The history of Saint Etienne, which built their legend in France and beyond, is full of dramatic interventions and late twists. Saturday’s late winner at Lorient wasn’t quite equal to the drama of the European Cup comeback against Dynamo Kiev in 1976, but it was produced by an unlikely enough source to put in the annals of curiosity, if not quite that of momentous achievement.
For the second time in a month, Les Verts plucked an away win from an infuriating situation thanks to a finish from midfield grafter Fabien Lemoine. The one that rolled over Sylvain Ripoll’s side really was something special, smashed into the corner of the net from outside the area, past the apparently unbeatable Benjamin Lecomte.
“We’re dominating games more than last season,” coach Christophe Galtier told beIN Sports after the match, “but we’re being less clinical. We have a lot of work to do on that.” That is an understatement. Even after Lemoine’s timely intervention, Galtier’s side have scored a meagre 6 goals in their last 12 matches (all competitions included) since they beat Reims 3-1 at the Geoffroy-Guichard in mid-August. Overall, they have scored just half of the 20 goals notched by local rivals Lyon, who have an identical points record but a goal difference which is 11 better. “It’s not enough,” as top scorer Mevlut Erding said in an interview on the same channel last week.
Erding is still recovering from injury, so missed the trip to Stade du Moustoir on Saturday. His words rang true in his absence, even if Sainté’s attacking threat was improved. “We got more on target than usual,” said Galtier, searching for succour in his post-match press conference.
Certainly that was the case, even if recent standards leave plenty of room for improvement. Sainté managed 6 on target from 15 efforts on goal in total at Lorient, which can only be described as a stratospheric improvement on the miserable home defeat to Toulouse before the international break. On that occasion, Les Verts’ 21 attempts included just the one that worked visiting goalkeeper Zacharie Boucher.
What is certain is that they can’t be relying on moments of magic from Lemoine to bail them out. To underline that, his winner on Saturday took him to two goals in Ligue 1 so far this season – matching his best-ever total, registered last season in the space of 34 matches. It also made him second top scorer for the club in Ligue 1 so far this season, just one behind Erding’s 3.
Sadly for Sainté, the Turkey international’s last strike was in that victory over Reims, which was now over two months ago. Even before his current injury, Erding had gone 414 minutes without getting the better of a goalkeeper in Ligue 1. To lay the blame squarely at his door would be wrong, however.
One of the cornerstones of Sainté’s excellence last season was an ability to share the goals around, as they sought to cover the loss of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Borussia Dortmund. The midfield pitched in well, with Benjamin Corgnet (7 goals in 23 starts) and Romain Hamouma (9 in 28) making their respective presences felt. Even Loïc Perrin added 6 of his own from centre-back.
Neither Corgnet nor Hamouma have yet opened their accounts in this campaign, though it wasn’t for the want of trying on Saturday. The former had 3 efforts on goal and the latter 2 (2 and 1 on target respectively), while Ricky van Wolfswinkel was also a victim of Lecomte’s excellence – the home side’s goalkeeper rated 7.93.
Van Wolfswinkel, an infamous figure amongst fans of parent club Norwich City after a desperately tough season in the Premier League, continued a promising start in France, having 2 efforts (both on target) and contributing a pair of key passes, while also supplying the final pass which led to Lemoine’s goal. Having opened his account against high-flying Bordeaux last month, there is the sense that more is to come from the Dutchman.
His initial target would be to make up the shortfall left by Brandão’s departure, with the Brazilian hitting 5 goals in 17 starts last season before joining Bastia in the summer (and subsequently incurring the wrath of the authorities). Yet at present, he would have to be emulating the illustrious likes of André-Pierre Gignac and Alexandre Lacazette to cover the lack of decisive contributions from his colleagues.
The will to change things is certainly there. Only the ultra-offensive leaders Marseille (16.2) and Lyon (14.7) have averaged more attempts on goal than Sainté’s 13.8 per match to date this season. Creating scoring chances still rates as one of the team’s key strengths, but they are missing the level of service from wide areas available last season.
Loanee Benoît Tremoulinas (now with Sevilla) is a big loss, having contributed 1.8 key passes per match from left-back in the second half of the last campaign. Winger Yohan Mollo (the ‘Ronaldo of Le Rocher’ as he was known in his formative days at Monaco), who matched that figure and supplied 3 assists in just 9 starts last season, has only started 2 matches so far and his key pass rate has slipped to 1.2.
If there are high hopes for 17-year-old Allan Saint-Maximin, the short-term answer could lie with Max Gradel, the supplier of an impressive 5 key passes per match so far in a Europa League campaign which is yet to yield a goal – but which surely must against a porous-looking Internazionale in Thursday’s appetising tie at the Giuseppe Meazza.
This moment in Europe will recall the glory days for Les Verts, but it is via collective contribution, rather than individual dazzle in the style of Dominique Rocheteau or Michel Platini, which will pull them out of their current torpor.
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