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.

September 2022

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In the 1993/94 season, Fabio Capello’s AC Milan won the Serie A title. They scored just 34 goals in the league that season, and conceded only 15, as Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini parked a dozen buses in front of the goal and led their side to victory. They also conceded only two goals on their way to winning the Champions League. Daniele Massaro was top scorer that season, with a grand total of 11 goals. I have always considered that season a real inspirational, iconic season, because I absolutely love a clean sheet.

The thing is, I never set out to emulate them this season. A strong defence, absolutely, but attacking freedom as well. And yet this glorious Red Star side seems to have become the masters of the 1-0 win. Since the Saint-Etienne game back in July only two sides have scored against us, out of nine. And we have only scored more than the one goal once, in the first game of August. The defensive solidity has given us a good basis, and we sit in the promotion places.

Caen are not solid, conceding more goals than anybody outside the relegation zone. They are better going forward, but not by much. Five wins from their opening six fixtures has been followed by five defeats in the following six, and they have fallen to mid-table. All of which gives us confidence as we travel to the Stade Michel-d’Ornano for the first of four October fixtures.

It’s another great performance. Baretto and Tre combine down the right early on and cross, and Letellier in the Caen goal – who turned me down in the summer when his PSG contract expired – flaps at it. It falls to Benali, who heads into the open goal. The rest of the half passes without incident, and the first 15 minutes of the second half, until I make some changes. Both fullbacks are struggling, so I replace them, and also bring Mbala on up top. But the second doesn’t come from any of them, as Doukansy breaks up play and slips a lovely ball between the defenders for Massouema to run on to. He finds the bottom corner, and it’s all over. 2-0. Three points and another clean sheet. Lovely.

Sochaux make the trip to the Stade Pierre-Brisson next. They started the season terribly, failing to record a win in their first ten games. Then they thumped Guingamp 5-1, before beating Nancy and picking up a creditable draw against Amiens to lift themselves out of the relegation zone. I don’t think there’s any point trying to fix what isn’t broken, so we’ll start the same as we did against Caen. The one tweak I make to our tactics is to play for set pieces – I always instruct the players to do it early on in games anyway, so I’m not sure why I hadn’t drilled it into the pre-match instructions.

There isn’t much of anything in the first half. We create a few chances that Tattevin can’t put away, and Sochaux don’t manage a single shot on our goal. I get stuck into them at half time, and tell them that the finishing simply has to improve. The best way to do that is with easier chances, and the team responds with a phenomenal piece of play down the left right from the restart, ending with an Aajji cross from the byline that drops almost directly under the bar for Barreto to head home. And, as is common with Red Star these days, that is that. We close the game down, and although they create a few chances at the death, we take three points again.

We come off the pitch to discover that Chateauroux have continued their impressive home form and dealt a blow to Reims promotion chances. Which, and I can’t quite figure this out, puts us top of the league after fourteen games. The press are falling over themselves to praise Abdelkadar Aajji, which is surprising considering they were leading calls for him to be dropped. Which I remind them of in my press conference.

Another surprising development is the plight of Valenciennes. They have won only two games this season, and lost nine, despite being a side with an outside chance of being in the promotion race. Which may be why the board come calling and offer me an interview for their managerial position. I turn them down, obviously. Nobody has history like Red Star, and my task in Paris (or Beauvais, this season) is only just beginning.

Speaking of which, the task continues at the Stade d’Aube against Troyes. I am still smarting from our seconds-from-victory penalty defeat against them in the Coupe de France last season. They were a Ligue 1 side then, and we were in the Championnat National. We are equals now, and almost literally. They sit third in the table, three points behind us and desperate to make an immediate return to Ligue 1. A win here would give us a little gap to third – they are four points clear of Saint-Etienne in fourth – and I think really cement our new ambitions for the season. El Hriti isn’t match fit yet, so we’ll go unchanged, although I’m a little concerned that Tattevin isn’t performing brilliantly.

Troyes are probably the better side on the day, but it’s a close contest. They create a few problems for Fofana to deal with, but he does so without much trouble. I switch to two strikers in the second half and we create a bit more, but there’s very little we do that is worthy of a goal. Owen Maes has our best chance after some good work on the right, but fires over the bar from inside the penalty area. We lose top spot, but a draw away at Troyes is a good result and we’ll take it.

We close out the month with the visit of Ajaccio. They are a strange team. They sit just above the relegation zone, and don’t score enough goals while conceding too many. But neither of those statistics are relegation-level statistics, and they should probably be closer to mid-table. Regardless, I want to get to 40 points as quickly as possible, and six points from the magical safety number before November. Once we’re there, we can start thinking about what else we might achieve this season. Tattevin hasn’t shown enough in the last few games, so Mbala gets a start, and El Hriti comes back in.

It’s a solid, professional performance. We create a few chances before Massouema’s cross is headed in by Benali. A few moments later Ajaccio let a Jason Tre cross bounce across the box, and Benali hits a spectacular bicycle kick into the top corner – it’s an Instagram moment of a goal – to send us in two up at the break. We continue to create in the second half, but as time wears on we withdraw a little and defend the lead. Deep into stoppage time we win a penalty, but Tre delicately passes it to the goalkeeper because, I guess, we definitely don’t want to accidentally score three.

And that brings October to a close. It’s been another great, unbeaten month. We have taken 10 points from a possible 12, and are now seven games without conceding. I’m beginning to think we may never concede again…

November 2022

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