This is a capital shock for the AJA. The Icaunais (5th, 37 points) receive Paris FC (4th, 38 points) in an Abbé-Deschamps stadium for the last time gauged at 5,000 spectators this Tuesday (22nd day L2 late). After the draw obtained with the 2nd and best defense in the championship, AC Ajaccio, on Friday (0-0, 21st game L2 late), satisfactory in view of the previous three weeks without competition for the Auxerrois because of the Covid, the Ajaist club has the opportunity to make a very good operation in the standings. A victory, and AJA would settle in 3rd place, with the same number of points as Sochaux but with a better goal difference. For that, it will be necessary to beat a direct competitor on the way up, which has still not happened since the start of the championship.
Finally beat a big one this season
Because yes, AJA has never beaten a Top 6 team this season. That is four draws and two defeats: 0-0 at home against 2nd Ajaccio (3rd match L2) then 0-0 in Corsica (21st match L2 late); 1-1 at the 4th, Paris FC (4th game L2); 0-0 on the ground of the 3rd, Sochaux (10th game L2); humiliation 6-0 on the lawn of the leader, Toulouse (12th game L2); 3-2 defeat at Abbé-Deschamps for the last match of 2021 against 6th, Le Havre (19th j. L2). Not a great record against the leaders, even if AJA, which does the job against the supposedly weaker teams, has moved four times out of these six confrontations at the top of the table.
Jean-Marc Furlan knows this well, but it still tickles the Auxerre coach a little, with a smile, when we remind him: “As you point out to me in a very unpleasant way, we failed to dethrone the big guys. Oh motherfucker, did you see how unpleasant he is? (laughs)” At the end of the championship, it is perhaps these small point differences or the particular goal average that will count to decide between the contenders for the first places. The Ajaist coach knows this, but prefers to put things into perspective. “That doesn’t prevent us from being in the top five, six, and getting points. Wherever you go, when you’re a coach, you’re told: ‘We want Ligue 1!’ And here, we are two points from maintaining, and we are in January. Not bad, all the same. But of course that we too want to be first with a ten-point lead! Me, it’s my dream. I would be more relaxed, cooler, it’s true. (smile)”
Can the AJA successfully chain a second meeting in four days after three weeks of stoppage because of the declared cluster in its ranks? Jean-Marc Furlan has no certainty: “Even with 25 years of experience, I don’t hide from you that I’m freaking out, compared to what we’ve been through! Because there were a lot of Covid, because we resumed with only one match To regain our momentum and our fluidity, I have a big question mark above my head. I am much more worried than if we had normal fluidity after 15 days, three weeks, a month of competition. “ An Icaunian success against the PFC would dispel all doubts…
Pellenard back, the group is still expanding
For this AJA-Paris FC, the Icaunais club can count on the return to the group of Théo Pellenard. The defender was suspended for five matches, four in the league and one in the Cup, for having tackled and won despite himself the ankle of the unfortunate Caennais Mehdi Chahiri on December 4 at Abbé-Deschamps (2-2, 17th day L2) . Initially sanctioned with eight matches by the LFP’s disciplinary committee, a sentence deemed disproportionate even by the Norman coach Stéphane Moulin, the player had seen his suspension reduced to five matches thanks to AJA’s appeal to the CNSF. Today, the former Valenciennes is on the attack according to his coach. “Pellenard? Yes, it’s fine, he’s good. Considering the blows he puts in training… He hits everyone. He drinks, the guy! (laughs)”
In reality, the suspension and the lack of competition were a little more difficult to live with, adds the coach: “It’s true that it upset him a lot. Sometimes, during the week (in training), he was very, very good, at a high level. And sometimes, with morale, you are less well .” Even if it had three Ligue 2 matches out of four without taking a goal in the absence of Pellenard with each of these clean sheets a different duo at the hinge (Jubal-Coeff in Dunkirk, Joly-Bernard in Grenoble and Jubal-Bernard in Ajaccio), the Auxerroise defense finds one of its captains, who extended with the club this winter until the summer of 2024.
No more tinkering behind, and it’s not Jean-Marc Furlan who will complain, while Alexandre Coeff is also back with the validation of his recovery certificate. “We are happy to recover everyone, savors the technician. What is interesting for a coach is to have this feeling of competition between the boys, that they fight each other in training for the competition. For some time, we have changed the positioning of the players a lot, and the positions. It’s quite penalizing, it makes you lose a small percentage of competitiveness and dynamics. As a result, it can rebalance the group for us, and start again on the bases already experienced of a typical team.
Impressive series for Paris FC despite everything diminished
We spoke a little earlier about this spiral without a win against the Top 6. Well for Paris FC, it’s more of a spiral without defeat at the moment: the Parisian club has indeed remained in nine straight matches without losing in the league ( six wins, three draws), and is undefeated in its last four trips (three wins, one draw). That gives you a team. “For us, Paris FC, it’s a very difficult challenge, raises Jean-Marc Furlan. It’s a great team, very competitive, very athletic, with very important individual values, which won six matches in a row, all the same, when they were in a tough situation. It’s a crazy thing !”
The last defeat of the PFC dates back to October 16, in Pau (1-0, 12th day L2). A Parisian formation which, like AC Ajaccio, loves small 1-0 victories (six, including five times in its last six successes). But Thierry Laurey’s men have their flaws. They never managed to win by conceding the opener. It is also the only team not to have collected a single point after being in Ligue 2 this season. The first goal, if it is in favor of AJA, could greatly help to unblock things… Especially since recently, Paris FC has shown some signs of weakness, with two draws conceded at home against Le Havre (2-2 after leading 2-0) and Dunkirk (1-1).
Other important data on the Parisian side: the numerous absences due to the CAN, the transfer window and injuries. The rock in defense Ousmane Kanté returned injured from the African Cup of Nations with Guinea while the midfielder (three goals, three assists) Moustapha Name is still there with Senegal who play their semi-final tomorrow against Burkina Faso. The dragster Gaëtan Laura, scorer and real poison in the first leg but more incumbent, was loaned to Consenza, Italy (Serie B). Midfielders Cyril Mandouki and Check Oumar Diakité are injured. If Thierry Laurey will be able to rely on his best scorer back from CAN with Guinea, Morgan Guilavogui (six goals, two assists), and the surprise Alimani Gory (involved in four of the last seven goals for Paris FC, a pawn and three assists), everything suggests that this is the right time to receive the Parisian club. And finally beat a big one this season.