Disappointed Once Again

On Friday, May 29, I watched Les Verts fight to return to Ligue 1. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was disappointed.

I have to be honest: I was disappointed with the team long before Friday’s game. I mean, I’ve been disappointed since they were relegated the first time. But during this season in Ligue 2, they seemed to be on track to figure things out. They spent much of the season in second or third place. With just a handful of games left in the season, they were in third, down by one or two points and up on goal differential. They had three crucial games coming up: one against Troyes, first in Ligue 2 and guaranteed a move up; one against Amiens, last in Ligue 2 and guaranteed a move down; and Bastia, second-last in Ligue 2 and also guaranteed a move down.

I wasn’t expecting much to come from the game against Troyes. Yes, Sainté had beat them much earlier in the season, but I’ve learned to keep my expectations low. Not low enough to not expect a win against Amiens, which in fairness, they got.

My expectations were apparently too high for the game against Bastia. Second-worst team in the league, guaranteed relegation, nothing to play for, playing against a team motivated to win in order to get second place and automatic promotion. Naturally, Les Verts lost 2–0.

I have been disappointed a lot by Sainté in the last few years. The game against Bastia hit differently.

After just barely winning the second qualifying round against Rodez — I’m talking penalty shootout that went on forever — Les Verts moved on to the promotion games against Nice. I didn’t need to watch the games to know the overall outcome. I did anyway. We all make mistakes.

Sainté managed to keep the first game scoreless. They managed to keep the first half of the second game scoreless. I think much of their ‘success’ can be attributed to the defensive line and Larsonneur’s impressive shows at goal. Unfortunately, their luck didn’t last.

There was undoubtedly a skill mismatch between the two team. I noticed it most in the crosses during attacks. Where Sainté’s crosses were sloppy and often off-target, Nice’s were clean and accurate. Consistently throughout both games, Nice’s attacks were more organized. It was only a matter of time before they scored. Meanwhile, while Les Verts scored early in the second game, their first goal — taken away by VAR due to a player being offsides — almost seemed accidental. Sure, they were aiming for goal, but there was a clumsiness to the whole thing.

But Sainté’s biggest problem, consistently over the last few years, has been composure. Les Verts, for all their shortcomings, is competitive as long as the game is scoreless. But as soon as they give up a goal, they lose all composure. In this last game, for example, they gave up a goal in the 61st minute. They managed to tie it up (on a penalty resulting from a handball in the box, thank you VAR) in the 78th minute, 17 minutes later. Nice responded immediately with a flash goal in the 80th. And again with a goal in the 86th. And then again in the 91st.

Saint-Étienne completely fell apart. Their offense was nonexistent, their defense evaporated, and frankly, there’s only so much Larsonneur is capable of.

It was not the first time Sainté had done well until allowing a goal. It’s a pattern now. They’re competitive, they allow a goal, they give up.

There is part of me that wishes for a Ted Lasso type to come in and teach this team how to shake things off. Would that work? Honestly, probably not. But a girl can hope.

Because right now, as a fan, watching this team can be pretty frustrating.

I’m not going to write a whole other post for this particular complaint, so I’m going to tack it on to the end of this one. The assistant refs in the second match against Nice were truly some of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. For both sides, they were consistently bad. While I think Les Verts would have lost anyway, the worst call — a throw-in that should have been Sainté’s but was awarded to Nice — directly led to Nice’s first goal. Truly awful refereeing.