Evian’s season started badly, stayed pretty bad, looked to get a lot worse, rallied, and then ended with an almost unbearable hope, touching distance of European competition, before those hopes were dashed. After a top-half finish in 2011/12, this time they were hovering in and around the relegation zone for most of the season, their run in the Coupe de France almost dreamlike; they stayed up, but they just could not hold on to beat Bordeaux in the cup final. Maybe beating PSG on penalties in the quarter-final was enough; or beating Lorient 4-0 in the next round. But the final, where they twice dragged it back to parity, soaking up the pressure, before losing to a last-minute winner, was the rude awakening.
Evian ended in 16th on 40 points, with ten wins, ten draws, and eighteen defeats. Only twice did they put together back-to-back wins in the league, and each involved at least one startling result – a 5-1 hammering of Sochaux was followed by a 2-1 win away at Lille; a 4-0 hammering of Nice followed by a win to Valenciennes. Despite pulling off some other good results (2-2 against Saint-Etienne, beating Rennes home and away) they failed to beat those around them, drawing at home to Reims, Ajaccio and Nancy, and losing key away games to Nancy and Troyes that made them relegation contenders before a late rally was enough to see them safe. This inconsistency must be massively frustrating for their fans, but in a strange way it contributed to some of the highest highlights of the season; unexpected goal-fests in the league, and dogged determination in the cup.
As in 2011/12, when an on-pitch fight broke out when Evian played at Montpellier, they were again involved in unedifying scenes involving the champions-to-be when, not long after beating PSG in the cup, they welcomed the Parisians to Annecy in an encounter which saw some great saves, last-ditch-defending, one goal (Pastore) and a flurry of red cards. Their fairplay position was equal to their final league position, neither of them good.
L’Equipe rate goalkeeper Bernard Laquait as Evian’s best player, which is often the case with a bottom-half club. He certainly kept them alive in the league, and the cup, making several key saves in both PSG matches, including Ibra’s penalty. However, player of the year must be top scorer Saber Khlifa, his 13 goals including the almost-impossible goal-of-the-season lob from within his own half against Nice. He notched a hat-trick against Montpellier, braces in the heavy defeats of Sochaux and Nice, and other important goals such as against Lille, and in the cup quarter-final to see off the mighty PSG (he also scored his penalty in the shootout).
Evian will need to rebuild this summer – stalwarts such as Cedric Barbosa (37 – and with eight goals, the second top-scorer) and Olivier Sorlin (34) will not be able to go on forever, and Khlifa is at the centre of many transfer rumours. Pascal Dupraz’ bullish attitude will need some help from reinforcements if Evian are to try combining 2013′s cup run with 2012′s top-half finish, and giving the fans more sweet dreams in the future.
FINAL POSITION: 16th
Review by @Philby1976