Football Season Guide

Coming off a rather disappointing two-faced season, which eventually saw them ending up in the midtable, over the summer AJ Auxerre tried to retain all that was good from the past campaign. Therefore, Pablo Correa, the Uruguayan coach who had made his name at Nancy arrived in December and dragged them out of the 17th standing, was confirmed at the helm. Adaptation will be the key word for the new campaign. In fact, during the new season, the players will be asked to adopt several different tactical systems, shifting from 4-3-3 to 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, depending on the opponents of the day or the needs of the match. The transfer campaign was not an overly busy one for AJ Auxerre as they opted to maintain the back-bone of the squad from the past season. The likes of Zacharie Boucher in goal, Mickael Tacalfred in defence, Jordan Adeoti in the middle and Romain Philippoteaux and Mohamed Yattara in the attack were all confirmed also for the new campaign and this was certainly good news. Especially for Romain Philippoteaux, who had particularly impressed in the past season. For sure, the main changes are expected to be made up-front. Florian Aye, François-Xavier, Fumu Tamuzo Ivan Firer and, most importantly, Pape Sane and Ibrahima Sangare, who all enjoyed relevant playing time and contributed with goals and assists in the past campaign, were all let go. On the other hand, the promising Yanis Merdj, who did well while at Bourg-en-Bresse, and Romain Montiel, who earned himself a recall from his parent club after a successful stint at Chambly in the Championnat National, were the new signings. As for the other departments, the 21-year-old Carlens Arcus, at right-back, and Loïc Goujon, in the midfield, obtained more permanent deals but, without any doubt, the most interesting arrival is represented by Daniel Mancini, who was a protagonist for Tours in the past campaign and will arrive on loan from Girondins de Bordeaux. The Argentinean could truly become a protagonist in the middle of the park.