Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise

2016/2017 Season Preview



Paris Saint-Germain
2014/15: Champions
Manager: Laurent Blanc
Captain: Thiago Silva
Key players: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Memphis Depay, Marek Hamsik, Asmir Begovic
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Iker Muniain (£51m from Athletic), Nuri Sahin (£26,6m from Dortmund), Wellington Nem (£11,5m from Shakhtar)
OUT: Edinson Cavani (£33,5m to Real Madrid), Yuto Nagatomo (£8,5m to Arsenal), Jeison Murillo (£7,25m to Napoli)



AS Monaco
2014/15: 7th
Manager: Erick Mombaerts
Captain: Jérémy Toulalan
Key players: João Moutinho, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Pione Sisto, Stefan de Vrij
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Junior Malanda (£16,25m from Wolfsburg), Dorian Pabón (£7.5m from Monterrey), Semih Kaya (£7,25m from Tottenham)
OUT: Pavel Kaderabek (£13,5m to Napoli), Serge Aurier (£10,25m to Juventus), Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (£2,9m to Saint-Étienne)



Olympique de Marseille
2014/15: 2nd
Manager: Quique Flores
Captain: Steve Mandanda
Key players: Luciano Acosta, Dória, Ramires, Gianneli Imbula
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Luciano Acosta (£2,4m from Boca), Eran Zahavi (£1,7m from Maccabi Tel-Aviv)
OUT: André-Pierre Gignac (on loan to Rennes)



Olympique Lyonnais
2014/2015: 8th
Manager: Paco Ayestarán
Captain: Maxime Gonalons
Key players: Samuel Umtiti, Clément Grenier, Yoann Gourcuff, Kim Seung-Gyu
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Sebastian Giovinco (£6m from Juventus), Sebastián Coates (£5,5m from Southampton), Óliver Torres (on loan from Atlético de Madrid)
OUT: Alexandre Lacazette (£15,25m to Man City), Alisson (£6,25m to Sassuolo), Clinton N'Jié (£800k to Le Havre)



LOSC Lille
2014/15: 4th
Manager: René Girard
Captain: Rio Mavuba
Key players: Vincent Enyeama, Sébastien Corchia, Simon Kjær, Alan
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Paul-José Mpoku (£4,1m from Standard), Marek Suchy (£2m from Basel), Luc Castaignos (free transfer from Twente)
OUT: -



Saint-Étienne
2014/15: 6th
Manager: Elie Baup
Captain: Moustapha Bayal
Key players: Stéphane Ruffier, Franck Tabanou, Romain Hamouma, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (£2,9m from Monaco), Luis Caballero (£2m from Atlas), Pierre Bengtsson (£925k from Randers)
OUT: -



Stade Rennais
2014/15: 5th
Manager: Jean Fernandez
Captain: Romain Danzé
Key players: Benoît Costil, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Cheik M'Bengué, Benjamin André
Major transfers in/out:
IN: André-Pierre Gignac (on loan from Marseille), Kurt Zouma (on loan from Chelsea)
OUT: Paul-Georges Ntep (£6,5m to Auxerre)



Girondins Bordeaux
2014/15: 14th
Manager: Willy Sangol
Captain: Lamine Sané
Key players: Cédric Carrasso, Anthony Martial, Yonathan Cabral, Hadi Sacko
Major transfers in/out:
IN: Florian Tardieu (£3,1m from Sochaux), Paul Lasne (£3m from Montpellier), Francisco Cerro (£1,8m from Racing Club)
OUT: Wahbi Khazri (£4,9m to Norwich), Cheick Diabaté (£3,4m to Celtic)

Transfers 2016/2017

In



Screens of Fosu, Hysaj, Ongenda and Ntep are on the previous page.







Out



As already mentioned winger Frédéric Sammaritano left on free transfer to Ajax. I also decided to release Ruben Aguilar who went on to sign for Nancy in Ligue 2. 6 more players from the reserves team were also released.


Even though Goldaniga was our captain and a future star centre back I felt the offer for him was too good to turn down. No one in this team are irreplaceable and bringing in Mathoho from Sunderland for only £275k looks like an absolute steal. And the money from the Goldaniga deal will be spent wisely in finding new young talents to the club.

Mathoho is a proper lighthouse at the back.

Ntep is a nice signing too.

He certainly is standing 198cm above the ground. I imagine there won't be many in Ligue 1 who'll beat him in the air.

To get 20.5M for Goldaniga is fantastic Good incoming signings as well.

Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with that.

Love the team presentation!

Glad you like it. I wouldn't mind hearing some opinions on the squad from you guys!

Liking the new layout Jonas

Thank you. Hopefully the performances this season will be just as good.

Ligue 1 - 2016/2017 Season



Half-way through the season and we have only picked up where we left last season. We are a firmly established top side in Ligue 1 now, and have for the last 1,5 seasons proven that we are side to be reckoned with. The loss against Le Havre just shouldn't have happened and the Lille game could have gone either way with Ryan Mendes da Graça scoring the winner for them in injury time. We made some adjustments to the away tactic after those two games and from there on and out went on a truly magnificent run of games.



I thought we were bound for another run of poor form before Christmas for the second year running, when we only picked up two points combined at home to Rennes and Troyes and were up for an inevitable loss against the superior PSG in Paris. Or so I thought. For 35 minutes.



