Paris FC: Une Ambition Capitale

Michael We have many more but I have strengthened the team a bit since last update

ScottT Same here, I will be needing that extra money in cup play

For Manager Kévin Gauthier and his band of merry men the 2016/17 Preseason was a very successful time. It was a time of new beginnings for him and the boys as the bulk of the players have just joined the team after the season and in Gauthier's short time of being here.

The biggest surprise came against Greek Powerhouse Panathinaikos in a 1-0 victory. The key to the match was the visitors were playing with a weakened squad plus Gauthier was changing up tactics every 10 minutes confusing the opposition. The other matches saw PFC go 2-2-0 with victories over Aalst and Le Mans while drawing against Tarragona and Amiens.

Gauthier expressed his delight for the preseason while addressing local media during his weekly fire side chat,"We played very well and the guys adapted to the formations I have been training them on, I feel we are going to be ready for the upcoming cup match against Troyes and our league opener against Créteil."

In the world of transfers the club has added a few new faces to help in this current campaign. During the past nine days Centre Midfielder Apoño and Defender Quentin Othon joined on free transfers. Also FC Barcelona legend Carles Puyol joined as a scout.

Gauthier also announced that Defender Hervé Lybohy will take the captains armband this season. Lybohy was pleased that the manager trust him in such a huge role and that his teammates support and will be 100 percent behind him all season.

PFC will now have eleven days of no matches as they prepare for their first round battle with ESTAC Troyes in the Coupe de la Ligue. The match is set to take place in Troyes.

Oo look who was mentioned, none other than the Colchester manager himself. Class update as usual and Puyol as a scout, interesting!

Some really encouraging results there, particularly against Panathinaikos and Le Mans - you should stomp this league

ScottT Yeah I saw Puyol and said what the hell lets see if he will sign and holy shit he did. So far so good.

Jack Lets hope the season is an easy one

5 August 2016

Usually we do not cover the Championnat National in full or at all but when it comes to season previews we do always add the two or three clubs that were relegated and participate in the current seasons Coupe de la Ligue. Today we preview Paris Football Club.

INTRODUCTION:
Paris Football Club will be looking for a way to return to the Ligue de Football Professionnel after being relegated at the end of the 2015/16 Ligue 2 season. In their first season back to the LFP in decades the club finished dead last.

Last season saw two managers take control of the club. The most recent Jean-Luc Vasseur quit the team a day after the season had finished. It was a troubling time for Chairman Pierre Ferracci as his club was also in severe debt.
Vasseur left the club a huge void and now 34-year-old Kévin Gauthier has been brought in from New Caledonian side AS Mont-Dore to improve on his predecessor’s record.

It will be interesting because during the offseason the club saw tons of change with the roster. Several new players will have a shot at impressing their new manager.

WHAT HAS CHANGED FROM LAST SEASON:
Gauthier replacing Vasseur on the bench is obviously the biggest change from last season but PFC have had a huge turnover on the roster with twenty-five new faces three of which have joined since Gauthier took over in June.

Mehdi Tahrat and Tiécoro Keita have moved on, to Rival Red Star nonetheless. While several other players have left on frees and have found new homes. Thomas Martin, Apoño, Anthony Ribelin, Quentin Othon and Anthony Ribelin have replaced those departures. Also, one of Gauthier’s first signing was Eddy Lecygne.

The latter, a decently rated French youth product, joined on loan from English Premier side Stoke City until the end of the season but the other four will all form part of Gauthier’s new-look PFC that is based more on a strong collective than in previous seasons.

OBJECTIVES:
Anything less than at least a return to Ligue 2 this season will be deemed unacceptable and could land Gauthier in difficulty after less than a year in charge.

Although PFC’s board knows promotion is the main objective cup play is even more important. The club is needing to make up for the relegation back into the Championnat National so advancing in both cups is important. Especially in the Coupe de la Ligue as this is their final season of participation unless they return to the professional levels.

However, failing to win the Championnat National title would be considered a massive failure, so Gauthier must make sure his team is mentally and physically prepared into the long season to be in with a chance of keeping his new bosses happy.

PREDICTION:
The turnover from last season has Paris FC in a very uncertain light but with how well their preseason went for them and the new signings since Gauthier took over, I can easily see them as promotion favorites.
Barring an unforeseen catastrophe, Le PFC will return to Ligue 2 for the 2017/18 season. The question is, will they be able to stay healthy?

