Mike..

AUGUST 2004 SUMMARY

Istres 3 (Shirko 11, Kehiha 59, Chaussidière 66)
Pau 3 (Millereau 5, 63, Tchami 18)
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau)
News: Tchami (Pau) sent off 61

Pau 1 (Cami 49)
Guingamp 0
Man of the Match: Valverde (Pau)

Châteauroux 2 (Masnouri 14, Kamata 80)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Pau 2 (Tchami 2, Ba 52)
Montpellier 0
Man of the Match: Valverde (Pau)
News: Carotti (Montpellier) sent off 52

Sedan 0
Pau 2 (Tchami 27, 82)
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau)
News: Belhadj (Sedan) sent off 80, Jambay (Sedan) sent off 90+

Pau 2 (Di Bartolomeo 9, Tchami 67)
Le Mans 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Mike..

It was just typical, having sold Millereau Ed watched Bertrand Tchami clash heads with one of the youngsters in a training game and concuss himself. He decided not to take the risk, and removed the striker from the squad for the trip to Nîmes.

As a fellow promoted team their hosts were really struggling without a win to their names. Despite their position in the table Nîmes put up a strong fight and, with an unfamiliar front line, Ed feared that the chance of a result was fading when Bindi found himself in possession on the edge of the area and smashed home the eventual winner.

The Board were delighted, and it was hardly surprising. Albeit that they had played an extra game, Pau were sitting atop the table – surely a run that couldn’t possibly last, but Ed and the players were going to make the most of it while it did.

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For the next few days life in the pretty Pyrenean town was sweet, the players found themselves regularly stopped in the street as they went about doing their shopping and, despite their protestations, Ed knew that they loved it. He made it clear that they should make the most of it while it lasted, as long as they didn’t abuse their position. A goalless draw against visiting Brest did nothing to diminish the growing adulation and even the horrible defeat at Troyes still left Pau in fourth place and a long way from the wrong end of the table.

Although it meant little in the big picture, the trip to Troyes was one that Ed wanted to forget – it wasn’t that his lads played poorly, far from it, but they came up against class opposition and had one of those days where Lady Luck gives you the cold shoulder. Valverde strained his calf shortly after conceding the first goal, Griffouliere having to quickly pick the ball out from the second. Add a dismissal, for two yellow cards, for Kangu - Ed was quickly reaching the opinion that UEFA had pushed Referees a little too far in their drive for stringency - and a third goal, and the trip was best left forgotten.

Mike..

Bindi was added to the injury list before the visit of Bastia, leaving Ed without three of his first choice picks. Leyti was pushed into midfield and Bikoyoi won his first start of the season as he shifted things around a little. Back on home turf though, Pau looked assured and far more confident than they had for the Friday evening game. Leyti showed his stature, a formidable presence in midfield that allowed Cami the freedom to make more forays towards the area, and though Griffouliere could have done better with Bastia’s goal, Ed couldn’t be disappointed with his side’s three goal haul.

With Leyti N’Diaye earning the plaudits for his Man of the Match performance, Ed was given cause to look at how his new signings were settling in. Leyti, needless to say, was already making a case for regular starts but and Asare had taken to the left-back role with the kind of performances that would surely have Anthony Gardan pondering his future.

The real enigma was Séga N’Diaye, he kept getting into good positions, and was a great target man for the midfield, but what Ed really wanted was a goal for the young striker. No matter how well he had played it seemed to Ed that he always left the pitch looking a little deflated and, without a doubt, opening his goal scoring account would help shake of the cloud that he seemed to be under.

There was no chance of Séga breaking his duck at Lorient. Led by Patrick Suffo, the home side had kept Pau penned into their own half for long periods of time and the Cameroonian legend bagged two of the host’s three goals in a one-sided affair. It meant that Ed would have to consider showing some diplomacy soon, whilst Séga continued to settle, Gaël Bonnel had netted five goals in three reserve starts – the youngster was obviously keen to get back into the first team.

