Two and a half months after finishing the previous year in seventh place, the SM Caen starts its fourth season in a row in Ligue 2 in Nîmes this Saturday with logical caution when approaching this first trip.
For coach Stéphane Moulin, the objectives of this first match are to ” see if we are physically ready and how the team will behave in its structure and of course the individual performances. We’re groping a little bit, but we’re all the same. It’s hard to really know if we’re in the right timing. We hope so but as usual, the justice of the peace is the competition.”
And to add: “Everyone is on the same line but it won’t last. We don’t yet have too many benchmarks to know who we really are and who we are in relation to others.”
Last year, Stade Malherbe had a hard-fought entry against Rodez (4-0) but this success had not offered them an ideal first part of the season, far from it.
A six-week truce and only two climbs
This season is marked by a break that will last from mid-November to Christmas due to the World Cup. And only two teams will reach the elite for four relegations in National.
“There will only be four games less in the first part of the championship, puts Stéphane Moulin into perspective on this XXL truce. The only modification is that there will be a second preparation because we will stop the competition for six weeks. That’s what’s going to change things. How are we going to manage? Is it a dynamic that can break or a period that can revive a team in difficulty. These are things that cannot be answered. It is something that we have never experienced in the same way that the two climbs bring something new to the championship.
This puts a greater danger in terms of maintenance and I hope it will not kill the championship too quickly because you can have two teams that come off. If two teams break away, the championship risks losing interest. This is what I regret in the fact that there are only two accessions. It doesn’t give enough interest to enough teams.”
The absents
SM Caen is attacking this new season with an empty infirmary. If they weren’t for the hanging ones, the situation would be perfect.
Last season’s yellow cards deprive Stéphane Moulin of three players (Bilal Brahimi, Ali Abdi and Emmanuel Ntim) for this trip to Nîmes.
“It’s not terrible first for them, explains the Caennais coach, when we prepare and we know that we will not play the first match. For the staff, it is not easy because two of them have just arrived. We did our best to give them the playing time they needed and make up for their absence.”
The suspended will play with the reserve on Wednesday in a friendly against Alençon.
The Caen group
To choose from : Anthony Mandréa, Yannis Clémentia – Brahim Traoré, Adolphe Teikeu, Ibrahim Cissé, Romain Thomas, Lamine Sy, Hugo Vandermersch, Johann Obiang – Quentin Daubin, Yoann Court, Noé Lebreton, Djibril Diani, Caleb Zady Séry, Lyad Mohamed – Alexandre Mendy, Godson Kyeremeh, Samuel Essende, Norman Bassette and Benjamin Jeannot.