Strangely, the moves made by the French capital outfit this summer arguably make them stronger in league competition but raise questions if they can win in the higher leagues with such a small budget.

This will be the season that PFC spends its final season in the Championnat National. With the addition of Kévin Gauthier I have a feeling that they will be a stable club in the LFP for years to come.

TWENTY FIVE NEW SIGNINGS? Jesus! Good luck with the season ahead.

2017-03-20 04:29#240718 ScottT : TWENTY FIVE NEW SIGNINGS? Jesus! Good luck with the season ahead.

22 happened in real life but in game I only added three. I wanted to show how crazy the turnover the club had in real life during this past summer. Check this out. PFC Transfermarket

Paris FC Fans Celebrate Unexpected Shootout Victory

Publié le mardi 10 août 2016 à 9:23


Advancing to the second round of the Coupe de la Ligue, Paris FC knocked out Ligue 2 side ESTAC Troyes in what had been anticipated to be an easy match for Troyes. PFC’s offense wasted no time in roaring to life, taking a 1-0 lead before the first twenty minutes had elapsed. Troyes kept this game tense for the whole time until scoring in the 90th minute to force a shootout.

For Kévin Gauthier and Paris Football Club tonight was the beginning of their quest to return to Ligue 2 after being relegated at the end of the 2015/16 season. Despite the fact the Coupe de la ligue has no bearing on promotion his squad needed to be on point to prove they can still play with the big boys. This match had everything you would want in a cup match.

The beginning saw Gauthier use a 4-1-2-3 and his troops would come out firing as the match began. Later, his team would adjust and go into a counter attack style of play. In the 16th minute experienced midfielder Apoño gave the visitors the lead with a powerful shot into the lower right corner of the goal. Paris would adjust from counter to defensive for the remainder of the match.

After the half and a 1-0 lead disaster struck for PFC as two players went down with injuries within the first fifteen minutes of the match, both were defenders. “It was hard seeing two players go down within the first several minutes of the second half as we were holding on to a tight lead, I applaud Kévin for his composure and not making this into a crisis,” said head physio Loïc Le Blévennec.

As the 777 fans of Paris FC who traveled started to celebrate the upset young midfielder Mamadou Sissako would score the equalizer just before the referee had called to an end of the match. The shootout was just as tense as the game. The drums from the Paris Ultras suddenly stopped.........

In the shootout disaster struck early as Mathieu Robail missed his penalty but as luck would have it Henri Bienvenu missed his right after. With each score both sides were on the edge. Aloïs Confais would be the final person to make an attempt at the shootout and he kicked into the PFC keeper. Paris pull off the upset beating ESTAC Troyes in the shootout!!!

“This was a crazy match and I am proud that the players were able to win especially considering that we lost two key players at the start of the second half. The media had us as losers and I am so happy to prove them wrong and we are ready to focus on the next match. What more can I say other than the guys did what I asked them to do,” said Gauthier post-match. On the Robail miss he said, “I felt bad for Mathieu and I hope he can recover, I know he has been struggling a bit with high pressure situations but he will learn and overcome.”

Finally, when asked about the injury status of Quentin Othon, Gauthier said that he suffered a concussion and will be out day to day and will need to pass concussion protocol before returning.

With the victory over ESTAC Troyes Paris FC will now shift focus on Créteil to open the 2016/17 Championnat National season. The next round of the Coupe de la Ligue is set for a meeting with Athlétic Club Ajaccio in Paris. This will be another major test for the Parisian side.

Great win, that'll certainly give you a little bit of money as well I'm sure. Much needed I bet.

2017-03-20 13:33#240743 ScottT : Great win, that'll certainly give you a little bit of money as well I'm sure. Much needed I bet.

What is funny I had beat them 3-0 but the game crashed. I am totally cool with the way it turned out on the second attempt. It was nuts!!!

PAR Marc Roy|12 août, 2016|CLUB

With the first match of the 2016/17 season completed, Le PFC have won the season opener. After a shootout victory in the Coupe de la ligue, the Bleu marine et blanc added three points to their quest to return to Ligue 2. With the first matchday completed the club is currently sitting in eighth place in the Championnat National.

The club recorded a somewhat fortuitous win over US Créteil-Lusitanos on a warm summers evening in the capital. Full Back Romuald Marie gave the club the one and only goal in the 35th minute with a nice effort from 14 yards out. The rest of the match saw both sides struggling to have momentum and PFC ultimately won when the final whistle blew.


