Allez Les Verts
Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire currently languishes in the French Second Division; a sad state of affairs for a club that boasts 10 French titles, six Coupe de France titles, a Cou...
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Brilliant! Looking forward to seeing a campaign in France, which has been neglected by many of us. Les Verts have also been on my bucket list for several years, since prior to their relegation, so it's nice to see someone picking up the torch. I'm going to look forward to see this historic club return to greatness and maybe knock PSG off their perch.
Big Restructure Job – Gasquet
Bleua Gasquet, the new ASSE manager, said that there is a big restructuring job to do at the club, and that “the path will be long and hard”.
Gasquet arrives for the Press conference
In his first press conference, Gasquet contrasted the squad with the board’s aims. “We have 5 players over 30 and another 4 coming up to that age. We have a lot of players with contracts expiring and it’s not clear at this point how many will adapt to our new playing style.
That means that we have a lot to do to meet the board’s aims for a younger squad.”
When asked whether this means a wholesale clearout, Gasquet said “Too early to say what will happen. Obviously, we do need to bring in new blood at some point – last season’s finishing position was not what the board had in mind, so we need to do something.
Some of that will come from changing the way we play. We will be going for more possession and much fitter players, capable of making a fast dash even in the 90th minute, where necessary.”
Regarding the budget, Gasquet had this to say. “We are not flush with money, and we need to hire new coaches, scouts and so forth. We will be looking for some free transfers, but not many, and some under-20s future prospects that we can mould to our playing style.”
When asked whether any of the older players will be sold, he said this:”I am not going to name names at this point. I have a lot of things to look at in the next few weeks, so watch this space. Anyone committed to the cause and willing to change and work hard, is welcome, unless we get offers we and they cannot refuse.”
Gasquet is clearly a man on a mission and we are in for exciting times at the club.
Squad List Illustrates the size of the task.
The list of players Gasquet has inherited shows very clearly the task he has on his hands. The list does not include the loanees at this point, as they obviously will not feature longer-term.
The over-30s include Dreyer, Appiah, Monconduit, Tardieu and Charbonnier. Perhaps only Appiah has a medium-term future in Gasquet’s fast-paced style, bearing in mind his speed over 50 yards, compared to the others.
We can assume that centre-back Briancon (29), as club captain, is probably a ‘hold’ for nowbut Victor Lobry and Ibrahima Wadji (both 28) are journeymen players with little to recommend them, so we could see them move on in due course.
What these players have, however, is experience and, if there is to be an influx of youth, some of that will be vital in the coming season.
Fun to see this squad list. I remember looking at this club, considering playing with them back in early 2022, when they were about to get relegated IRL. And I thought they had a great number of talented players, whom I wanted to build around.
Etienne Green was one. He's still there, I see. Perfect name for someone playing for St.Etienne, who play in green colours and are nicknamed Les Verts.
And then there are Nadé, Moueffek and Rivera, who are still there as well.
But most of the others have left for 'greener' pastures, I see. I had a few written down in a note, including:
Lucas Gourna - now RB Salzburg
Harold Moukoudi - now AEK Athens
Mahdi Camara - now Stade Brest
Arnaud Nordin - now Montpellier
Yvan Neyou - now Leganés
Adil Aouchiche - now Sunderland
Saidou Sow - now Strasbourg
I'm curious if your plans include bringing any of these back? Or at least they could be worth putting on your scouting list.
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