Stade Malherbe Caen: May + End of season statistics 2011

So here we are again, continuing on the 2010/11 season of Stade Malherbe Caen. To sum up the season so far we’ve had a shaky form but of late we managed to get things on course and even notched up 7 straight wins. At this point we’re in second place, on the same points as leaders Lyon but they’ve got 2 matches less played.

The matches of May

4 games with some difficulty in 2 of those at least. Bordeaux and Lille are both capable of damaging my hopes of  first place.

First up: SMC — Bordeaux  3 — 2 (Figueroa, Guarin, Rodriguez)

It was a tense game right from the start and both teams were out to attack. After 9 minutes the first great chance came and it fell to Bordeaux. Wendel turned around at the leftback and played it in for Gourcuff who one touched the ball to an onrunning Chamakh who went round Kryvtsov on the inside and fired a snapshot close to Thebeaux who couldn’t react in time. 0-1. 10 minutes later we could attack from our right wing. Russotto played it up for Figueroa who had found some space on the wing. He then turned inside and found Rodriguez. The Colombian didn’t hold on to it though and insted released a deep pass back to the Argentinian who had taken a perfect run into the penalty box and with the ball he did what Chamakh did and cut inside and curled the ball into the far corner. Simply beautiful 1-1! Bordeuax did get back infront again after a Gouffran header. 1-2. Then came the Colombian show..  Guarin took charge in midfield and didn’t miss a pass and won the ball back a few times.  Just a few minutes after Gouffrans goal Caen showed prowess. Guarin had some space after a pass from Kakuta and cooly got closer Bordeaux area before he released a cracker of a shot that curled into the right hand side of he goal. Then only moments later Rodriguez dribbled in the center of their half and suddenly tried a surpirse long range effort and it thundered in off the crossbar. Probably the goal of the season for us. 3-2 and this was all in the first half!  Second half didn’t contain anything of importance and we secured a vital win this late in the campaign.

Nancy  Lorraine — SMC 3 — 3  (Bracigliano o.g, Yatabaré, Morientes)

I knew this was going to be a tricky match as before when I’ve met Nancy they always came away with a good result. First half was a tight contest and we came away the winners with a late own goal from kepper Bracigliano 0-1. The second half would prove to be a totally different story. Even though we managed to go 2-0 through a Yatabaré header from close range Brison could quickly reduce the damage done by scoring just 2 minutes later. 2-1. Issar Dia then scored to draw Nancy level and the game was re-opened. 2-2. Morientes had been given a rare chance and repaid me by scoring our third of the evening, 3-2. But then in the dying minutes of the game Nancy got back to equalise the scoreline to 3-3. We lose it in overtime once again and I can’t see what I’m doing wrong. This time we took a defensive approach and tried to clear the ball out the flanks. Their last goal was a long range cracker and I guess it can’t really be helped. If any of you have any godd advice give then please share them with me.

SMC — Grenoble  0 — 0

A boring game with only a few decent attempts on goal. We lose points again and risk losing out on our CL place.

Lille — SMC  1 — 2 (Figueroa, Russotto)

The last game of the season was here and Lille stood for the entertainment. They were all over the pitch and we had trouble getting forward. We did however take the lead after a good counter attack started by Kakuta. Morientes played the target man and tracked back to meet up with the long pass from Kakuta. Morientes fed Yatabaré who instantly found Figueroa who then cooly rounded the keeper and placed the ball in the net. 0-1! Kakuta was also behind our second goal when he threaded a superb pass right trough their team from the left side to the right. Russotto was on the recieving end and he too kcontrol of the ball and started dribble infront of their back four and then rounded their last man and turned inside and fired low underneath outrushing Landreau. 0-2! This was the only real chances we had in the whole game so we were lucky that our effectivity was on a high. Second half was all about Lille and they scored rather quickly through Kana-Biyik 1-2! Lille would get there chance back in the game when they were awarded a spotkick. Thebeaux save the day for us on that occasion and we have him to thank for the 3 points this time. We have secured 2nd place in Ligue 2!!

Even though we drew two games at the end we still managed to secure the second place and we could’ve actually took home the ligue 1 throphy if we’d won all our games. But as I said before, it just would be satisfactory to win when the season is on a real low. I’m thrilled to get to play in the Champions league this early on though and I’m expecting a rather large transfer kitty thanks to this.

Here’s some other stats:

Luciano Figueroa had a wonderful season and managed to even become Top European Goalscorer. This is the guy who hadn’t managed to score more than handful goals each season for his older clubs. Fantastic!

Looking at my players stats overall I’m happy with Yatabaré, Kryvtsov and Figueroa of course. But Kakuta and Rodriguez had both great seasons, especially looking at their tender age. Rodriguez really picked it up midway through the season and was very successful in the AMC position. Thebeaux was also much better in the latter part of this season helping the team on various important occasions. Pape Diakhité, Verkhovtsev and Dady were largely dissappointing and will most likely be sold. We need new strikers a right winger to compete with Russotto and a few defenders. Most importantly we need a much better Goalkeeper.

Thanks for reading guys the post with the signings and pre-season will be up tomorrow night,

Majk