Several players made their home debuts including our manager Kévin Gauthier who recorded his first win as a manager in France. Lalaïna Nomenjanahary was one of the key players tonight that helped secure the cleansheet for keeper Paul Charruau.

Paris FC will travel to face Avranches on the 19th in league play. They will return to Stade Charléty on the 23rd for a date against Ajaccio in the Second Round of the Coupe de la Ligue.


Manager Kévin Gauthier
On overall thoughts of the game…
“Overall, it was a step in the right direction. It was good to see Romauld Marie score and there were some good performances but still not enough good performances. I felt that there were some problems from what I have seen over the past month and I am looking to address them before the next match.You need good performances from everyone in this league to win games. That includes making plays in and around the box and we did not do that enough.”

On Demba Camara’s performance…

“It was good. I thought he and Jonathan (Nanizayamo) played well together. The game comes easy to Demba…it makes sense to him and he makes everyone around him better. The thing is I was shocked to see him miss some easy chances tonight. I am not sure if it was nerves or what?”

Midfielder Apoño
On the overall result...
"It wasn’t how we wanted to win but a win is a win; it's difficult when you don’t win easily. Most of us joined the club in the past few months. You know how it goes; these things can turn and swivel. You just can't abandon what you're about and what you believe in. I believe there are good pieces in this room and it's just a tough start. Like last year, we'd rather have a tough start than when it counts. Obviously, we're not planning for this--we're not planning for a slow start, but it's happened. We've got to embrace it and keep moving forward...keep working and (the positives) will come. I feel that a few more weeks and this club will be a more cohesive group."

Attacker Demba Camara
On finishing and creating chances...
"Finishing; that's another thing. If we're not creating, I would be a little worried, but we're creating a decent amount of chances, they're just not going in. Today, the goalkeeper made some unbelievable saves to keep us from scoring more and we just were a bit off target at times, but those things will correct themselves. Frustrating? Yeah, but we're all professionals and we've got to fight on."

Very nice update mate, enjoying this so far. Good start to the season as well, personally think you'll overachieve and go up.

2017-03-20 16:39#240749 ScottT : Very nice update mate, enjoying this so far. Good start to the season as well, personally think you'll overachieve and go up.

Thanks, I hope to overachieve but will need to tread carefully for when I move back to Ligue 2

With pre-season out of the way, it was time to get the competitive season underway, for the management and players knowing that a good start was needed to build the foundations for a successful campaign. It was a very exciting yet mixed month for PFC. During the five matches the club would go 3-0-2. This included both league and cup play.

August began with the start of the Coupe de la Ligue. In this match PFC fought hard and had to win in dramatic fashion as the result was decided in a shootout. After that match the club began league play with a 1-0 victory over US Créteil-Lusitanos. This would-be Gauthier’s first victory ever in French league play. Things would get rough as the club dropped their next two results, losing 1-0 to Avranches and 3-1 to Ajaccio in the Second Round of the Coupe De la Ligue. Finally, against US Concarnoise Le PFC picked up three points in a 1-0 win.

Paris Football club are currently sitting in eighth place with six points.

In his monthly conversation with reporters Kévin Gauthier discussed in length his opinion on the first month of play. “It was a pretty decent month with some great victories in the Coupe de la Ligue but in league play things were mixed, despite getting six out of nine points I felt that our finishing was atrocious and it needs to be fixed. The players know that and I hope they can improve in September.”

INJURY REPORT:
Only one to report this month. The first Eddy Lecygne will be out for two to three months due to a double hernia that was suffered during a training session. “I am very upset this happened and I hope that I can come back stronger when it is time,” said Lecygne about his injury. His status for staying with the club is unknown at this point as Stoke City might want him back with them to recover.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:
For the month of August Attacking Midfielder Anthony Ribelin is awarded the first Player of the Month award. In his five starts this month he scored two goals and averaged a 6.98 match rating. The key play came in the 90th minute against Concarnoise when he scored the game winner. Despite the fact he did not have the highest rating and that goes to Apoño with a 7.38 rating, Anthony’s two goals help win a match and got the club a respectable score against Ajaccio.

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN SEPTEMBER:
The first thing is that the transfer window will be shut at 12 midnight on 1 September. The club has said they are still looking for possible player to join by the deadline. September will be the first full month of Championnat National matches. The club begins the month with a trip to Le Petit-Quevilly to face US Quevilly Rouen Métropole. They will finish the month traveling to Sedan on the 30th.Other matches include Marseille Consolat, Pau Football Club and Lyon-Duchère.