We won tonight 2-1 over Nantes which kept us apace in the Ligue 1 ahead of Lyon who trounced Marseille, 3-0.  Even though we won, I was initially disappointed with our performance, especially in the 1st half when we wasted a lot of possession by creating hardly any real chances.  I guess I shouldn’t have been too hard on the lads but this 2-1 win felt like it should’ve been more like a 4-1 win for us.

I made several changes to the lineup & was forced to bring in Sylvain Monsoreau for the suspended Bayal Sall.

Lineup
Janot

——–Perrin —————- Gueye —————-  Monsoreau ————— Goossens

—– Mbia —————- Diego Souza

Donovan ————————————————————– Payet

Gomis ————— Altidore

We started slow & despite dominating possession didn’t have a shot until the quarter-hour mark & didn’t really craft any chances until almost a half hour in.

Match Highlights
15′   Stéphane Mbia has a shot blocked from just outside the area.

23′    John Goossens shoots over from 25 yards out on a freekick from the left.

29′   Mbia shoots over from the top of the box on a cut back pass by Dimitri Payet.  The winger had made a good move losing one defender to get into the box.

30′   Payet forces Daniel Aranzubia into a save with a shot from the left side of the box.  Payet was found by a good pass by Diego Souza.

42′   Nantes’ Nikola Pokrivač is booked for a foul on Diego Souza.

43′   Bafétimbi Gomis has a shot from inside the box deflected out on the right for a corner.

44′   Monsoreau shoots from the left side following Nantes unable to clear their lines but it’s pushed over the bar by Aranzubia for another corner.

I laid into the boys a little bit at the half & they came out buzzing with a bit of a bee in our bonnets in the second half.  We had immediate pressure before which led to our opener but then got lackadaisical leading to Nantes’ equalizer before getting a bit of fortuitous 2nd goal for winner.

46′   Jozy Altidore shoots from the left channel some 25 yards out and it’s knocked over by Aranzubia again for a corner.

47′   1-0 Papa Gueye; on the ensuing corner following Altidore’s effort, Gueye heads home diagonally from 10 yards out.  John Goossens delivered the corner & is starting to rack up the assists from the set pieces.

51′   Eric Djemba-Djemba  blazes over the bar from 18 yards out as Nantes started to play well.  It seemed our opening goal only served to annoy to Nantes & they started to play much better & in fact, sort of dominated the next 1o minutes or so before Mbia’s winner.

57′   1-1 Pokrivač; The Croatian fired home from 15 yards out following good work by Montenegrin Stefan Babović on the left wing as Nantes scored the equalizer they had been threatening for the previous several minutes.  Babović actually skinned Loïc Perrin pretty good to create a ton of space in the box for the slot back to Pokrivač.

58′   Nantes double substitution: Guillaume Moullec on for Sofiane Choubani & Michael Gravgaard on for Filip Djordjević

59′   Like our 1st goal, our winner came from a corner kick.  Diego Souza shoots from the center of the box & it is deflected by the Nantes’ defense out for a corner.

60′   2-1 Mbia; Our Cameroonian midfielder scored our winner as he notched his 3rd goal in his 4th league appearance for us & 5 goals in 6 total appearances. Gueye again won a header from the corner but his effort hit the bar.  Mbia was fortunately on hand to nod home with another header from close range on the rebound.  He’s proved quite the terrific signing for me which makes 3 January signing home runs in as many years that I’ve made (Júninho Cappa in ’09, Diego Souza in ’10 & now Mbia in ’11).

60′+1′   Mouhamadou Dabo on for Landon Donovan;  immediately following our goal I threw on Dabo at right back for Donovan & bumped Perrin up to right midfield looking to shore up the midfield a bit with a more defensive minded player.  It didn’t work initially & Nantes continued to look dangerous on the quick counter.

63′   Djemba-Djemba heads well wide despite being well placed in the center of the box.

64′   Christian Bekamenga shoots well over with an awful effort from outside the box on a ball over the top of our backline that got caught ball-watching.

65′   Yohann Hautcœur on for Gomis; I put another midfielder on & went to a 4-2-3-1 as I pushed Diego Souza up to attacking mid & Hautcœur went to Diego Souza’s spot next to Mbia in the center of the park.

71′   Nantes substitution; Yoann Arquin on for Nicolas Gillet.

72′   Jérémie Janot makes a good save on a low shot by Stefan Babović

77′   Aranzubia saves low following a slight scramble when a Payet cut back pass for Altidore got deflected.

79′   Diego Souza skies over from 15 after being found in a good bit of space by Hautcœur.  A player of Diego Souza’s quality should’ve buried this chance for 3-1.

83′   Diego Souza misses again but this time narrowly wide from 30 yards out.

