The crowd at the Francis-Le Blé stadium can sing and explode. They have found their team, an amazing third in the last championship. This Saturday, for the 3rd day of Ligue 1, the duel between two teams still empty-handed with two defeats (1-5 against Brest and 0-2 in Lens for Brest, 0-1 against Monaco and 0-2 against Le Havre) logically turned in favor of the Bretons who made short work of the very pale Greens (4-0).
Before facing Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen or PSV Eindhoven in its first participation in the Champions League, it was Brest, bottom of the table before this matchday, who reassured themselves. Even very late with five arrivals on Friday before the closing (Ibrahim Salah, Mama Baldé, Massadio Haïdara, Edimilson Fernandes, Kamory Doumbia), the transfer window will change the face of this team.
In the meantime, Eric Roy’s players stifled the Greens from the start, who were totally overwhelmed at all levels. Nothingness exists and Saint-Étienne flirted with it almost throughout the 90 minutes. The 2-0 at half-time with a first goal scored by Mahdi Camara (10th), trained at Saint-Étienne and a penalty converted by Romain Del Castillo (32nd) even seemed a minimum. For his return to Brest where he played between 2008 and 2022, goalkeeper Gauthier Larsonneur let his anger burst when he returned to the locker room at half-time.
0 goals scored and 7 conceded in 3 matches for Saint-Etienne
But he is not really blameless for Brest’s third goal. Larsonneur poorly pushes back Kenny Lala’s free kick, which is taken by Ludovic Ajorque. Having arrived from Mainz where he had a mixed season and a half in the Bundesliga (8 goals in 43 games), the former Strasbourg striker opens his account with Brest (3-0, 77th). Saint-Étienne’s nightmare continues with a second penalty converted by Kenny Lala (4-0, 84th).
No shots on target in this match, 0 goals scored and 7 conceded in 3 matches… The numbers and performance of Saint-Étienne are more than worrying. Based on what they have put together, this team is far from being at the level of L 1. It is already urgent.
“We’re having a complicated start to the season,” admits Aïmen Moueffek on BeIN. “We have to do more in terms of desire, win duels even if we’re behind. We’re too nervous on set pieces. We have to show a different face on the pitch. We don’t have the right to come here and lose 4-0 like that.”
Ludovic Ajorque was all smiles: “We played the match we needed to, we did the job, we played well, we scored goals. It was important to win against a team that is a bit part of our table. I wasn’t there last year, but we found an aggressive, united, generous team with intensity. These are the ingredients you need to put in place to win a match.”
