Paris is perhaps the most productive city for player development in the world. But could you beat one of the richest, most global clubs in football using only players from the City of Lights? Martin Vert has been set that challenge.

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October ’24

“Not even fighting…” one of the ghosts wakes me with its tutting.

“Where is the spirit?” the other asks.

I suspect they aren’t happy about our Champions League campaign, but there’s nothing I can do. We don’t have the budget. I sit up to try to explain to them that we are building, we will do better next year, but they are gone.

Mike Cestor has decided that he isn’t playing enough, and I quite agree, so we agree a deal with UTA Arad in Romania. He’ll be off in January so we’ve got a couple of months to scout out a replacement.

Meanwhile, we have a chance to push on in the league. Troyes should be our most difficult opponent in November, and in three years we haven’t lost to them. Saint-Etienne are giants of French football but have only just returned to Ligue 1, and Strasbourg have started very well but lack the quality of other European challengers. But first, we take on Reims.

Reims have adapted pretty well on their return to the top flight. They’ve picked up four wins from their opening 11 games, but concede too many. Tattevin is fit so he’ll come back in, but Sissoko misses out through suspension and Innocent is on the bench as Letellier has picked up a knock. Another performance like the Dijon game would do nicely.

We are totally dominant, but not as clinical as we were against Dijon. Massouema is put on a stifling brief again, keeping their single striker locked down, and they don’t create very much without him and Fofana has a pretty quiet afternoon. For our part, we push forward throughout and look good, but all we end up with to show for it is another Tattevin goal, drawing the goalkeeper our and clipping it over him after just twenty minutes. It would be nice to absolutely put a team to the sword, but points is points.

Foot Mercato are reporting that we’re putting the moves on Lorient’s Adrien Grbic, which is odd for three reasons: We have Yahia Fofana, we have Yahia Fofana, and we have Yahia Fofana. He was also born in Vienna which, lovely city though it is, isn’t Paris. Oh, and we have Yahia Fofana.

Real Madrid visit the Jean Bouin next, and there’s not a whole lot to be said about it. We are out of the running to qualify from our group, and I’m not going to banjax our league campaign on a fool’s errand for some European pride, whatever the ghosts may think of that. We’ll change it up again, try to be solid, maybe nick a goal, but in general we won’t worry much about it.

It’s the same scoreline, but we’re actually better this time around. A mixture of hard pressing and ganging up on Luka Jovic, leading the line alone, keeps them mostly at bay throughout the first half, and when they do break through Fofana is more than enough for them. But it can’t last, and immediately after the break Jovic steals a march on Attys and nods home. We push forward, as we always do, and they hit us on the break, but even then it’s only the final few moments that see Vinicius Jr nick a couple more goals.

Strasbourg have started the season incredibly well, and sit in third. They are much like us – they don’t score many, but are difficult to break down – and it should be an interesting tie. Their main threat is former Salzburg man Noah Okafor, who is a great little footballer and who I have checked repeatedly in case his place of birth somehow changes to Paris. Diarra is suspended, so Cestor comes in for his first start of the season

Noah Okafor is incredibly dangerous, causing problems on the left all game and, frankly, I have heart palpitations every time he drives forward. But we have our own midfield maestro, and his name is Lamine Fomba. His first goal finishes off a superb team move, with Huard and Mukelenge passing their way up the pitch and crossing for Traore, who nods it down for Fomba to volley home. We push for a second, but Okafor breaks loose and whips a cross to Diallo how powers a header beyond Fofana. But the opening twenty minutes have another surprise for us, and when Tattevin lays back for Fomba again we retake the lead. This time, I change things. And so, with only 21 minutes on the clock, we fall back, put timewasting on max and start kicking Okafor. And with that, we bore our way through another 70 minutes to three points, and I’m very happy to do so.

Ousmane Camara picks up his first U21 cap in the international break that follows, which is pleasing, but sadly Yahia Fofana hasn’t as yet donned the senior gloves, being kept out of the net by Mike Maignan. He also picks up a slight knock while on international duty, which is a pain, but he can play so we’ll probably use him anyway, as he’s Yahia bloody Fofana.

Saint-Etienne returned to the top flight at the second time of asking, but are finding that getting to Ligue 1 is very different to staying in Ligue 1, even for one of the giants of French football. They are pretty good defensively, compared to their level, but are the second lowest goalscorers in the division after Dijon. They’ve got a couple of decent players though, including Parisian Adil Aouchiche, who has been on my shortlist for a few years now. Diarra comes back in.

It’s a solid, professional performance, without many chances at either end. We are the better, and deserve the three points, and when Fomba slips Traore through on 20 minutes we have the lead, albeit with VAR taking a long hard look at it. We have a couple more chances and limit Saint-Etienne to long range efforts, and midway through the second half we switch to our more defensive system and see the game out. Three points and a clean sheet, who could argue with that?

We are quickly in action again, as Roma visit the Jean-Bouin for a Champions League tie. The competition for us is pretty much over, and for the rest of the group too – Real Madrid are already through, Roma too by dint of their goal difference, and Porto are secure in that Europa League place. So we might as well give Harry Daury a start, and rest everybody we can to focus on the league.

This is exactly what I hoped from our European campaign – boring, soulless, unenjoyable goalless draws. It perhaps isn’t a surprise, given the way we play and that our opponent is an already qualified Jose Mourinho. Roma push and push in the first half but we hold firm, and in the second half they just… stop. There isn’t a single highlight in the second half, as Roma seem intent on resting their players and we just can’t create anything. Our first European point doesn’t seem like much to celebrate, but baby steps.

Troyes are our final opponents of November, and although our club information pages don’t mention it I like to think of them as our old rivals. Savo Milosevic has used the CFG money well to build a decent side that is designed to compete for the European places, and in many ways are the other side of our coin as a small side with big spending, rich backers, and an international recruitment policy. We’re back to nearly full strength, except that Massouema is suspended and Doukansy, who should have played, as twisted his knee just before returning from his previous injury. So Attys gets another start.

It’s always the strangest thing when we play Troyes. They are always better than us, they always cause us problems, and Yahia Fofana always needs to special performance, and yet we always manage to nick it. Perhaps it’s divine retribution for that first-season cup defeat that we deserved to win. It’s no different here, even with Ray Manaj missing. Fofana makes a number of good saves and they waste some chances, but Tattevin drills home a Traore cross in the first half, and Barreto finishes a lovely passing move in the second to give us the points.

It’s been a very good month from a Red Star perspective. We are some distance behind leaders PSG, but we’re in second as we approach the mid-point of the season and playing well. I definitely approve of our defensively stability in the league, and that draw against Roma (and the near-€1m prize money) are nice boosters.

December ’24

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