Nothing is going well for SM Caen!

On July 31, Kylian Mbappé, via his image company Interconnected Ventures, officially bought the Stade Malherbe de Caen in exchange for an amount of between €15 and €20 million. An announcement which logically did not fail to provoke a reaction in the press, also raising enormous expectations. “ The Mbappé brand has also completely changed the perception of Caen. It’s a chance », Revealed, for his part, Pierre-Antoine Capton, minority shareholder of the Lower Normandy club. Yes, but now, after 8 days of Ligue 2, everything is clearly not going as planned for the Blue and Red…

The rest after this ad

A nightmarish start to the season

Disappointing collectively, betrayed by a huge error from Brahim Traoré at the end of the match and once again defeated (1-2) by FC Lorient, this Saturday, SM Caen finds itself in a worrying 14th place with only one small point. advances on Rodez, currently occupying the place of roadblock. With two victories, a draw and already five losses, the residents of the Stade Michel d’Ornano, who came very close to the accession playoffs last season, have hit rock bottom and still cannot manage to raise their heads.

To read
L2: Lorient tames Caen on the wire, Clermont smashes Guingamp

« We have to be able to play matches full of energy, will, mutual assistance, surpassing oneself, function. We need to be more stable away from home, but tomorrow (this Saturday, editor’s note) is a home match. The stakes are important for us in the sense that we must redeem ourselves. We have to do our best to win this match. “, declared Nicolas Seube, the current architect of the Normandy team. Arriving on the bench of the first team in November 2023, the 45-year-old tactician logically finds himself in turmoil.

The rest after this ad

Tactical choices discussed

Unable to get the best out of his players since the start of this 2024-2025 financial year, the former Caen defensive midfielder, returned from Nantes after spending two and a half days with the Canaries as part of his training at BEPF, is arousing numerous questions, particularly regarding his tactical choices. Flagship recruit of the last summer transfer window and voted player of the month for August by the supporters, Lorenzo Rajot, scorer on the 3rd day, has for example found himself on the substitutes’ bench for four matches. A strange and unexplained choice by many observers, adding to the astonishing management of other players in the Normandy squad.

From Daylam Meddah, considered a great hope for the position of defender, but left aside, to Noé Lebreton, limited in his playing time despite undeniable talent, including the irregular use of Bilal Brahimi, yet author of a goal and two assists since the restart, the management of the Caen coach continues to be the talk of the town. Often targeting the same profiles when making his turnover, the native of Toulouse does not admit defeat. “ I don’t have the reputation of someone who doesn’t say things, maybe sometimes, due to my youth in the profession, people think that I’m a little too nice or permissive, but I’m not not at all like that with them », declared the person concerned before the clash against the Merlus.

The rest after this ad

And to add: “ We, the technicians, must be the guides, the people who reassure them, the people who lead them to a football that we want to play. But afterward, the actors are the players. They are the ones on the ground, they are the ones who make change. And it is they, too, who change the careers of coaches.» It is clear that the French tactician’s speech is struggling, today, to prove itself. In this sporting slump, Nicolas Seube can, despite everything, count on the still impressive performance of one man: Alexandre Mendy. Author of four goals in five games, the top scorer of the last Ligue 2 season continues to carry the SMC at arm’s length.

Alexandre Mendy far too alone…

« Alex is delivering the performance we ask of him in our construction of the game, whether on defensive or offensive animation. It is the first defensive rampart, the one which must initiate the action to direct the opponent into a sector of play that we have determined in order to be able to recover balls. And then its role in the construction as a support point and its finishing. In Guingamp, he has almost no situation. The only one he has is goal. So, beyond the record, there is this ability to have a qualitative output each time. If he continues with this performance, the record will be broken. But I hope he’s not just aiming for the record and I’m sure of it. His objective is of course an individual objective, but his objective is not only that. His first idea is for the team to win. »

The rest after this ad

Very close to a departure this summer, the 30-year-old striker remains, despite everything, the tree that hides the forest. And for good reason, more than an individual record, it is the Norman collective which is worrying at the time of writing these lines. If the international break could allow the Caennais to breathe, the opposition against Red Star on October 18 will therefore offer a first answer on Nicolas Seube’s ability to turn things around. One thing is certain, the undeniable contribution of Alexandre Mendy will not be able, on its own, to resolve all the problems currently encountered by SM Caen…