89′   Following consecutive corners by us, Altidore headed against the crossbar on the latter corner before only moments later Perrin also smacking the bar with a hard shot from the middle of the box.  However, the ball didn’t find the net & the score remained 2-1 in our favor.

90′+5′   Perrin picked up a knock which forced us to play 5 minutes of an originally schedule 3 of stoppage time but we held out for the victory.

So, one match against Troyes in the league before the big Champions’ League matchup with Chelsea.  Unfortunately it seems the slight injury Perrin picked up at the end of tonight’s match will cause him to miss the opening tie against Chelsea.

Ligue 1 Results
Caen 3-0 Le Mans
17′ & 56′ Steve Savidan, 33′ Leandro Augusto
Lyon 3-0 Marseille
17′ Cris, 45′+3′ & 75′ Kim Källström 

Ligue 1 Table

 Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Ligue 1 Results
Bordeaux 1-0 Toulouse
18′ Marouane Chamakh
Brest 0-0 Nice
Le Mans 0-0 PSG
Lille 3-1 Sochaux 1
12′ Nicolas Fauvergue (L), 49′ Eden Hazard (L), 61′ Christophe Jallet (L), 65′ pen. Felipe Baloy (S) 
Nancy 2-0 Auxerre
4′ Monsef Zerka & 48′ Youssuf Hadji 
Rennes 2-0 Monaco
62′ & 88′ Johan Audel
Troyes 2-1 Metz 
3′ Yann Jouffre (T), 15′ Matheus Vivian (M), 65′ Grégory Bettiol (T) 

Loanee Updates
Paul Charmasson, M/A; Huddersfield Town v. Leeds United; W, 1-0; not selected in matchday squad

Pierrick Cros, D; Olympique Croix de Savoie 74 v. AC Arles-Avignon; L, 1-0; started, played 90 minutes; tackled well, won 9 of 10 headers, including 3 key ones, was cautioned & had a shot; received a 7.2 match rating for an overall solid performance

Valentin Lavialle, A; Huddersfield Town v. Leeds United; W, 1-0; not selected in matchday squad

Eliaquim Mangala, M/D; Huddersfield Town v. Leeds United; W, 1-0; not selected in matchday squad

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Championnat National
Emmanuel Rivière, A; Tours FC at US Raon l’Étape; W, 2-1; came on as substitute in the 74th minute; 1 shot; 1 shot on target; had a great pass that almost led to a 3rd goal for Tours

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Our young Dutch fullback, John Goossens, has been named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week for 2/7/11.  Goossens scored our second goal in the 2-1 win over Brest.  Johnny has been coming on in leaps & bounds in his 1st year at AS Saint-Étienne & long may it continue!

Ligue 1 Team Of The Week, 2/7/11
GK: Steeve Elana, Stade Brestois 29
RB: Franck Béria, LOSC Lille Métropole
LB: John Goossens, AS Saint-Étienne
CD: Bakary Soumare, AJ Auxerre
CD: Matheus Vivián, FC Metz
CM: Etienne Didot, FC Toulouse
CM: Modeste M’Bami, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
AM: Éderson, Olympique Lyonnais
AM: Lorik Cana, Olympique Marseille
AM: Johan Audel, Stade Rennais FC
ST: Marouane Chamakh, FC Girondins Bordeaux

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Ligue 1 Results
Auxerre 2-0 Lille
12′ Kamel Chafni & 25′ Kévin Lejeune
Metz 0-0 Nantes
PSG 3-2 Bordeaux
17′ Fernando (B), 19′ Stéphane Sessègnon (P), 29′ Guillaume Hoarau (P), 65′ Marouane Chamakh (B), 84′ Loris Arnaud (P)

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Loanee updates from Saturday (2/5)
Eliaquim Mangala, M/D; Huddersfield Town vs. West Bromwich Albion; D, 1-1; came on as a substitute in the 78th minute but didn’t really have time to influence the match much at all

Paul Charmasson, A/M; Huddersfield Town vs. West Bromwich Albion; D, 1-1; not selected in Huddersfield’s matchday squad

Valentin Lavialle, A; Huddersfield Town vs. West Bromwich Albion; D, 1-1; not selected in Huddersfield’s matchday squad

Emmanuel Rivière, A; Tours FC vs. FC Istres; D, 0-0; Manu was not named in Tours’ matchday squad

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Team America, Jozy Altidore & Landon Donovan have been called up to the United States’ international friendly with African country, Chad.  The match is set for Wednesday, so it’ll be a quick turn around for Jozy & Landon.  Hopefully they come through the match unscathed & will be subbed early in an American rout (hint hint!)

Amine Linganzi has also been selected to represent his country, Algeria, as they take on fellow African side, Angola.

Good luck to the trio of international call-ups!

