Victorious in the derby against OL but 3-1 defeated by Strasbourg last weekend, the Greens have three matches to validate their maintenance in Ligue 1, or at least hang a barragist’s place.
There are matches like that where nothing is going well. A double occasion missed in the second minute, a head on the bar, a strike from the harvested left and a total of 15 lost balloons on 43 played … Irvin Cardona missed almost everything he undertook last Saturday against Strasbourg at La Meinau, to the point of being shown more or less explicitly by his teammates and his coach. A clumsiness which, coupled with the inability of the Stéphanoise defense not to take a goal, allowed the Alsatians to take three decisive points in the race for Europe.
A race that Urvin Cardona and the Greens are not playing this year. The Nîmes, decisive the previous season for the rise of the club in the elite, returned on loan this winter from Augsburg with a clear mission: to ensure the maintenance. 17th at 1 point from Le Havre, barragist, and 3 from Angers, ASSE does not have its destiny in hand at three games from the end of the season. However, there are still some reasons to believe it, with two home matches that are looming, including the next this Saturday at 9:05 p.m. against AS Monaco.
Without Lucas Stassin, the Stéphanoise attack will have to reinvent itself
Second top scorer in Ligue 1 in 2025 with eleven goals scored, just behind Ousmane Dembélé (13 goals), the Belgian Lucas Stassin is forfeited this weekend because of a muscle problem that he has been dragging for weeks. A huge blow that Eirik Horneland and his men will have to overcome collectively in front of their audience. That’s good, Cardona seems much more comfortable in the cauldron since its return (4 goals, 2 assists), and it will be supported by the other great satisfaction of the summer transfer window: Zuriko Davitashvili. The Georgian, hyperactive against Racing, is 8 goals and 7 assists for his first season in the elite.
-Behind them, another player puts their noses at the window at the end of the season: Pierre Ekwah. The native of Massy, in the Paris region, is positioned like the hub and an indestructible from the ASSE midfielder. Leaving very early in Chelsea before rallying Sunderland in Championship, he became this season at 23 a mature player with a technical profile that appeals to Eirik Horneland. From the top of his 1m87, he is not stingy with efforts either. He has played this season 26 championship games this season, all as a holder. Its purchase option is set at 7 million euros and will only be activated if the club remains in Ligue 1.
The best time to face Monaco?
A pressure that the Greens have on their shoulders since the start of the season but that the new owner of the club, Larry Tanenbaum, does not see as an end in itself: “League 2?” It would be a setback, but that would not change our project. It is not an investment over a year, but to build a generation capable of fighting for titles. What we have to do is continue to build, plan for the future. Whether it requires more money or more time, it’s part of our plan ”he confided to the team Before the derby against Lyon Sunday, April 20. Certainly, Ekwah could be part of it. But the time has not yet come for all these considerations.
On the other hand, the context surrounding this Monegasque trip to the Forez could benefit ASSE. Dominators but ineffective against Strasbourg (0-0) then Le Havre (1-1), the men of Adi Hütter are now fourth and begin a perilous final sprint which will then see them face Olympique Lyonnais at Louis II before a last meeting in Bollaert against RC Lens. Last Tuesday, the team reported that the owner of AS Monaco Dimitri Rybolovlev went to the club’s performance center, in Turbie, for “Meet sports management, staff and several executives (Denis Zakaria, Thilo Kehrer, Breel Embolo and Aleksandr Golovin)”.
The Monegasque group was criticized for a lack of investment, especially in the face of the stockroom teams, and some players for already having their heads at the summer transfer window. Was the message received by the players? Answer on Saturday in a cauldron that should once again boil. Not sure, however, that Geoffroy-Guichard’s fervor is a long advantage. Indeed, it could quickly be extinguished by the decision of the LFP disciplinary committee on incidents that punctuated the derby against OL. It will be returned on May 7. It is a safe bet that partial or total closed doors could be decided from the last day of L1 against Toulouse (Saturday May 17) for “Do not have ensured the safety of the actors of the meeting”according to a point in the disciplinary regulations of the Professional Football League.
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