As it turned out Bonnel got a run out in the 2-0 win over Reims, an extraordinary game quite unlike anything Ed had seen in a long time. Until the last five minutes, by when it was all over, Reims had created just one scoring opportunity whilst, on another day, his Pau side could have been into double figures. Taking into account the number of chances created it was somewhat perverse that both goals came from the spot, the trickery of Cami twice frustrating defenders until they reacted badly and cost their side the game.

Mike..

SEPTEMBER 2004 SUMMARY

Nîmes 0
Pau 1 (Bindi 64)
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Pau 0
Brest 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Troyes 3 (Adam 22, Hadjérès 51, Perrone 90)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Grandel (Troyes)
News: Kangu (Pau) sent off 71

Pau 3 (Ba 20, Tchami 40, Cami 60)
Bastia 1 (Jau 55)
Man of the Match: Leyti N’Diaye (Pau)

Lorient 3 (Suffo 27, 63, Boutruche 45)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Morel (Lorient)

Pau 2 (Bédani pen 19, pen 39)
Reims 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

waiting on the patch still, so I can start posting mid-season tables. FS3, Nov '04

Mike..

Bonnel’s appearance in the Reims game followed an early injury to Séga, what proved to be a sprained ankle which would keep the older N’Diaye brother out of action for a month. The youngster could continue to contest the starting spot with a subdued Romain Testas - Testas was a worry for Ed, his performances last season had been pretty impressive – living up to his tag as a promising talent. This season, when he’d been given the chance, he’d struggled against faster and fitter defences. Ed didn’t want to start speculating too much just yet, but this might just be Testas’ second and last season with Pau.

Whilst injuries were a regular inconvenience, Ed had never really had to worry too much about internationals but his side’s form, allied with recent bigger signings, suddenly gave him a real headache for the trip to Dijon. Kangu, Asare, Leyti and Tchami were all called up for duties with their assorted African national sides, if the Pau fan base had been waiting for the inevitable, he guessed that they were about to find their wait was over.

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The goalless draw was probably the finest performance that Ed had seen his team put together, considering the lack of depth in the squad. Dijon came out hard but a crazy challenge on Testas saw the home side reduced by one man inside 25 minutes. Testas was clearly in pain but signalled that he was okay to play on and, with things as stretched as they were, Ed allowed the player to make the call.

With the man over Cami and Bédani started to emerge from midfield more, and by the break it seemed that – if anything – Pau were in the ascendancy. What was also obvious was that Testas couldn’t go on, he’d tried to put a couple of runs together but every time he tried a turn or a change of pace Ed had seen him flinch and pull up – whatever it was, it was getting worse, and Nic Sartolou got the nod for his first appearance of the season.

Pau continued to pressure, but they were being restricted to shots from range, only once did Bonnel break into the box and get a meaningful shot off, it was easily saved and the game was played out to stalemate – a great result for the visitors.

The news wasn’t good however, Testas had broken two ribs thanks to the rash challenge from Ludovic Asuar, and would have to join Séga on the sidelines for four weeks or so. To add to Ed’s frustration, only one of the four players away on international duty actually saw any action.

Mike..

For the preliminary round of the French League Cup there was little choice but to send out a second-string side. Nic Sartolou injured himself in training, ruling himself out for a fortnight, with Bonnel suspended that left Ed with a front line of Tchami and Thierry Capdevielle – a 23-year-old who had never impressed enough to escape the Reserves.

With a midfield of Aernoudt, Marc-Antoine Correia, Madjid Bouabdallah, and Michel in the holding role – Ed tried to include some senior talent but it was still a ‘mix & match’ scenario. Only the defence was pretty much full strength, Labat taking up his usual role on the right, Gardan on the left, and the pairing of Bikoyoi and Leyti in the middle.

It was probably a little naïve to expect his side to be stronger than Grenoble, in truth most of the Pau players taking the pitch were players who had very little to differentiate them from their National Division counterparts. Ed couldn’t begrudge them their goal, a well worked set-piece late in the first half, and it wasn’t until Cami and Di Bartolomeo were introduced that Pau started to really threaten. For the last twenty minutes the game swung the way of the home team but, for all the chances they created, Tchami couldn’t capitalise and the Second Division side exited the French Cup with very little to say on the issue.