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

I don’t know if it was because it was my birthday or because we had had such a bright, early start to the match or Brest’s ludicrous goal in stoppage time that set me off, or perhaps a combination of all three, but I laid into the lads with the hair dryer treatment nonetheless following tonight’s 2-1 victory over Stade Brestois.

We scored on two early goals inside the 1st 10 minutes & it looked like we were well on our way to routing Brest but following the half hour mark we seemed to stick the car in cruise control & play incredibly lackadaisical despite having 25 total shots in this match.  Between slack concentration & a Man of the Match performance by Brestois ‘keeper, Steve Elana, we turned a 5-0 victory into a 2-1 win.

Stéphane Mbia was on a yellow card suspension so I started Yohann Hautcœur in his place in the middle of the park next to Diego Souza.  I left Albin Ebondo in at right back & Loïc Perrin in at right midfield.

Lineup
Janot

Ebondo ———– Bayal Sall ———– Gueye ———- Goossens

Perrin ———- Hautcœur ———- Diego Souza —————-
—————————————————————- Donovan

Gomis ———— Altidore

Match Highlights
5′   1-0 Bayal Sall; The first real attack fo the game by us saw Diego Souza force Steve Elana into a diving save to his right on an effort from 30+ yards.  This won us a corner from the left side & you know how dangerous we are from corners!  Bayal Sall buried the ensuing set piece that was delivered by John Goossens with a close range header as he is wont to do.

8′   Diego Souza was stopped from 15 yards out on a World Class save by Elana.  The goalkeeper somehow reached the fierce shot getting his hands to the ball & knocking it on to the post with such force that the ball rebounded like a flash back across goal & spun out for a corner.

9′   2-0 Goossens; The subsequent corner from Diego Souza’s shot was only half-cleared by Brest leading to a spell of sustained pressure by us.  Following the initial corner, Goossens had a dangerous, swerving cross from the right parried away by Elana.  Moments later, after Gomis had made some space in the box for a shot with some nifty footwork. he had a rasping effort that was also parried away by Elana with a low, diving saw.  However, the save went only as far as Goossens who had found his way back on the left side & the young Dutchman rocketed home a 25 yard effort back across goal & inside the far post on the half-volley with Elana still scrambling to get back on his feet.

12′   Jozy Altidore heads weakly & straight at Elana at the far post from a Goossens cross (Goossens was our best player on the day & the only one I praised following the match) on the left touchline.

14′   An absolutely brilliant maneuver for a third goal finished by Bafétimbi Gomis was ruled out for offside as the striker had just gotten ahead of the Brest defensive line.

28′   Perrin forces Elana into a save with an effort from 25+ yards out.

42′   Brest’s Brahim Ferradj is booked for a challenge on Diego Souza.

46′   Brest substitution- Fatih on for El Jadeyaoui.

47′   Lorenzi for Brest headed wide from close range on a corner.

49′   Goossens had a freekick knocked over for a corner.  The Dutchman had been going for the far post but Elana was alert to it.  To be fair, Elana did play a blinder of a match in Brest’s losing effort.

52′   Hautcœur had a shot from the center of the box blocked away & cleared.  There was traffic in front of the goal but arguably, Hautcœur should’ve done better with his shot.

53′   A minute after Hautcœur’s effort, Landon Donovan just missed scoring at the far post with a fairly outrageous, tight-angled shot from way out on the left flank.  Elana had almost been caught creeping up thinking Donovan would cross to the near post & the American’s cheeky floated-but-driven effort almost snuck inside the far post.

56′   A quick, several touch pass move by us saw Diego Souza shoot from inside the box but again Elana was on hand to knock it away to safety for Brest.

58′   Romain Poyet fires narrowly wide form 20 yards out for Brest who had begun to crawl back into the game.

60′   Dimitri Payet on for Altidore; I was not pleased at all with Jozy’s effort following the half-hour to hour marks.  He looked complacent & like he was going through the motions so, I pulled him off & put Payet on at left wing & bumped Donovan up to striker.

63′   Fatih heads wide from the right side of the box on a Brest freekick with the goal gaping & us begging to be punished for our complacency.

69′   Bayal Sall is cautioned for a stupid handball with no one around giving pressure.  Not sure what was going through Moose’s head & there should have been better communication as the nearest players were Hautcœur & Diego Souza.  Moose now misses the next league match against Nantes.

72′   Brest had had their best spell of the game by far the previous 10+ minutes.  However, unfortunately for them that ended when Ahmed Kantari hacked down Gomis on the right just outside the box & was shown a straight red card.  Brest felt the card was a bit harsh but 1.) fuck off! & 2.) eat shit!

72′   Brest immediately double substituted after the sending off; Moïse Apanga & Richard Socrier came on for César Delgado, formerly of Lyon, & Romain Poyet.

82′   Diego Souza sent a bullet of a shot just a hair over the crossbar from the right side some 25 yards out.  Not sure if Elana would’ve gotten this one.

