It’s the end of the state of grace for AS Saint-Etienne. The Greens had won their first five matches of the season in Ligue 2, scoring at least three goals each time. But the great series came to an end on Saturday evening in Dunkirk.
While they were leading the score from Augustine Boakye’s goal (0-1, 43rd), the ForĂ©ziens were surprised by supersonic strikes from Khalil Ayari (1-1, 52nd) and Souleymane Keita (2-1, 58th).
“It was a strange match in a certain sense, reacted Saint-Etienne coach Ian Cathro. We know that we must do much better, we did not deliver the performance that we should deliver. We notably lacked precision and we will have to review this part to identify the gaps. (…) We didn’t have the same consistency as in our previous matches and we let the opponent believe it. Dunkerque did things well and deserves credit for that. »
No panic among the Greens
For the Greens, we will retain for the moment the accident theory. Ian Cathro indeed invites us not to call into question everything that has been done well since the start of the championship, even if this defeat could serve as a reminder.
“This is a moment in our season where we must not fall into drama. Dunkirk scored two extraordinary goals. We have to stay measured and understand what happened to continue to improve. Not because we lost tonight, but because our job is to improve gradually, constantly. This is the lesson we must learn. Football is like that, you have to work calmly to continue to progress. Our work remains the same and our goal is long term. It was a football game and sometimes they look like that. We must learn from this and move forward. »