There was little that Ed could be unhappy with, his starting team on the day had been a long way from what he would’ve wanted and no-one did anything to disappoint. True, the marking for the free-kick could have been tighter but most games have one or two moments in them where either team will suffer a lapse of concentration. He took the squad to one side and assured them that there would be no repercussions from the cup exit, what concerned Ed was the league, and only the league – they had a game against the third promoted team coming up, and a good chance to show them what could be done at this level by ‘lesser’ players.

Mike..

Now this was more like what Ed had been expecting, that wasn’t to say that he was happy with the situation but, if anything, it gave him a chance to appreciate what they’d enjoyed so far in the season.

More harsh refereeing had meant Pau played the last 60 minutes against Valence with ten men, Bindi dismissed for alleged repeated play-acting. Add the booking that would earn Kangu a suspension, and a last minute equaliser from Cami, and you had everything that you could expect from a team predicted to be facing an immediate return to the National Division.

The pressure would continue to mount too, Bertrand Tchami would go on to twist his knee in training and suddenly Ed would be left with none of his four first-team strikers available for action, add injuries in the Reserves and there would be – in fact - only a single forward player that could pull on a shirt.

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Bédani was injured in a further training session and by the time Ed came to pick his team for the visit of Ajaccio the absentee list read;

Kangu (sus), Leyti (inj), Bédani (inj), Bindi (sus), Testas (inj), Séga (inj), Tchami (inj), Bonnel (inj), Sartolou (inj) and Bouabdallah – 8th in line to a starting place up front (inj)

Looking at the list, and the names left to put together his team from, Ed was ever more grateful of the phenomenal start his team had made to the campaign. With only one striker available – Capdevielle – he decided that this wasn’t a game to chase, instead he overruled his urges to try and fill the usual formation, and decided to pack the midfield instead.

Whilst there were still a few players of considerable talent left in the line-up the lack of incision up front, and the fact that his team were adapting to an unfamiliar formation, meant no real chances for Capdevielle. Whilst he could live with that, Ed was vaguely concerned with the two goals conceded – earning their first home defeat of the league campaign. Add in an injury to Julien Labat and things were quickly going from bad to worse for Pau.

Mike..

The month closed out on Halloween night, fitting as Ed was predicting a horror story. One or two of his boys were back, but it was still a decimated team that took to the pitch… and it only got worse with stand-in midfielder, Niang, hobbling off after just five minutes.

Once again Ed had to marvel at the determination of his side as they dug deep one more time to hold Laval at bay on their home turf and grind out a goalless draw. Niang was ruled out for a week, Di Bartolomeo earned a suspension due to accumulated yellows, but Ed was just concentrating on the fact that they’d got through the back end of October with minimal damage done. They had a game coming up on Friday evening and then a clear week in the fixtures, and a chance to get some of the injured parties back into action.

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Things had to get better soon, quite how his side was surviving in it’s current state Ed had no idea – but he didn’t want to test how long they could keep it up. Séga did himself a minor mischief in training, taking him back out of the equation for a week. Ed sat in his lounge and looked through the squad list one more time, hoping… praying that he’d overlooked someone, that he’d misread the projected recovery periods from his Physios, but he’d been through it all half a dozen times now – there was no mistake, no missing information, just a list of bad news.

Mike..

OCTOBER 2005 SUMMARY

Dijon 0
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Bédani (Pau)
News: Asuar (Dijon) sent off 24

Pau 0
Grenoble 1 (Pote 45)
French League Cup
Man of the Match: Correia (Pau)

Pau 1 (Cami 90+)
Valence 1 (Aït-Ouarab 22)
Man of the Match: Bédani (Pau)
News: Bindi (Pau) sent off 52

Pau 0
Ajaccio 2 (Lucas 20, Maoulida 40)
Man of the Match: Allou (Ajaccio)

Laval 0
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)
News: Even (Laval) sent off 47

retired_jgirl87

KUTGW. Consolidation, then promotion. :thup:

This is still my favourite current FMS story.