Coupe de France: Saint-Etienne, eliminated by Nîmes, plunges deeper into crisis

Nothing is going well for AS Saint-Étienne. Already in difficulty in Ligue 2 with a series of five consecutive defeats which cost Laurent Batlles his place, the Greens experienced a new setback this Saturday during the 8th round of the Coupe de France. The Greens were knocked out at Geoffroy-Guichard (0-1) by the thirteenth National club, Nîmes. It was midfielder Mathis Picouleau who scored the only goal of the match, in the 19th minute, sending the Gard club to the 32nd final at the start of January.

The Stéphanois, eliminated from the Coupe de France during this 8th round, fell further into crisis. ASSE, which aims to return to the elite, is only 8th in the Ligue 2 standings. This season, after two inaugural defeats, the Greens went on a series of ten matches without defeat which for a time lifted them to 2nd place in the ranking.

But the Saint-Etienne club has just suffered five defeats in a row, including three at home, the last on Tuesday evening against Guingamp on the 17th day. After this new setback and the sidelining of coach Laurent Batlles, it is Laurent Huard, director of the training center, who is now in charge of the interim.

During the 8th round of the Coupe de France, two other L2 clubs have also fallen for the moment: Ajaccio, beaten by Orléans (Nat., 2-1), and Dunkirk, ousted on penalties (1-1, 4 tab 3) via Reims Sainte-Anne (N3). Angers came out with difficulty at Plessis-Robinson (2-1).