Some news and tidbits, and a short preview: Lorient v Auxerre

By: Nick | August 29th, 2008

Hey everone – I’ve got a quick news round-up for you:

Julien Quercia stated in an interview with the official AJ Auxerre website that he has a contusion of the sciatic nerve on his knee and will be out for around 2 weeks. Missing players due to injury is never a good thing because it depletes your bench and your options and I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

Thomas Kahlenberg and Jeremy Berthod are still unavailable. The latter will be back sometime duing mid-October. Auxerre could be searching for a quick fix as rumours of acquiring either Florian Marange (Bordeaux) or Damien Tixier (Le Havre) have surfaced in the past weeks. Both Pignot and Lejenue, though both would be playing out of position, can fill in at left-back as they do have some previous experience at the position. I say we may as well wait. With one month to go before the supposed return of Berthod there is no point in making an investment for such a short period of time (3-5 games), especially if one considers the Ligue 1 season is 38 games long. As coach Jean Fernandez cooly put it to French daily Ouest-France:

“The league is a marathon.

“I will use as an example Strasbourg, who started last season very well but ended up being relegated.

“Others start badly and finish a lot better. The season is 38 matches long, we are only at the fourth weekend. We mustn’t go overboard.”

Right on Jean. If by the 10th game les Auxerrois are still underperforming, then we can start looking at things from this less-than-optimistic perspective.

And now for my short preview of this weekend’s matchup: Auxerre, though with a few injuries, will bounce back and beat Lorient 3-2. Lorient had a more dismal 3-1 loss against Valenciennes last time out and looked sluggish. This is AJA’s chance to grab a much-needed 3 points.

Finally, as a side note, if you haven’t heard yet The Offside and the World Cup Blog have a new forum! Look up or share some of your opinions on Ligue 1, France, rumours, etc. Check it out!

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