Can Puel revive Sainté fortunes? | OneFootball

AS Saint-Etienne are bottom of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats table and have equalled the longest winless run in their top-flight history. Ligue1.com looks at this iconic club ahead of a huge weekend for Les Verts.

Under-fire Puel holding on

Once upon a time the leading club in France, these days Les Verts are struggling. Fans are fed up with results on the field, and the question is how long manager Claude Puel can hold on to his job. Saint-Etienne head into the weekend bottom of the table, with no wins and just five points to their name after 11 games. Their current winless run stretches to 13 matches and is the joint-longest in their top-flight history, equalling the previous worst run set in 1988. Failure to beat Metz this weekend will therefore see Puel and his players claim an unwanted record outright.

They have lost six of their last eight outings and confidence is at a low ebb. Puel has put faith in youth - partly but not entirely out of choice - and his squad’s average age of 24 is among the youngest in the division, albeit not as young as Stade de Reims (23.6 years) or AS Monaco (23.8).

Watch: Sainté come back to draw with Angers

Puel was appointed in October 2019. The former Monaco, Lille and Olympique Lyonnais boss had a solid start at Le Chaudron and led Les Verts to the final of that season’s Coupe de France. Saint-Etienne ended that league campaign - foreshortened by the epidemic - only just above the relegation zone. They finished last season in the bottom half and Puel currently averages just 1.06 points per game after 69 league matches. A decline in results has come with a hefty dose of turnover in the squad.

Lack of experience

The club could not resist big-money offers for talented young defenders William Saliba and Wesley Fofana from Arsenal and Leicester City respectively in the last two years. Meanwhile Puel is now without Stéphane Ruffier, Yann M’Vila, Mathieu Debuchy and Loïc Perrin - all key members of the team that came close to qualifying for the Champions League under Jean-Louis Gasset in 2018-19.

Talented younger players have come in, like the full-back Yvann Maçon and midfielders Yvan Neyou and Adil Aouchiche. Puel has also helped develop youth products like Mahdi Camara and the goalkeeper Etienne Green. However, the influx of young talent has led to a heavy reliance on senior man Wahbi Khazri, their main attacking threat with six goals this season. Their one summer signing, Uruguayan forward Ignacio Ramírez, is yet to make an impact since arriving on loan.

“What we are going through is not easy for a young squad,” Puel said this week. “But in our last game they really dug deep. That showed that everyone is up for the fight.”

Former skipper Loïc Perrin

‘Never an easy ride’

Apparently that includes Puel himself, even if some supporters would prefer to see a new man at the helm than the ex-Southampton and Leicester boss, who is also the general manager at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. For now his focus is on ensuring Sainté avoid dropping out of the top tier for the first time since 2003-04. Back then, Frédéric Antonetti was the coach that led them to promotion back to Ligue 1, but on Saturday he will be in the opposing dugout, in charge of fellow strugglers Metz.

“I don’t worry myself with other peoples’ problems because I have enough to deal with myself,” said Antonetti this week. “All that counts right now is getting out of this situation. Saint-Etienne are a great club with a huge fan base. Everyone goes through turbulent times in football at some point. At the moment it is us and Saint-Etienne. You need to get through it to enjoy success. It is never an easy ride. As for Claude Puel, his fantastic career speaks for itself.”

>> CLUB PROFILE: AS Saint-Etienne