Team Focus: Printant Pulls Bastia Close Towards the Great Escape
All things come to those who wait, they say, and Ghislain Printant has been more patient than most. Having spent 25 years as a goalkeeping coach and then working in youth academies, he got his shot at the top job at Bastia in November, after Claude Makélélé was fired.
It has not been easy since, with Printant - who initially seemed like the stop-gap solution – restricted by his lack of the fifth, and highest, coaching diploma required to practice in France. François Ciccolini, his assistant, holds the necessary diploma (the Brevet d’Entraîneur Professionnel de Football, or BEPF) and was appointed with this in mind, but the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) saw this as insufficient. At the end of February, Printant was prevented from speaking in press conferences, with the club fined €10,000 for every match he led without the qualification (a figure of €120,000 at the time).
Printant has plenty of supporters around the French game – notably Saint Etienne boss Christophe Galtier, who spoke out on his behalf at a press conference in March. Makélélé lost his post after just 12 matches, and only two wins, in Ligue 1, with Bastia’s season in tatters. Printant inherited a demoralised squad, with key signing Brandão banned after the Thiago Motta debacle, and occupying 19th position.
What has been achieved under the new coach is extraordinary, especially in the context of the club’s now-habitual struggle with the French game’s authorities. If the season had started at the point when Printant took charge, Bastia would be 10th in the table. The LFP fine is paltry in comparison to the work the new man has done.
Printant appreciates Galtier’s support, though that didn’t stop the former from making the latter’s life wholly uncomfortable on Saturday. After a sombre tribute to the victims of the Furiani disaster of 1992 – Bastia’s players wore black shirts to commemorate the occasion – the home side gave a thorough, smart and committed display against a Saint Etienne team that arrived maintaining hopes of a Champions League place.
“We’d have needed not just one, but two miracles to not lose,” mused a typically blunt Galtier after the game. “To score, and not to concede a goal.” He was right. Even if Bastia only just edged the possession (52% to 48%) and the shot count (11 to 7, with 4-1 on target), the Corsicans started and ended the game the strongest, and should have made their advantage count in between. Floyd Ayité, who had to wait until the 84th minute to score the winner, had 7 of those shots. “His next season will be even better,” grinned his president Pierre-Marie Geronimi after the game.
It was, however, strictly a team effort as the islanders nailed their first victory over Les Verts since a 4-0 win in February 2000. The assist for Ayité’s from Gaël Danic, who was rescued in January from cold storage at Lyon, was his third in Bastia’s colours. Having been Ligue 1’s second-highest assist provider in 2012/13, his final season at Valenciennes (he laid on 11), he could be somebody to pull the strings in the future, even at 33 years of age.
For the moment, Danic’s contribution has been crucial enough, with those 3 assists directly implicating him in half of Bastia’s last 6 goals at home. Yet Brandão’s recent return has been important too. The Brazilian – who, bizarrely, made his comeback from suspension and injury against in the Coupe de la Ligue final against Paris Saint-Germain, against whom he instigated that costly attack on Motta – is yet to score since his return, but again proved his nuisance value, at the very least, against Sainté.
Brandão had just 1 effort on goal, but won 8 headers; more than anyone else in the match and twice as many as anybody on the visiting side. With ball players like Danic and Ryad Boudebouz around him, plus the speed of Ayité and teenager François Kamano, the towering striker is a very useful conduit indeed.
It is Printant’s pragmatism, however, that has led Bastia into the light. His motivational skills are clear, but his tactical knowhow has come to the fore too. There has been a subtle but definite shift from the 4-2-3-1 used on Makélélé, with roles more clearly defined. The former Chelsea and PSG legend’s early successes – notably pulling Bastia back into the game against Marcelo Bielsa’s Marseille on the opening day by switching formation – seemed to affect his judgement going forward, or perhaps affected his players’ interpretation of his instructions.
His side were too often a broken team, split into defence and attack. Christopher Maboulou, buoyed by his brace against OM in that compelling performance, often ended up as a second striker, but the team had no link between defence and attack, with both the backline and midfield stationed deep (see average player positions for the loss to Monaco in October).
On Saturday, there was more of a sense of a group working in symphony. The 4-2-3-1 was far more solid, with Brandão’s presence providing a more definite focal point. Of the ostensibly defensive two, Boudebouz tends to be the ‘linker’, typically playing just ahead of Guillaume Gillet. It is no coincidence that a fluent Bastia means these two seeing the most of the ball (with 79 for Boudebouz, and 81 for Gillet, on Saturday).
That sang froid has lifted Bastia to 6 points clear of the drop zone with just 3 games to go, making them almost safe – no mean feat considering not only the starting position that Printant had, but the fact that he had to pick his players up from a tough defeat in that cup final with PSG. They have won twice in a row since the potentially ruinous home defeat to Reims, just a week after the loss at Stade de France.
“I thank my staff too,” said Printant after the game, “who found the right words to lift the weight from the players.” He is surely being modest. There is little doubting who the hero of Bastia’s season is.
How impressed have you been with Bastia’s form since Printant took charge? Let us know in the comments below
