How has ASSE been able to “weaken” to such an extent in two months?

• There was an undeniable Claude Puel effect upon his arrival in October in Saint-Etienne, like the derby immediately won in the Chaudron (1-0).
• Three months later, the record is much more mixed, since the Greens slipped from 4th to 15th place after the new defeat Sunday against Nantes (0-2).
• There are many difficulties in Sainté, starting with a busy infirmary and an absence of offensive danger.

At the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium,

In just three months at the head of ASSE, Claude Puel best illustrates the harsh law of series in professional sport. Let's rewind the story until this famous October 6 derby, which he prepared with a single training from a squad at worst (19th) in L1. A prestigious success (1-0) thanks to a winning header from Robert Beric in stoppage time then launched Sainté in an unexpected spiral of four successes and a draw in one month of the championship.

The game is far from flamboyant but the results follow (from 19th ... to 4th place!) And the attack was found a striker on fire , the former Nîmes player Denis Bouanga (four goals and an assist on the period). We would then almost have forgotten the frustrating European draws against the Ukrainians of Oleksandria.

"We are another team now", warn Denis Bouanga and ASSE https://t.co/V0Bg1L2FHZ

"It's complicated to rebel when you center behind the goal"

ASSE has since been in free fall with five defeats over the last seven days, the 17th assessment of Ligue 1 in two months, despite a reference victory (4-1) against Nice in the middle of this mess. Add to that an outing without the slightest bit of sparkle from a more than affordable Europa League hen. You therefore understand why the new setback, Sunday against Nantes (0-2) in a cauldron behind closed doors, sounds like a wake-up call. Accustomed to positivating even in deep earnings crises for the past fifteen years, captain Loïc Perrin (34) has not clarified the picture that much this time.

There are more serious things, I'm not worried because with a good period, we can quickly get back into this very tight championship. Here we are in a complicated period and the conditions were a bit bizarre today. It is up to us to get out of it as quickly as possible, we must be aware of the situation. Important players are not there but it is part of a season. We just missed in our last gestures. We have to manage to be more dangerous than that. It's complicated to rebel when you center behind the goal! "

Three players under 21 launched in the second half against Nantes

And hop, a punchline to which Loïc Perrin had not accustomed us. This one therefore rightly mentions the absent ones because we have to hang on to the list of incumbents currently on the flank, between the two top scorers Denis Bouanga and Romain Hamouma, but also William Saliba, Gabriel Silva, and since Sunday Ryad Boudebouz (calf). Looking completely into the void, Yohan Cabaye also refers to the many absent: “Young people who play a little less usually do the maximum. It is not to shoot them but it is true that we are in a complicated period. You have to try to stay together and hang on to reverse the trend, and above all not to lose confidence ”.

🇫🇷 # beINLigue1Confo
🎙️ Loïc Perrin: "We weren't dangerous enough, we barely missed out." # ASSEFCN pic.twitter.com/EWcW9rcsyd

By undergoing two spankings against PSG with ten goals in the key in less than a month, this confidence can not really be at the top. "It is never innocent and we surely came out weakened by the breadth of the score twice", recognizes Claude Puel. He is now struggling to find the right levers to unify a group in which 27 field players have been tested this season. The former OGC Nice coach, for example, did not hesitate to launch many young people such as Charles Abi (20), Maxence Rivera (18) and Edmilson Indjai Correia (19), all of whom came into play on Sunday, at the expense of Robert Beric and Loïs Diony, not summoned against FC Nantes.

"I don't think turnover is the problem"

"We know the coach's method," says Yohan Cabaye. You have to stay ready with him and I don't think turnover is the problem. The interested party regrets "a bit too academic" against the Canaries. More helpless than ever, his players framed only one shot, with a recovery from Arnaud Nordin pushed back by Alban Lafont to 0-0 (8th). Then curtain. “We did not manage to weigh much offensively, notes Claude Puel. It hurts for a first game of the year at home. In these difficult times for us, the support of the supporters would have been important. "Casually, the Greens (15th) are slowly sliding towards the danger of relegation (eight points ahead of the roadblocker) as at the start of the season with Ghislain Printant.

A lot of respect for Puel but it was his 20th game at the head of ASSE and I still don't have a benchmark match (maybe Nice) in the content to put to his credit. Without Bouanga, there is nothing. Today He takes the lesson through Gourcuff.

Claude Puel goes there for his explanation: “Before the break, we played a lot of games playing every three days, with a squad that was decimated. Then we gradually lost our decisive players. Despite goodwill, we have weakened a bit. ” To the point of playing (after the 16th finals of the Coupe de France) two key games in L1 against Nîmes (19th) and Metz (17th), not so far from being direct competitors of these Greens.

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