Creteil- Laval
We were firmly on the "over" for Creteil's trip to fellow struggler Chateauroux last weekend, ahead of which I wrote ....
They (Chat) got a point from that, but remain in the drop zone, five points from safety and in truth, are past the stage already where a single point is going to help them too much, especially at home and they will have to go all out for three points today against what has to be seen as a direct relegation rival, one of the teams that Chat would definitely have their eye on as someone who could replace them. Creteil are a favourite of mine, they play a very open style and are fun to watch, last week ahead of a home game with Auxerre ..........Thierry Froger was announced as the new coach of Creteil on Wednesday and has been given the clear target of keeping the hosts in Ligue 2 and three points above the drop zone, albeit with five teams below them and within a further three points of Le Havre in 11th, their mindset is very much of a club in trouble. I have spoken many times about the club being a breath of fresh air in Ligue 2 with their very open style of football and I hope that will not change too much under Froger, even if it does, it might take a while for him to get these ideas across to the players and one or two full training sessions, is probably not enough to have done so. Today they are without suspended five goal striker Faneva Andriatsima and they will miss him, he has only sat out two games in the last two seasons (one point from two home starts) . Just three cleansheets in 29 outings for Creteil and they have come this season against teams really struggling, all in the bottom six , including the two at the foot of the table.
Nothing did really change, two up at the break, they drew 2-2, central defender Christophe Diedhiou was sent off in injury and is banned today, Creteil are without a win in five in his absence this season, conceding 1.6 goals per game. I am not sure what difference that will really make, or how team news has too much bearing on this game. This, even in mid january is a relegation six pointer, Chateauroux are going to be in a season long battle for survival regardless of what happens and anything other than a win for the visitor, is going to confirm what they already probably know and that is that they are too.
Hosts remain without Nestor, Obiang and Zola ( see all three above) and three goal midfielder Nasser Chamed. The vistors offensively are much improved today offensively, with the return of Faneva Andriatsima (see above) and captain Jean-Michel Lesage who have scored ten goals between them this season.
Christophe Diedhiou (see above) is still absent ( now conceding 1.67 goals in his absence) and Faneva Andriatsima (also see above) is once again sidelined.
Laval did us a huge favour with that win over Dijon last Friday ..... Very briefly, Dijon will be looking to bounce back after that loss to Tours, but Laval are very difficult to beat here (0-3-6) and breakdown , especially in the first half when they have drawn all nine opening periods. The visitors get left back Samuel Souprayen back after he sat out last week's game, but hugely impressive striker Julio Tavares is still absent on international duty and is joined by suspended fellow striker Yohann Riviere and goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet. That robs them of their two highest scoring forwards, but Tavares also offers so much more and means that we will see back up Florent Perraud between the sticks, he has played 443 minutes of football over the last two seasons and conceded 10 goals, one every 44 mins. Good chance for Laval, who believe they are a far better team than results suggest, opportunity for them to prove it !
That was, obviously, more about looking to oppose Dijon, but Les Tangos could do no more than win and those points have taken them up to 7th and only five points off the promotion places. If they could just start turning a few more of those draws (12/20) into wins, they might yet convince us of what they have been saying about their own ability. They have a couple of injuries and players away at the ACN, but that did not stop them last week and this is a team building up a head of steam and tough to score against, only Brest have conceded fewer road goals. Actually, the visitors will be much stronger today with the return of centre back Malik Couturier, defensive midfielder Ludovic Guerriero and three goal striker Mamadou Diallo, I see team news giving an already stronger team a further edge and have to stick with the away team.
1.75 units Laval +0.25 ball 2.13 asian line/Sportmarket.
Creteil games do tend to open up greatly after the break, with an average of 1.9 second half goals per game .
Créteil : Kerboriou, Merville - Di Bartolomeo, Diarrassouba, Ilunga, Mahon de Monaghan, Montaroup - Dabo, Genest, Lafon, Lesage, Ndoye, Sangaré, Seck - Essombé, Piquionne.
Laval : Hautbois, Cappone - Perrot, D.Konaté, Chafik, Monfray, Couturier - Robic, Alla, Zeoula, Gonçalves, Guerriero, Bourgeois - M.Diallo, Bekamenga, Saïd, Guirassy.
Good Luck.
