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ArseWeb presents: Arsenal vs Auxerre
Total record
02/03/1995 HOME D 1 - 1 Cup Winners-Cup quarter-final 1st leg
16/03/1995 AWAY W 1 - 0 Cup Winners-Cup quarter-final 2nd leg
02/10/2002 AWAY Champs League stage 1 match 3
22/10/2002 HOME Champs League stage 1 match 4
Auxerre facts
- Stadium: Stade Abbé-Deschamps (capacity 24,000)
- JFD's Auxerre factfile (from our French correspondent)
(written for Champs League games 2002)
The club: L' Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise was originally a youth club founded in 1905 by Father Deschamps, hence the name of the stadium.
Honours:
Division One champions : 1996
Division Two champions : 1980
Coupe de France winners : 1994, 1996 ; runners-up : 1979
Coupe Gambardella (Youth Cup) winners : 1982, 85, 86, 93, 99, 2000
With a limited budget, it' s a bit of a surprise they play first roles at top level year in year out. It' s all down to their youth system (youth teams win their respective leagues more than often and half the current squad were trainees at the club) and to...
... their manager. Whereas AW is mild-mannered and smart, shrewd Guy Roux moans and groans, is always shouting at his players from the touchline and wears a ski-hat. But AJA is inseparable from his name he is the coach of since 1961 while they played in a regional amateur league. He returned to 'his' club after he was on a sabbatical in 2000/01 and led them last season to a CL qualificative spot for the first time in the history of the club. They won Boavista in the preliminary round (1-0 away, 0-0 at home thanks to their GK)
Guy Roux (who said last Saturday that Arsenal was "the best team in the world") has set a new record by celebrating his 785th game in charge in the top flight. He reverted last season from his traditional 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 formation. This year, Auxerre play more of a 4-2-3-1 in order to fit the attacking duo Kapo - Cissé and, like Arsène, GR insists on every team at the club to play in a similar tactical scheme. AJA are much more dangerous away from home, relying on a strong defence and a pair of gritty but unimaginative central midfielders and playing swift counter-attacks. They never conceded more than one goal at home in a European game.
Probable team (full squad listing on the uefa website :
Cool - Radet, Mexès, Boumsong, Jaurès - Tainio, Faye - Lachuer, Kapo, Fadiga - Cissé/Benjani
- Fabien Cool, 30 yr. He is the last of a long line of homegrown goalkeepers (Bats, Martini, Charbonnier) and was in the posts when we played Auxerre at Highbury under the rain in '95.
- Johan Radet, 25yr is the right full-back. Not the best crosser of the ball but that' s not very important as he' s reluctant at going forward.
- Philippe Mexès, 20yr is described as the new Laurent Blanc (well, the Blanc who wore the Bleus' shirt, not the one now at OT). He has already acquired a fine palmares, see his personal website for further details.
- Jean-Alain Boumsong, 22yr is a Liverpool former target who joined AJA from Le Havre 2 years ago. A France u-21 regular on the verge to get a full cap soon, he links well with Mexès. Both are tall and very good in the air.
- Left-back Jean-Sébastien Jaurès, 25yr is more offensive-minded than Radet. Both full-backs look a bit 'lightweight' for CL opponents.
- Yann Lachuer, 30yr is AJA talented playmaker. Both him on the right and Kapo on the left spend most of their time close to the touchlines although he is much more influential in the centre of midfield. He rarely lose the ball and prefers to play short passes, the opposite of ...
- ... Finnish int' l Teemu Tainio, 22yr who is an adept to the route one game. Hoofing long balls up in the air and rather poor distribution are his trademark.
- Olivier Kapo, 22yr, newly capped for France. The left-footed offensive midfielder/forward supports and turns around Cissé he plays alongside since they are 17.
- Khalilou Fadiga, 26yr. The Senegalese left-footed player' s main asset is his speed.
- Djibril Cissé, 21yr is the star of the team. A calm and sensible guy, he is a close friend of SW11 he shares his room with when on international duty. He always has an eye at goal, shoots at every opportunity and is very quick and powerful. Last season joint topscorer with 22 goals in 29 league games, he is at his best when running at deep balls. Not yet the finished article as he must improve his heading and left foot.
- Should he not play, the lone striker spot will be given to 24 year-old Zimbabwean Benjani Mwaruwari who joined AJA from Grasshoppers Zürich this summer. An opportunist forward, he' s more than an adequate replacement for Cissé and has already scored 7 goals in 8 games.
- The fans : Gooners had been much appreciated when we first met them in 1995 in the ECWC. No troubles expected as they don' t count 'ultra hardcore moronic' fans. Don' t forget to taste the local white wine Chablis.
Links :
The club' s official site : http://www.aja.fr/index.htm
http://ajauxerre.phidji.com/
http://ajauxerre.free.fr/
http://membres.lycos.fr/gilguil/A/introforzaaja.html
and a very interesting forum (in french) here.
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