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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The transfer window has slammed shut, the players we have are the players we have, and Mamadou Tounkara is upset that I didn’t spend even more on a striker who, search as I might, just doesn’t seem to exist. PSG, unsurprisingly, outspent everyone, throwing the best part of €300m into a bid to wrest the title back from Lyon. For that money, you get Declan Rice, Gio Reyna, Diego Jota, and more. We’ll see them up close next month.
Before that, we have four September fixtures to squeeze in around an international break – no, I also can’t believe we are worrying about international breaks already – starting with a trip to Rennes. Since a brief flirtation with Europe a few years ago they have struggled, barely avoiding relegation two years ago before recovering to mid-table last season. Aguerd and Bade provide a formidable defensive partnership an I’m relieved that Jeremy Doku is injured. For some reason I can’t figure out, they sold Kamaldeen Sulemana for just €500,000 in the summer, but that just means that they think they have better replacements. Doukansy comes back in, but other than that we’re unchanged.
We start absolutely disastrously, when Barreto decides to lay it back to the goalkeeper without looking, and instead plays a beautiful through ball to Rennes forward Martin Terrier to round Fofana and put us behind. But then we start playing our game. We restrict their chances, and Amadou Traore nods home a Sissoko cross for the equaliser. I tell them not to panic, and in the second half we sit, we soak up pressure, and then an incisive counter-attack sets Massouema free, and he dinks the goalkeeper to put us ahead. We’re solid until the 94th minute, when Diarra commits a foul in the box. I resign myself to a good away point, but I’ve reckoned without the near-legendary skills of Yahia Fofana, who stretches away to his right to tip Majer’s penalty around the post. Another three points, and well earned.
There’s a smug suit hanging around my office, and given my experiences with smug suits I’m braced for some unreasonable demand. But Dominique Aubrey is here to represent Yahia Fofana and request a new contract, and the words are barely out of his mouth before I’ve drawn up all of the paperwork. I’m happy, he seems happy, and hopefully Yahia will sign on for another four years with us. Maybe he’ll get to play at the Bauer by then!
Next up are one of the real giants of the French game, Marseille. They haven’t won the league since 2010, but they remain the only French side to have won the European Cup. As has become worryingly commonplace for Marseille fans, they lost heavily to PSG in their second game of the season, but they have won their other three without conceding. Which is a concern, not least because N’Goura has picked up a niggle in training. Ousmane Camara is on a recovery from his own niggle, but not ready yet.
It’s a good performance, but we’re not quite good enough. Marseille cut through us early and Fofana has no chance when Milik fires past him. We get our act together after that and create some chances of our own, but Mandanda is equal to them. The second half is much the same, and we create more after I bring on the second striker. Milik dives for a penalty that everybody can see he’s bought, but Fofana gets the better of him this time and pushes it away. It doesn’t help though, and we can’t find the equaliser.
Despite the defeat, I head back to my office and get some good news, as Yahia Fofana’s contract is sitting on my desk, all signed and with a smiley face drawn on a post-it. I don’t think I’ll ever want to let him go.
Metz are sitting in the relegation playoff position, having won one and lost four of their opening five fixtures. But they have been against difficult, title-aspiring sides, and the table isn’t really showing anybody’s quality yet. After all, we are just outside the European places! Alpha Sissoko comes back in, but N’Goura and Camara are still a few days away.
It’s another really tight game. We have chances, they have chances, but nothing comes to much in the first half. In the second I tell the lads to push on a bit, and then bring on Le Corre to support Tattevin, just like we’re in Ligue 2 again. It doesn’t change much, but with 10 minutes to go Barreto curls in a corner and Diarra ducks in at the near post and flicks it across the goal and in off of the post. Le Corre gets injured moments later, leaving us short, but we defend well until we give away a free kick in injury time. Mikautadze lines it up and strikes it so well that Fofana is rooted to the spot. Both teams probably deserve a point, but it’s disappointing.
Lens are headed to the Pierre-Brisson for our last game of the month, and are sitting one point and two places below us. Their record is similar to ours – strong against the weak teams, struggling against the strong teams – so it will be an interesting contest. Every game is played at 110% at this level, so having to take them on in midweek means we’ll have to make a whole host of changes. It definitely has nothing to do with the massive game we have at the weekend…
Our second string do their best, but really they aren’t good enough to be played all together at the same time. Lens take the lead early on when Tounkara and Cestor get in a muddle at the back, and we struggle to do anything of note in the first half. I lay into them at the break and we’re better in the second period, but we are lucky to equalise when Ehling breaks down the right and crosses. The ball is missed by everyone and bounces tamely through to Traore, who still smashes it against the post before it goes in. And I think we might be able to hang on for a point, but it isn’t to be and Abi scores the winner six minutes from time. We haven’t deserved anything from the game.
All of which has dropped us into the bottom half of the table by the end of September. It’s not been the most disastrous of months, but we’re in for a difficult October, and it would have been nice to have more of a buffer with that in mind. But we knew it was going to be a long old season, and now is the time to brace ourselves for the long-haul.
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