Ligue 1 special: A look at newly-promoted Evian Thonon Gaillard FC
Evian Thonon Gaillard FC is one of the youngest clubs in French football that is based in the town of Gaillard which is near to the Swiss border.
L’Olympique Croix de Savoie 74 and another local club L’Olympique Thonon-Chablais merged to form Evian Thonon Gaillard. The merger became effective on July 1st, 2007. During the last season in which the Gaillard-based club won promotion to Ligue 1, several changes were seen at the club.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Patrick-c29254 Trotignon became the club’s CEO and the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu, Sebastien Bazin and Jacques Bungert became the shareholders of the club.
Parc des Sports, Annecy would see the Haute-Savoie club play in France’s topflight for the first time. The Rhone-Alpes-based club won the Championnat National to win promotion to the Ligue 1 and the club’s main task would be to maintain its topflight status before even thinking about making it big among the big boys of French football.
Last season, Evian beat Ajaccio by three points to the Championnat. However, things might not be as rosy for the Haute-Savoie club as they were last season.
Survival the key
Coach Bernard Casoni’s main aim would be to make a stable squad that can survive the rigours of Ligue 1 football. To reinforce the squad, Evian used intelligent recruitment techniques in order to make good signings on a tight budget.
Brazilian defender Claudio Cacapa has already left Evian and the club is looking for a good replacement. Reports suggest that Vitorino http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127 might consider joining TG this summer as he might get regular game time at the newly-promoted side.
Perhaps the two biggest signings made by the newly-promoted clubs were actually made by Evian. By signing former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 international Sydney Govou from Greek side Panathinaikos and Jerome Leroy from Stade Rennais, Evian have made a Mercato coup that would surely help the club a lot in the upcoming 2011/2012 Ligue 1 campaign.
Though the duo is at the twilight of their respective careers, Leroy and Govou would be a massive help for the younger players in the Evian squad and their experience would bring a lot of sanity to the dressing room that is naturally very excited at the prospect of playing in Ligue 1.
Lessons to learn
Casoni will do well to learn from the fate of Arles-Avignon who were relegated back to Ligue 2 after playing in Ligue 1 for just one season in the 2010/2011 campaign. The Highlanders have recently played four friendly games and have been quite impressive. Two good wins against Bastia and Nice must have given the young Evian side a lot of confidence ahead of the new campaign.
Probable starting XI for 2011/2012
Goalkeeper
Bertrand Laquait
Defenders
Guillaume Rippert, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Wass-c10100
Midfielders
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olivier-Sorlin-c28517, Mohammed Rabiu, Jerome Leroy
Strikers
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yannick-Sagbo-c37216, Kevin Berigaud, Sidney Govou
Player to watch: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sidney-Govou-c33474
Last season, Sidney Govou scored just one goal in 18 games for Panathinaikos. Although the 32-year-old has lost a lot of pace in recent years, his experience of playing in the topflight football for over 12 years would come in real handy as Evian look to defy all odds by staying in the Ligue 1 for a long time.
Govou was a part of the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 side that won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles and his abundant experience of playing in high-pressure games would be a great asset for Evian who will face a lot of tough opponents in their quest to stay away from the relegation zone next season.
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