convinced. Dupraz noted some shortcomings if we judge his statement after the derby “We need to be more closed in our communication on recruitment”. We will add that we should have been more consistent, sticking to the shortcomings, recruiting an attacker and a defender before a goalkeeper who, without questioning his qualities, did not bring in more points than Stefan Bajic or Stéphane would have done. Green. At most, Paul Bernardini instills his unshakeable confidence “Even if it means looking like an idiot, I can feel it, we’re going to hold on” in line with Pascal Dupraz’s calculation “one in two chances of holding on”!

But that won’t be enough to score points, any more than stroking the supporters in the direction of their bristling hairs. These are goals that are needed. Four months to live? No, survive. »

Didier BIGARD

to summarize

This week, Didier Bigard devotes his column to the Mercato de l’ASSE. Who made the wrong winter priority, according to him… “We should have been more consistent, sticking to the shortcomings, recruiting an attacker and a defender before a goalkeeper who, without questioning his qualities, did not bring in more points than Stefan Bajic or Stéphane Green would have done. At most, Paul Bernardini instills his unshakeable confidence”, he believes.

Laurent Hess