Auxerre take a leaf out of Allardyce’s playbook to turn up heat on De Zerbi

A football club has the ability to put a town on the map. From a personal standpoint, revealing my Boltonian origins abroad will invariably elicit a reference to Bolton Wanderers; the town and the club are inseparable, indiscernible, especially internationally. Auxerre, a small village south of Paris, comprised of just over 37,000 inhabitants is the French equivalent.

It was Guy Roux, the inexhaustible former manager of L’AJA who put them there, winning a league title, reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League and winning the Coupe de France on four occasions across his 44-year tenure.

Like Bolton, Auxerre declined in the early-2010s. Relegated to Ligue 2 in 2012, it took them 10 attempts to rediscover the top flight, and when they did so, they made a hasty return to the second division just 12 months later. Last season, they were once again promoted, this time at the first time of asking, but amid the financial difficulties hounding almost all clubs in French football, particularly the smaller clubs, a similar fate was projected this season. Christophe Pélissier’s men are defying those expectations.

Bar Reims, Montpellier, Le Havre and Angers, all of whom did not spend a single euro in the summer, no team spent less than Auxerre in Ligue 1. Reports in France even indicated that the uncertainty over the TV rights deal forced the club to pull out of a deal to sign Ajaccio’s Tim Jabol-Folcarelli for just €2m. But while Montpellier, Le Havre and Angers all sit in Ligue 1’s bottom four, giantkillers Auxerre are flying high after a shock 3-1 victory over touted title challengers Marseille at the Vélodrome; the result, however, is not an outlier.

Auxerre have won four out of their first five games at their home ground, the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps, losing only to Monaco, while securing victories against the likes of Nice, Rennes and Champions League side Brest.

Having beaten Rennes 4-0 at home last week, they headed to the Vélodrome with a plan that, to extend the Bolton comparison, was straight out of Sam Allardyce’s playbook. L’AJA had just a quarter of the possession but scored three-quarters of the goals as they beat Marseille 3-1, with all of Auxerre’s goals coming in the first half. Just as Paris Saint-Germain did in Le Classique a fortnight earlier, Auxerre sent OM’s fans home early.

Auxerre, who have shown a capacity to be more expansive, particularly at home, sat in a low block on this occasion, relying on their directness. The goalkeeper Donovan Léon already had an assist this season and he got another one against OM. More than 58% of his passes have been launched this season. No other goalkeeper comes close, but like Allardyce’s “route-one” Bolton side, there is also a technical level in this side that allows for highly technical and efficient transitions.

If there is a Jay-Jay Okocha in this team, it is certainly Hamed Traoré, on loan from Bournemouth, who netted Auxerre’s third against OM, his fifth of the season. Gaëtan Perrin (four goals, four assists) is also thriving in attack, and in transition, the football is frenzied but also fluid and precise. There is a secret behind Auxerre’s efficiency in attack, and he goes by the name of Djibril Cissé.

The former Liverpool and Marseille striker came through the ranks at Auxerre and rejoined the club as an attacking coach in 2023. “I am very vocal, I shout and I get involved a lot, just like I did when I was a player,” he told L’Équipe. However, his work is translating on the pitch too. “Traoré’s pass, followed by the control and shot from Gaëtan, that’s my work from Friday,” said Cissé, referencing Auxerre’s second goal in the win over Rennes.

Cissé’s impact is clear to see: only Nice (bolstered by an 8-0 hammering against Saint-Étienne), PSG and Marseille have scored more than Auxerre this season. It is a record that certainly challenges the perception that low-block, counterattacking football is an outdated and inherently negative style. If it continues to be adopted by many Ligue 1 clubs in the modern day, it is also the style for which Roux, in his pomp, was renowned for.

“We came with the ambition of scoring. We couldn’t play by just defending. We had to cause them problems,” said Pélissier after the win. “You simply have to give confidence to the players with a gameplan and a strategy.”

It is a victory that lifts Auxerre to ninth in Ligue 1 and just one point behind the European places. Can Pélissier emulate Allardyce’s feat at Bolton and bring European football back? That may be a bridge too far for a club that merely set its sights on survival this season; that should – and will – remain the main objective.

But for a small village that has become synonymous with its football team, synonymous with the likes of Eric Cantona, Basile Boli and Cissé, all of whom came through the academy, there is more than just nostalgia to fuel the fervour at Auxerre with the hope of brighter days ahead.

Talking points

It was a defeat to Auxerre that put pay to Julien Stéphan’s second stint as Rennes manager. Having replaced Bruno Genesio on an interim basis back at the end of last year, Stéphan saw his contract renewed in March. He has won just five games since. The former Marseille manager Jorge Sampaoli is destined to replace Stéphan and he was in the stands on Sunday. He helplessly looked on as Les Rennais continued their dire run, losing to Toulouse, whose league standing (10th) is now more reflective of their quality after three successive wins. Before their current run, Le TéFéCé had been in the relegation places and given their current standing just one point above the relegation place, Rennes are now looking over their shoulders.

Sampaoli, like many Marseille managers, did not stick around long there; given Pablo Longoria’s talk of a “three-year project”, Roberto De Zerbi, who himself has evoked a long-term future at the club, looked to buck the trend. But if his comments after the defeat to Auxerre are anything to go by, perhaps not. “If I’m the problem, I’m ready to leave,” said the Italian who, according to L’Équipe, lambasted his squad, stating that they had “humiliated” him, and even accused the captain Leonardo Balerdi of “lacking balls”. “A season here is worth two or three in another club,” said Igor Tudor at the time of his departure from OM in the summer of 2023. De Zerbi has never lasted more than three years at any of his previous clubs, and in the cooker that is Marseille, the pressure is already starting to tell.

John Textor called on Lyon to “humiliate” local rivals Saint-Étienne before the first Rhônealpin derby in two years. Beyond local pride, there was also North American pride on the line, given OL’s American takeover and the arrival of Canadian ownership at Saint-Étienne earlier this year. OL certainly did not humiliate ASSE, edging to a slightly nervy 1-0 victory but they did nonetheless continue a fine run of form, which has seen Pierre Sage’s side lose just one of their last 10 games in all competitions.