This Monday, AC Ajaccio can regain the lead in Ligue 2 on their own if they win on the field of SM Caen during the 22nd day of Ligue 2. But if the Corsicans have the statistics for them, the arguments also exist in favor of the Weeds. Here are five selected with sometimes a good dose of optimism.
SM Caen likes challenges
So yes, the balance sheet against the current Top 6 is in deficit (5 pts out of 21) but the Caen footballers were the first to bring down leader Toulouse at home (2-3).
And three times, the candidates for the Top 5 only got out of the bad Norman situation (Le Havre (2-2), AJ Auxerre (2-2) and Sochaux (3-2) by thanking the weedy defensive largesse.
A victory this Monday evening against AJA and Caen’s record against the Top 6 would already be almost as good as over the whole of last season (9 pts out of 36 put into play)
The SM Caen attack is in good shape
Stade Malherbe has scored at least two goals on average over the last four games. Only Paris FC has managed to do as well in Ligue 2. Let’s be honest, Caen’s goals bring in fewer points (5) than those of Paris FC (10) but out of the fourteen games where Caen scored at least one goal, it lost “only” four times including three times at home.
It’s a sign that SM Caen is doing better and hasn’t let up despite the carnage that has plagued the Rouge et Bleu workforce since the start of the season.
The winds cannot always be contrary…
Cascading injuries and absences (10 players unavailable against Sochaux), incredible journey, scenario of the match… This season nothing was spared to a Stéphane Moulin who says he has never experienced this in his entire career. But these trials can just as well unite a group provided that the wheel begins to turn in the right direction.
“I told the players that after everything that’s happened to us, we need to be armored. We must be shielded, insists the Caen coach. It should make us stronger (…) We can’t be black like that all season. It is not possible. Or if we are black like that all season, obviously it could end badly. But I don’t want to believe it. There are no rational reasons that can explain what is happening to us.”
The many returns expected this Monday evening (Mendy, Traoré, Lepenant, Diani and Court) suggest an exit from the tunnel. Finally?
Every series has an end
With only eight goals conceded, AC Ajaccio presents a wall to its opponents. A training “who punishes the adversary in a very cold way on the situations that she gets.”
It’s been 575 minutes since the Ajacciens conceded a single goal. This series stretches from the goal scored by Pau Victor Lobry.
Let’s be positive, the longer a streak is, the more likely it is to end. However, of the six teams that managed to score a goal for Olivier Pantaloni’s men, three won (Bastia, Quevilly and Pau) and two scored a point (Toulouse and Guingamp). Only Amiens was beaten. Scoring first against the ACA brings a strong chance of winning at least one point. At least statistically.
The Caen public always present
Present in the parks outside and in numbers at home (nearly 9800 spectators on average per match), the Caen supporters did not abandon their team even if the Kop had let its impatience dawn during the match against Paris FC .
“I think the players need us to support them. explains Stéphane Moulin because losing three to two at Sochaux having lost two to zero, either we look at the glass half empty or the glass half full. And if we always look at the glass half empty, we will end up attracting other worries. I don’t think we need it. The group really needs support. We have to help them and encourage them. Now is not the time to hit them because that will not make things happen (…) We have to feel the good energies around us so that we can overcome, overcome all the problems that we can meet and experience.”