Ligue 2:
 

Le Havre- AJ Ajaccio
 

Niort- Clermont

 

Last Friday I previewed the Clermont- Le Havre game , speaking about Bob Bradley's move to the EPL and how new HAC coach Oswald Tanchot (pictured) had quickly imposed himself and that maybe, just maybe he had removed the shackles imposed by Bradley, who was a little too defensive minded at times ........
 

They won that 1-0 and followed up by beating highflying Sochaux 2-1 before the break, that was noteworthy as head coach Bob Bradley had left on the day of the game to join Premier League Swansea City. Oswald Tanchot his number 2 took over and has already made some big decisions regarding his coaching staff and that is a good sign, as he is confident enough to do that and wants to make the job his own.This is a good squad and the move will doubtless be good for Bradley's bank balance, but might also be better for HAC, as they are a team happier unshackled IMO and allowed to play to their strengths and that was definitely not always the case under their US boss.

However and there is almost always an however, he and HAC have to travel without Issam Chebake, Steven Fortes , Ghislain Gimbert and Cédric Cambon, their offensive threat remains without Gimbert, but they are without three important defenders and the backline will include at least two inexperienced players and will be probably the youngest in action in Ligue 2 today (average age 21, oldest 23). Clermont love a 2-1/1-2 (five in their last ten starts) and they have won 3 of the last 6 h2h meetings here by that exact scoreline, both to score, one to notch a winner.
 

Le Havre won 3-1 and I liked Tanchot's contribution from the sidelines where he was very vocal and animated, the antithesis of Bradley. The game was wide open, Clermont played well going forward and could/should have been 2-1/3-1 up at the half , instead of 1-0 down. That paid for that, it was mostly Le Havre after the break,with the Clermont goal a late consolation. Three things to pick up on, the Clermont offensive threat remains, but defensively they are a shambles, two of the goals conceded were horror shows and they were incredibly slow to the "second ball" in their own area and lastly, the performance of HAC keeper Fabien Farnolle who was a commanding and decisive presence and simply refused to be beaten until the game was won. I have spoken about him before and when he is pumped and on fire, the whole team is lifted, ahead of an early season game last year I wrote ................

HAC almost paid for that when Valenciennes were awarded a dubious looking penalty, but this was saved by giant keeper Fabien Farnolle and justice was done. It was a game of very few real chances, but I have to admit to being rather impressed with HAC, I saw video of them in warm up and they were really going for it, much more than you normally see ( I always try to get into Griffin Park early to see how the opposition prepare, it is incredible btw how many teams come out for the second half and do no last minute warm up at all, the Bees always do at least 90 seconds or so, but I digress) , keeper Farnolle must have saved 100 shots and was drenched in sweat going back to the changing rooms, they came out fired up, looked sharp and got that early breakthrough goal. Every key moment was celebrated as a group, which I always like , they were really pumped by the win and there were extended and jubilant celebrations after the game shown on the club website. You can learn quite a bit from titbits like these and this is clearly a very together group of players, you cannot fake joy and comradeship and we know they have ability.
 

Anyway, a huge win for Le Havre which took them up to fourth , they have back to back road games after today and will surely be hunting down the three points today and get Issam Chebake, Steven Fortes and Ghislain Gimbert (see above) back today, with greatly increased options and a chance to freshen up with regular starters. I expect them to win with a degree of comfort.
 

More of the same for Clermont, they look full of goals and will not be facing Farnolle today, I doubt that their issues at the other end of the pitch can be sorted out in a month let alone a week. The goal they conceded last week when they had eight men in the box and not one within five metres of the scorer following a save from their keeper even made me "angry" and I wanted goals in that game ! The next goal they allowed was almost as bad. Niort, as we have discussed before, are far more offensive minded than most give them credit for and when teams come looking for a shoot out, witness Nimes recently, they tend to oblige and surely we will see goals . Both teams have scored in the last three h2h meetings and that is the minimum I can see today.

 

1.5 units Le Havre -0.75 ball 2.11 asian line/Sportmarket.