retired_embartl

a little late, but Sega finally scored

retired_jgirl87

Phew flippers, that was a close call. Imagine how close you might have come to getting the Spurs job, but thankfully luck was on your side and you've had a very fortunate escape.

retired_emsta12

Kevin Keegan? As a Spurs fan I'm appalled.

Keep it up. Absolutely fantastic and good to know there'll be seasons more!

Mike..

Smithaldo: Thanks, welcome to the boards, and have a dig around - there's a lot of excellent stuff here to keep you entertained

BoN: Better late than never, I admit I was beginning to worry - especially as he was always listed in the suggested starting XI from my assistant.

Spav: Yep, close call, but who knows what the future holds for a career manager?

SP: Aww, poor Kev, oft maligned thanks for the kind words



January had turned into a magnificent month, and not just in terms of results. RTL, the French broadcasting group, had Bonnel’s chipped goal against Le Mans as their goal of the month, closely followed by Cami’s solo effort against Nîmes. Once again Pau were in fine form and thoughts of a potential slump had dissipated.

Monsieur Le Coadou had been discreet, despite his actions on Ed’s behalf, telling nobody of the application – There was no need, he’d said, after all what good would it do for them to know about something that hadn’t happened? He’d given Ed a wink as he said this, patting him on the shoulder as the pair went into the boardroom for the monthly review.

-----

For a while it looked like the end of the month had also signalled the end of the magic, after a tense first half Emanuel Perrone put the ball in the net for Troyes with their first – and what would be only – on-target effort of the game. To Ed it looked as if his side had been napping and he made a couple of quick changes, resulting in forty minutes of constant pressure at the other end. Tchami curled in a delightful free-kick to level the scores, and then it was a case of Pau players lining up to take pot-shots at the Troyes goal, unfortunately without reward.

”Take your time lads, we’ll create plenty of chances, just don’t rush them”. Ed had been more than pleased with his side’s creativity in the league, even without Cami on the pitch, but their frustration had become evident as they’d ended up employing a ‘shoot on sight’ approach. With lower level opposition in their continuing cup run the manager insisted that he wanted to see a more patient approach.

The last time they’d played Romorantin it had been as National Division rivals, neither of the league games had been able to separate the sides and now their hosts were pushing to follow Pau into the Second Division. Promotion may have given them a higher quality of opponent, but there was still little between the sides and, with a second-string front line, it took a fine solo effort from Testas – deep in extra time – to send ten-man Pau into the next round.

Mike..

The media were billing the trip to Bastia as a huge game, the hosts had put together a run of ten games without defeat - albeit that only three were wins, and they sat above Pau only on goal difference. It was sixth against seventh, and a big chance for either team to open a gap.

That chance was grabbed with both hands by the home side, Ed sat and watched as his forward line failed miserably to get into the last third of the pitch, whilst the midfield seemed to have one of their worst showings since being put together as a unit. The early goal conceded didn’t help but, even then, it was most disappointing for the travelling support to have to wait until after half time for their first attack worth cheering – remarkably it was Séga who looked the more threatening of the strike partnership on the day, which perhaps spoke volumes about how weak Pau looked.

The game ended in a two goal defeat for Ed’s team, setting them up for a seventh versus eighth clash in the following Friday night’s televised game at home to Lorient. Ed was looking for an improvement, an improvement that Tchami’s early goal seemed to briefly promise, but the game descended into much the same pattern as the midfield ground to a halt and the visitors took over.

In the space of a week he’d watched his side drop a place and, more importantly, fall into the clutches of a gaggle of teams around the middle of the table – on top of that the Lorient game had also cost them the services of Laurent Bédani for a fortnight at least. Games were running out, there shouldn’t be a worry about relegation, but after the fine form of the early season he was watching a top-half finish slip through their fingers. He took a long time over considering his next move, whether to plug on and look for wins, or have a rethink and focus on damage limitation.

Mike..

