Team Focus: Team Effort Sees Saint Etienne Flying High

Whenever Brandão scored for Saint Etienne last season, he would usually dust down the same celebration, running off and miming taking snaps with an imaginary camera. He is not just a footballer, but also a music impresario and songwriter - the goal choreography mimicked the “flashy flashy click click click” refrain from Henrique Lemes’ hit Princesa Diamante, a song he penned for his protégé, a former winner of Ídolos (Brazil’s version of Pop Idol).

Sometimes mocked for his awkward gait since his arrival in France four-and-a-half years ago, Brandão is perfect for Saint Etienne. Versatility is, after all, the name of the game at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard right now. With their giant Brazilian centre-forward out with a muscle injury, Les Verts showed their ability to adapt to demanding situations with victory at Valenciennes. 

In Saturday’s 3-1 win that put them atop Ligue 1 – at least, until Monaco pinched the leadership back from them on Sunday afternoon by beating Lorient – Christophe Galtier’s side showed their quality all over the field. This is par for the course in this nascent season. Five different players have scored their seven Ligue 1 goals so far.

Seeing Saint Etienne flying high is slightly surprising given the departure of arguably the two most influential players from last season’s impressive crop, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Josuha Guilavogui. The latter’s exit to Atlético Madrid, just before the transfer window’s closure, was “unexpected both by the club and the player,” but the loss of star striker Aubameyang to Borussia Dortmund had been signposted for some months. 

Nevertheless, it was difficult to deal with his loss. Similarly to the situation Manchester United faced when Cristiano Ronaldo left, for example, there was no chance of directly replacing Aubameyang, for he performed so many different roles for the team. The Gabon striker wasn’t just a goalscorer – his pacy runs into the channels dragged opposition centre-backs out of position, and he created goals from wide positions. On top of the 19 he scored in Ligue 1, he also set up 9.

Yet, as often happens with the presence of a talisman, Les Verts became chronically over-reliant on Aubameyang. When he stopped shining, so did the team. Aubameyang went over two months without scoring either side of Christmas, and the start of the spell was especially harsh on his team. Saint Etienne failed to score in a whole six matches in all competitions in one spell that traversed November and December last year. His transfer offered the opportunity for the team to become more rounded. 

Voted Ligue 1’s coach of the year by his peers last season, Galtier has a stronger squad at his disposal than in the last campaign, but it is still not huge. He has, however, created an environment where every player feels needed and valued. Even Faouzi Ghoulam, who seemed to have been frozen out after a move to Torino fell through, was brought back in for a first appearance of the season for the visit north on Friday and put in an accomplished display at left-back. 

“The advantage, compared to (Valenciennes coach) Daniel Sanchez,” said Galtier after the game, “is that I have the squad that allows me to try things out.” The experiment at Valenciennes was in switching from his habitual 4-3-3 to a loose 4-4-2, with two of the new recruits combining in the final third. Benjamin Corgnet partnered the debut-making Mevlut Erding in a surprising selection.

Corgnet – who came very close to joining Saint Etienne’s local rivals Lyon last year – emerged as the key figure in this new set-up. Habitually stationed in the centre of midfield or on the right, WhoScored’s Man of the Match played as a second striker in the Valenciennes match, and it worked a treat. 

The 26-year-old has taken an unusual route to prominence. Corgnet only turned professional in 2010, having originally rejected a contract offer from Dijon so he could complete his training as an optician. After promotion, he impressed in 2011-12 with 8 goals and 2 assists in 35 starts for Dijon, though it wasn’t enough to prevent relegation.

The goals dropped off a little after a move to Lorient, (5 goals and 4 assists in 24 starts), partly due to injury and partly because of coach Christian Gourcuff’s preference for playing Corgnet on the right. “Even if playing right midfield at Lorient gave me some versatility,” said Corgnet after Friday’s win, “the central post is the one that I’m the most fond of, where I enjoy myself the most, as I did at Dijon.”

Corgnet’s instinct for getting into good goalscoring positions is clear – since the start of the 2011-12 season in Ligue 1, he has hit the target with over half of all his shots (53.9%, excluding blocked shots). His 2 goals at Valenciennes were typical Corgnet finishes; the first snaffled from a rebound off goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau, the second a firm, angled drive from ten yards. “On the second, it was a question of placement and a bit of fortune,” Corgnet said, “as the ball went through Penneteau’s legs. But you have to dare to shoot.” Having scored just 11.7% of his shots over the previous 2 seasons, he has converted 50% this season, clearly having worked on his shooting. Only 3 teams have had fewer shots in Ligue 1 this season than Saint Etienne, so clinical finishing is a must. 

Saint Etienne are certainly daring at the moment. The vivacity of last season has been preserved, with the mobility of Corgnet and Erding complemented by Romain Hamouma (scorer of the other goal at Valenciennes) and winger Yohan Mollo, returned from Nancy. 

The squad may feel a pang of regret this week after their surprise Europa League play-off exit to Esbjerg when the group stages start, particularly given the club’s rich European history, but the lack of European football may allow Sainté more chance of sustaining a challenge to the domestic podium – which would bring the ultimate prize of a crack at the Champions League. 

It was Saint Etienne’s exploits in the European Cup in the ‘60s and ‘70s that gave the club its golden name and reputation. If Galtier’s players could get there, they would write themselves into club legend.

Do you think St Etienne can challenge for a Champions League spot this season? Let us know in the comments below.