Zapping But! Football Club AS Saint-Etienne: Batlles, a good choice for the greens?
Dylan Chambost was the first. The easiest to attract also insofar as the Annecy native was free and he has known almost only one coach in his entire professional career and even a little before in reserve at ASSE. In Sainté, in Batlles’ game idea, the 24-year-old will have a fundamental place: either in the left center of the middle in a diamond shape, or – as in his best year in Ligue 2 – behind the striker (if the departure of Adil Aouchiche is confirmed). Chambost totally corresponds to the profile of these Swiss Army knife players who know the system and its permutations. A system of which the right-handed counterpart is missing, which should be Tristan Dingome.
For Jimmy Giraudon as for Anthony Briançon, two right-handed centrals, former captains of their respective teams (Troyes and Nîmes), we are also in the same register of players. “Jimmy Giraudon is a seasoned Ligue 2 BKT player. It is important for us to have elements who are experienced in this championship, who know its hardness and the humility it requires. I know him well and he knows what I expect of him. He will also be a leader of men, ”explains Laurent Batlles about the first. The terms “experienced” and “leader of men” had already come up the day before for Briançon: “Athletically and technically, he is a high quality footballer. Anthony is a real leader, he will be important on and off the pitch”. In both cases, this also corresponds to a standard profile. Neither Giraudon (1m84) nor Briançon (1m85) are colossi but above all they are good defenders with a good reading of the game and good in relaunch. The first stones of the construction of a game to frame a younger stopper and can be stronger in the impact (to choose between Nadé, Moukoudi, Sow and Bakayoko). Two players in the register of what was a Loïc Perrin in Saint-Etienne during his good years. Two players who have proven themselves in Ligue 2 (Giraudon was in the championship team in 2021).
Briançon a bet on his return to the top, for Giraudon thank you Irles!
Admittedly, Anthony Briançon has never left Nîmes since 2012 and his departure from the OL academy, but the native of Avignon – who had time, in 211 professional matches (including 130 in L2), to show his qualities and to score a few goals from set pieces (18) – could have migrated to a much more upscale club. A few years ago, OM were interested in him. At the time, its president Rani Assaf did not want to hear of a departure for less than €10 million. It is therefore a nice blow for ASSE to have freed him after a very complicated 2021-22 season – on the flank for more than a year because of a knee operation (osteochondritis) – which took him off the radar of more highly rated Ligue 1 clubs.
As for Jimmy Giraudon, passed by Niort or Grenoble, his downgrading in Aube was only purely tactical as justified by Bruno Irles when pushing him on loan to Leganes (Spanish D2): “I think his qualities are technical, he is very comfortable. I don’t think I have the equivalent on the first raise and Laurent Batlles insisted a lot on that. But today, compared to my style and my priority, my goal is to go to impact players, duels. It corresponds less to what I want”. A player who sticks on the other hand to what Batlles wants to put in place in Forez. In any case, we have a very coherent vision of the new ASSE style.
Here is the outline of the Laurent Batlles project on this Mercato #ASSE pic.twitter.com/451xURaN2s
— Alexandre Corboz (@AlexCorboz) June 30, 2022
The detailed Batlles project
This Monday, for the resumption of training, ASSE started with three new faces in its workforce: Dylan Chambost, Anthony Briançon and Jimmy Giraudon (while waiting for Tristan Dingomé who should be the fourth…). Three players who correspond 100% to Laurent Batlles’ idea of play and his 3-6-1 system.