FEBRUARY 2006 SUMMARY

Pau 1 (Tchami 62)
Troyes 1 (Perrone 56)
Man of the Match: Sanz (Troyes)

Romorantin 0
Pau 1 (Testas 118)
French Cup
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau)
News: Ba (Pau) sent off 94

Bastia 2 (Uras 5, Dagano 61)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Saada (Bastia)

Pau 1 (Tchami 7)
Lorient 2 (Coué 16, Suffo pen 49)

Mike..

They’d worked too hard, and shown too much grit, to start worrying about results and change their approach now – that was his final thought as he put together the team sheet for the first game in March, a cup tie with a chance for the team to get their heads together in a ‘less important’ match.

Ed had never seen a more one-sided 90 minutes of football in his career, at least not one where the teams involved were from the same division. His front line rained down the chances on the Laval defence from the first minute to the last but Fabrice Catherine, the visiting keeper, seemed to be making a bid to break into the French national side at the age of 32. If there had been no keepers on the pitch the score after 90 minutes would’ve been 10-0 to Pau, thanks to Catherine it was goalless. Maybe predictably, having dominated so completely, things seemed to have gone off the boil at the back and when Laval’s chance finally came it was smashed home from long range.

Stunned that such a brilliant performance could see them behind in extra time, the Pau players seemed to lose their will – despite his continuous encouragement from the sidelines – and another cup run was brought to the most unjust of ends.

When he watched his side, suffering a further depleted midfield, struggle to even make a dent at eighteenth placed Reims Ed began to think that he’d made the wrong decision in sticking to his guns. It was the first win that Reims had mustered since the start of January, and it dropped Pau two further places down the pecking order.

He finally admitted to himself that a change was needed, nothing major but a shake-up of personnel – maybe certain individuals had just got a little too comfortable during their period of consistent success.

Mike..

Ba and Kangu found themselves dropped for the visit of Dijon, Leyti and Di Bartolomeo took the central defensive roles and the holding man was abandoned in favour of giving Romain Testas a start ‘in the hole’ – Ed was looking to get more bodies around the box, competing for lose balls and creating more chances.

At half time it wasn’t looking great, by the 55th minute it was looking pretty dire. On the whole Pau had never been ones for big comebacks and Ed was already accepting defeat when a change in the metaphorical weather swept in. When Leyti flicked in Cami’s corner the home fans got on their feet and started to urge their side on, and after Testas levelled matters with a screaming twenty-five yard free-kick the singing started. His side were suddenly playing with a purpose, sensing that – for a change – they had the momentum going into the last ten minutes of a game. All that was missing was the finishing touch, cue substitute Bonnel who pounced on the keeper's parry to sidefoot the winner with no more than five minutes to play.

He hadn’t realised just how much the poor vein of form had been affecting him, but it was their first home win in nearly two months and he felt a weight lifted. As a minor celebration he arranged for the players to stay behind after Saturday training and, along with some of the staff, they got together for a couple of beers in town.

Mike..

For the second time since his appointment at Pau, Ed turned on the TV to hear the news that Manchester United had sacked their manager. What he struggled to comprehend, on this occasion, was why. Out of the UEFA Cup, but second in the Premiership, two points behind Liverpool, and with two games in hand. Yes, they had only drawn with Charlton, yes they had lost three-one at Anfield, but the fact remained that they were still favourites and had the meanest defence in the league.

That, Ed thought, was one good reason for not being a top-flight manager, at least not just yet

Of course management at this level had its own dangers, and in the week when he watched another dominant Pau side earn a harsh defeat at struggling Valence Ed noted that two of his Second Division counterparts had stepped down due to apparently poor performances from their clubs. The question, of course, was whether they jumped or were pushed. Créteil were certainly in trouble but Bastia seemed to be in fine form.

Mike..

MARCH 2006 SUMMARY

Pau 0
Laval 1 (Even 102)
French Cup
Man of the Match: Catherine (Laval)

Reims 1 (Levrat 11)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Sarr (Reims)

Pau 3 (Leyti 68, Testas 79, Bonnel 86)
Dijon 2 (Heitzmann 3, Peres 55)
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Valence 2 (Leclerq 18, Diarra 24)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Adjaoud (Valence)