15 days ago after the sad draw against Laval (0-0), the president of Paris FC Pierre Ferracci did not hide his disappointment in the locker room from the players. Last Saturday, in the crowded stands of the Jean-Marc Salinier stadium in Les Ulis, he had found a smile after the qualification without trembling (3-1) of his team in the Coupe de France. This season with Paris FC, we are used to the roller coaster, with no continuity from one week to the next. Its result curve is edifying: four games without a win in a row at home interspersed with four consecutive successes away from home (including the Coupe de France).
Pierre Ferracci, who did not wish to speak before this necessarily special match on his Corsican lands in Bastia, made an appointment during the truce of the World Cup. An assessment of this first part of the season which was far from meeting expectations, will be carried out by the management of Paris FC. It is clear that the last two league games (Bastia and Metz) will weigh heavily in the thinking. After the World Cup, a new championship will start and the PFC will recover several injuries (Paul Lasne, Khalid Boutaïb and Ousmane Kante) who should change the face of the team. By their involvement, their leadership in the locker room, Boutaïb and Kanté, seriously injured at the end of last season, were inevitably missed. The question remains to know in which part of the table Paris FC will re-attack its season after Christmas. It should not be missed in Bastia and against Metz.
Inevitably still under pressure, Thierry Laurey wants to stay the course. “Between 10th place and 5th or 6th place where we would like to be, there is still a delta that we have to erase, he believes. Our weakness at home is costing us dearly. However, we do everything to ensure that the packaging is the same. But outside, we manage to be more compact, more serious. I’m willing to admit that we’re not great, but we’re not bad either. Even if it’s mostly our fault, there are still things that haven’t always worked out in our favor. I’ll make a parenthesis on arbitration: unfortunately, in Ligue 2, it’s always a little tricky. I don’t want to shoot the referees because it’s too easy, but you have to recognize that there are decisions that are made from one game to another that are still amazing! »
“It’s a historic club that is being reborn”
In Furiani where Bastia remains on three big games (victories against Dijon and Metz, draw against Bordeaux), Paris FC will have to know how to respond to the intensity put in by the Corsican team. In the context (commitment, atmosphere), this match resembles the one in Saint-Étienne where the Parisians had their best performance (2-0) this season on October 15th. “If we take one point it’s good, three it would be superb, believes Laurey. Bastia is pushed by an audience that makes them jump up. It is a historic club that is being reborn. It works well. Each season, there is always a good surprise in L2. Bastia can be this outsider, I’m sure. »
The Parisians will have to be wary in particular of the reunion with Migouel Alfarela. Confined to the role of super-sub last season by Laurey, the striker transferred in June during the transaction with Julien Le Cardinal who took the opposite path has become one of Furiani’s darlings. He has already scored 2 goals and delivered 4 assists. Stats superior to most Paris FC attackers since the start of the season… In the attacking department, the Parisian club extended Warren Caddy’s contract (2025) this week after that of Morgan Guilavogui (2024).
Match sheet
SC BASTIA – PARIS FC, Saturday (7 p.m.), Furiani stadium. Referee: Mr. Benchabane.
Paris FC : Demarconnay or Filipovic – The Cardinal, Chergui, Dabila, Lefort, Hadjam – Phiri, Iglesias, Mandouki (cap.) – Caddy, Gory. Rempl. : Filipovic comes from Demarconnay, Nkambadio (g.), Teacher, Bernauer, Hanin, Kebbal, Chahiri, Lopez, Guilavo. Entr. : Laurey.
Absent. Lasne, Ndiaye (recovery), Core, Gueho, Oualengbe (choice), Hamel, Boutaib, Kante (convalescence).