85′   Mouhamadou Dabo & Sylvain Monsoreau on for Ebondo & Donovan; with the double substitution I switched to an odd 1-4-2-2-1 with a Papa Gueye at sweeper, Dabo & Goossens at wingbacks, Perrin joining Hautcœur at defensive midfield & Diego Souza & Payet moving to attacking mid with Gomis alone up top.

87′   Socrier fires weakly & right at Jérémie Janot from just outside the box.

90′+1′   2-1 Steeve Elana.  UTTER FARCE.  The only thing sillier looking than Steeve Elana having 2 Es in his first name is the goal, yes, the goal, he scored as a goalkeeper in the 1st minute of stoppage time.  It’s bad enough the dude had several stunning stops to deny us goals but then the guy scores, yes, fucking scores with an 80-yard freekick from his own half.  I don’t know what Janot did.  He either misjudged the flight of the ball in the gusty, gale winds or he had one of the biggest brain farts of his career dreaming about his soon-to-be-retirement, but it went over his head near the top of the box, bounced a few yards in front of the goal & dipped in just under the crossbar & inside the post.  Fuck you, goalscoring, goalie.  No, really, fuck you.  Cue, the Benny Hill Yakety Sax music with Janot having a sheepish look on his face.

Thankfully that FARCE was the last action of the match as the ref immediately blew his whistle on the restart.  Upon the players’ arrival into the dressing room, out came The Angry Wolf® & the snarling, hairdryer treatment despite the victory.  Let’s just say the players won’t like me for the next few days or next week & will be itching to get out & play Nantes next weekend!

Don’t anger The Angry Wolf®!

Ligue 1 Results, 2/5
Lens 0-1 Troyes
41′ Yann Jouffre 
Marseille 3-1 Nancy
7′ Lorik Cana (M), 11′ Basile Camerling (N), 79′ & 88′ Gonzálo Higuaín (M) 
Monaco 0-2 Caen
20′ Steve Savidan & 45′+2′ Alexandre Raineau
Nice 1-3 Lyon
2′ Moussa Sissoko (L), 73′ & 81′ Éderson (L), 88′ Emerse Faé (N) 
Sochaux 2-2 Le Mans
2′ Mevlüt Erdinç (S), 6′ Vaclav Sverkoš (S), 61′ Anthony Le Tallec (L), 75′ Modibo Maïga (L)
Toulouse 2-1 Rennes 
21′ Johann Audel (R), 31′ Étienne Didot (T), 44′ Xavier Pentecôte (T) 

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Happy Birthday’s Eve to me!

Two loanee updates for y’all tonight.  One from the Ligue 2, the other from Championnat National

Ligue 2
Boubacar Mansaly, M; AS Cannes at FC Lorient; W, 1-0; started, played 59 minutes, 1 shot; Mansaly played pretty well, passing & tackling well

Championnat National
Pierrick Cros, D; Olympique Croix de Savoie 74 at AS Beauvais Oise; L, 3-2; started, played the full 90 minutes, 1 goal; was one of the best Croix de Savoie players on the pitch & was dominant in the air winning 19 of his 20 headers; excellent debut

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

The draw for the Coupe de France’s 11th Round (Round of 16 to Americans) was held today in some office auditorium & hosted by the schills at the FFF.  We’ve drawn Monagasque side, AS Monaco, which as you probably know is the only team in France’s football/soccer structure that is actually in another country, Monaco.  Which should be ruled by Kelly Monaco, former Playboy bunny.  I’d paint 3 of them murals for some of that ass!

During my tenure we’re 2-0-1 against Monaco but have struggled, with only getting 2 1-0 wins & a nil-nil draw against them.  I expect a very tough cup match, to be honest.  Even if the match is in the home Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Monaco has thus far dispatched Guingamp, 1-0, & Raon l’Étape, 5-0, in their Coupe de France campaign.  They also currently lie in 13th place in the Ligue 1 table but as I mentioned, I expect them to give us a stern cup test.

The match will be on the 12th of March & will force our match scheduled for that day against Le Mans to be moved back to the 16th.

The full Coupe de France draw
Auxerre v Rennes
Bordeaux v Gueugnon
Istres v Toulouse
Marseille v Le Havre
Metz v Lyon
Montpellier v Nice
PSG v Lille
Saint-Étienne v Monaco

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!

Cameroonian midfielder & January signing, Stéphane Mbia, has been added to our European Champions’ League squad registration for when the tournament resumes again in March.  Mbia replaces teenage Dutch Midfielder, Sjoerd Visser.

Hopefully, Mbia will carry his stellar early Les Verts‘ career form into our knockout stage matchup with those bastardkovs from Chel$ki! Dievanov youski Blueszhev Scumski!           <——— Fake Russian!

Allez Les Verts! / Allons Les Verts!