Although we over the years have become somewhat of a nemesis of PSG, Memphis Depay has always been in lethal form against us. This match started off no different as he added two more to his account against us. PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi was probably heading home already with a big grin on his face. Little did he know of what was yet to come. Lead by an absolutely brilliant Abeiku Quansah we played what probably is the best 60 minutes of football I have witnessed so far in my Auxerre career and managed to turned around their 2-0 lead...



What a moment!


Top 10 in Ligue 1 half-way through the season. PSG are still topping but only with 3 points compared to their almost invincible last season. As things stand it looks like it will be a 'three-horse' race between PSG, Lyon and us. Having finished 6th and 8th for the last two season, the former rulers of France Lyon are back at the top of the league again. The signings of Oliver (Atlético) and Giovinco (Juve) together with the rock at the back in Umtiti have contributed massively to just that.

I must say I'm a little disappointed by the lack of quality in the league, as I would have expected it to be harder to become a top side in France. The so-called big clubs such as Marseille, Monaco, Lille, Bordeaux, St. Etienne aren't very consistent and their transfer dealings haven't exactly been the best.
Winning awards is always a good feeling.





What's this man made of? 33 and still improving. A true fan hero!



I'll return with an update of how it went out in Europe soon. So stay tuned people.

Nice team presentation! You've got quite a few quick players, and I REALLY like those full backs, Hysaj and Castelletto. And Gragnic - what a player!

Great win over PSG!

I really like Kubista, the midfielder. He looks class.

That's a great run of results!

Quansah Superb start and hopefully you can keep it up!

Cheers! I haven't really thought of it but now that you mention it yeah I guess I have got quite a pacey squad haha. Yeah, I'm really happy with my fullbacks and they play an important role in how we want to play out from the back.


He is class indeed. Brought him to the club for £2M - looks like a robbery now. Porto and Juventus are interested.


Yet we keep losing to sides like Le Havre and Troyes.


He has said he wants to play in a 'better' league now that Braga of Portugal have shown interest in signing him. Hopefully we can keep him here as he is trained in France. Hope so! I certainly wouldn't mind knocking PSG off their perch.

Europa League 2016/2017



I said earlier that the Europa League group stages are not as competitive as it could have been on FM due to poor decision making from the AI, and it proved to be true. I didn't really struggle in any of the games and it was all a stroll really. We qualified for the knockout stages with two games in hand even. Must say I'm quite surprised it's FC København that will join us to the next round as I felt they were the weakest of the teams. Inter are still a complete mess though which might explain their bottom finish.


The draw for the next round has been made and we are up against Newcastle! A Newcastle side that finished 2nd on goal difference behind Metalist in their group with FC Thun and Maccabi Haifa as the two other teams. They are struggling big time domestically though, sitting 15th in the Premier League after 18 games - which led to the sacking of Alan Pardew meaning they are currently without a manager. Should we beat the Magpies we are up against the winner of Elfsborg - Dinamo Moscow. Can't say the draw so far hasn't been favourable! Clubs such as Arsenal, Zenit, Porto, Dortmund, Bayern München, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia are also in the competition.

Gave some of the youngsters a run in the first team as soon as we had qualified for the next round. Adel Toumi is something special.

Not a bad wee player that kid, he's no Guillaume Henry of course, but then, who is?

I'll be diplomatic and say let the time tell. Hopefully I'll stick around long enough to show you a screenshot of Toumi bossing world football in 5 years time.

January transfers 2017



Our only January transfer. Felt we needed some better cover on the left back so brought in Haidara on loan from our upcoming Europa League opponent. Some future transfers have been arranged also.



Khouma Babacar is still only on loan and André Senghor isn't getting any younger so very happy to bring in Cerri for the next season.



Two African prospects, Diaby joining from feeder ASEC.





Transfers out

Losing players to the African Cup of Nations is something you have to deal with having a bunch of Africans in your team. Thankfully we're not the only side losing players to the tournament as this is Ligue 1. Surprised Sid Ahmed Aouedj and Youcef Belaïli didn't get picked by Algeria but I'm not complaining.



With a record of 57-12-7 for the last two seasons the almost unbeatable PSG side are starting to show they are only human. They even spent £35M more on Erik Lamela and Joel Campbell in the January transfer window, and as you can see that didn't help them.



Our results:



Including a terrific away to Lyon who were 2nd halfway through the season.



Five on the trot. \o/



Which gives us this pleasing league table. Top of the league! And there to stay I hope...

Genuinely hope you can stay top of the league Surprised to see Inter finished bottom

Good luck! Beating PSG for the title really would be quite something!

Europa League first knockout round against Newcastle and this happens. What the actual fuck?! Haha!







Obviously the return leg was only a formality. 16 year-old Momar Keita from our academy got his professional debut.



As expected Dinamo Moskva beat Elfsborg which means we are bound for a trip to Moscow for the next round.

Did the Newcastle manager get sacked after that result?

Holy shit!

He bloody better have ffs. Impressive result though, especially away from home.

As I wrote earlier Newcastle had just sacked Alan Pardew due to poor form in the league when the draw was made. They then hired Gary Bowyer who'd just been given the boot by Southampton. Before the humiliation against us he had taken them from 15th to 9th so I guess that's why he survived. I honestly don't know what happened there.

Think you could save the .pkm? Would love to have a look at it.