In the silence of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, AS Saint-Étienne failed to unlock their victory counter this Saturday. A week after their poor performance in Dijon (2-1), Laurent Battles’ men were indeed held in check by Nîmes (1-1) during the second day of L2. The relegated Ligue 1 is struggling to digest his descent into the antechamber of the elite.
Hardly sanctioned because of the excesses that occurred during the club’s relegation against Auxerre (May 29, 2022), the Greens – who therefore started the season three points behind plus six home games behind closed doors – did not convince opposite Nimes.
In a very closed match, the Nîmes opened the scoring through Thomasen. Well launched by Vargas in depth, the Dane fixes Giraudon then enters the surface and crosses with the right foot at ground level to deceive Green (0-1, 32nd).
Saint-Étienne reacted immediately. The Crocodiles defender is guilty of a handball on a deflection of Krasso’s head in the area. The latter transforms the penalty before the break (1-1, 45th). Back from the locker room, the Greens kept control of the game without managing to get any chances before hitting three times on goal in a single minute. But Lucas Dias intervenes brilliantly by repelling the 3 attempts (75th).
In the standings, Saint-Étienne remains at the bottom with a total of -2 points. “We had a good match, we reacted well after the Nîmes opener even if we lacked a bit of speed, said Saint-Etienne central defender Jimmy Giraudon at the microphone of BeIN Sports. We put more commitment than we do in Dijon. Now we have to be more killer in front. It’s complicated to win because you’re expected everywhere. »
It will be necessary to do much more to become in the coming weeks a credible competitor in the comeback where only the first two will reach the L1 (no play-off due to the overhaul of the L1 and L2 championships).
On Friday, the Forézien club lost their Gabonese winger Denis Bouanga (28 goals and 16 assists in 110 games with the Greens) who joined Los Angeles FC for a transfer fee of €5m.