You have to go back to Bastia in 1985 to find worse
Eleven goals in three games. That is Auxerre’s Ligue 1 season so far, and it puts them bottom of the table after Friday night’s 3-1 defeat at Lyon.
Only one side in the history of the French top flight has started a campaign leakier: Bastia, 12 conceded after three matches, back in 1985-86. Will Still is in company nobody wants.
Lens (2-5), Angers (1-3), Lyon (3-1). Three completely different opponents. The same hole at the back every time.
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Twelve new faces and a defence that has never trained together
Here is the awkward part. Auxerre did not stumble into this summer, they engineered it. Twelve outside signings before the window shut, Arthur Piedfort (5,5 M€) and Danny Namaso (5 M€) among them, then Paul Nardi, Axel Tuanzebe, Pierre Ekwah and Cameron Archer.
Tuanzebe was not even registered in time for Lyon. So the back four changes shape every weekend, and the individual mistakes keep arriving on schedule, Nouirou Ahamada’s loose ball in the build-up to Lyon’s third being the latest.
“We keep conceding another really frustrating goal from a set piece, even though we’re four against one. Then we get caught out from a throw-in for us. We’re too soft, we need to be far more aggressive and much tighter defensively,” Still said. “But we’re not going to rip everything up. Staff included, there are around 20 new people at the club, so it’s been a major upheaval. We knew it wouldn’t all click overnight.”
Nice and Brest at home, and not much room left
The attack is not the problem. AJA are scoring, they are creating, and Archer, on loan from Southampton, was the one player who genuinely troubled OL.
“When we see our moves through to the end, we look dangerous. We’re trying to find the right formula, to get the collective balance right. We have to learn quickly or we’ll keep putting ourselves in trouble,” the Auxerre coach said.
Two home games now, Nice then Brest. A fortnight to turn 20 new employees into a defence. Get it wrong and the bill for the rebuild lands on the manager’s desk.
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