NANCY: Same old Plainness
By: Sam | July 27th, 2007
As the start of the season looms, it’s time for the France Offside to give you an in-depth look at each of the 20 teams vying for Hexagoal. Today, we meet AS Nancy-Lorraine, the team that reminds you of that guy at school/the office that just stands around and listens to conversations.
The team: Here’s another side that did little other than sit on their laurels while others were wheeling and dealing players left and right. Not a single new player has arrived, but a small few have departed. CĂ©dric LĂ©cluse, Élie Kroupi, and Pape DiakhatĂ©, are the most important people on that list.
Minding the goal is veteran Gennaro Bracigliano, who will also have to fend off the comptetion of perhaps better-appreciated Damien GrĂ©gorini. On defense, options of scarce for Pablo Correa. Armed with a few good-but-not-great names such as StĂ©phane Puygrenier, MickaĂ«l ChrĂ©tien, Daniel Sauget and Andre Luiz, one injury could mean disaster for this crew. Nancy’s 4-3-3 comforts the fact that the midfield isn’t Nancy’s prime attraction either. With N’Guemo and Gavanon holding and Berenguer assuming the middle, there’s not much alternatives either, except for Hadji. Up front, things look up for ASNL, with Moncef Zerka, Kim, Issiar Dia and Gaston Curbelo taking care of business.
Basically, they’ve got Ligue 1 syndrome. Good attack, bad defense. They’re the prime example of this.
The coach: At the helm of this troubled side is former Uruguayan international Pablo Correa, who’s been at Nancy (as a player) since 1995. Fluent in French, very well-respected, he brought Nancy up to the top flight two summers ago, and subsequently won the League Cup with them.
The stadium: Stade Marcel-Picot is basically your average Ligue 1 stadium. A 20,000-seater with pretty good fans, as good as you could ask from a place like Nancy.
The final say: Uh-oh. Nobody’s liking their chances this year, me included. Relegation could be on the way, but they could find a way to weasel out of it.
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Tags: France Ligue 1, Kim, Marcel Picot, Moncef Zerka, Nancy (ASNL), Pablo Correa, Team News, UruguaySubscribe
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Comments
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I like Nancy, actually. They are my favorite underdog teams in L1. Remember when they were in third place last fall? They did pretty well the first three months of the season, but as one of the poorest L1 clubs, they’re manpower is too light to sustain a long campaign.
I also like Correa. He’s a good coach. Tough but really level with his players. The Guardian had a great article on him and Nancy.
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United States
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Boy do I remember. That’s when Moncef Zerka was alive and well.
Posted from
Canada -
Diakhate left, for the Ukraine is weak i believe. But I agree, they are relegation canidates along with Strasbourg and Cannes/Valenciennes/Le Mans.
Posted from
United States -
Cannes? ummmmm. You mean Caen?
Posted from
Canada -
Ohh jeez did i do that, looks like the Caen blog will be a little mad
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United States
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