Ligue 1 Review | Should we be worried about Strasbourg? | OneFootball

It’s lucky for Hugo Oliveira that preseason matches don’t count for much; otherwise, there’d be a lot more outside focus on the fact that after his 7th game in charge of RC Strasbourg Alsace, he’s yet to see his side win a game. Coming into the opening game of the Ligue 1 season away to Olympique de Marseille, Oliveira had watched Strasbourg lose five, draw one, and concede 21 goals across the summer. 

The talk from the Portuguese head coach, who was poached from F.C. Famalicão as a replacement for Ipswich Town-bound Gary O’Neil, during preseason was to “trust the process.” The idea was that the principles of his game would be instilled in the squad, and even if results wouldn’t go their way, there would be signs that something bigger was taking root by the time their season opened on Friday evening. 

As Strasbourg watched Pierre-Emile Højbjerg stroke home Marseille’s fourth unanswered goal of the evening, it was hard not to wonder: What principles are those? Strasbourg looked a mess, a jumble of half-thought-out ideas. To trust the process, there must at least be some evidence that a process is taking place. 

Neglecting a central philosophy?

From the evidence of Friday’s game, there are more questions than answers for Oliveira. How does he want his team to play? For the majority of the first half, they tried to play out from the back, without much success. Just before the half-hour mark, the coach, growing visibly frustrated, abandoned the plan and frantically motioned to Chelsea loanee goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen to kick it long. 

It was only a small moment in the grand scheme of things, but it stood out. After all, Oliveria had said in July, “The goalkeeper will be central to our philosophy. He’s an integral part of our build-up play; he’s truly an outfield player and the team’s first attacker.” And here he was, losing confidence in his squad’s ability to perform one of the principal components of his philosophy. 

Out of possession, there were similar tensions between intention and ability. The team sat in a compact shape in the centre of the pitch, where they would try to force Marseille into wide pressing traps. However, once Marseille were wide, Strasbourg’s shape would fall apart with a poorly coordinated pressing trigger. The wingers would press early before the midfield shifted to cover, meaning that there was frequently space for Marseille to play through the lines. 

El Mourabet’s sending-off a red herring?

It would be easy to blame Strasbourg’s collapse on Samir El Mourabet’s red card in the 59th minute. After all, Strasbourg were only one goal down when the midfielder was sent off after he took a swipe at Højbjerg in frustration. As Oliveira said after the game, “It’s already hard with eleven men, so with ten… We can do good things tactically and technically, but emotional management is the most important thing in top-level football.” 

However, the red card operated more as a magnifying glass than an explanation. Strasbourg’s problems were apparent even when they had eleven men on the pitch. Le Racing were simply not up to the required level throughout the game. The score might have looked a little less damning, but the concerns would have been the same. 

It appears rash to say it after just one game of competitive action, but there are certainly reasons to be worried about Strasbourg. The talent drain over the summer with Emanuel Emegha, Diego Moreira, Julio Enciso, and Valentín Barco all gone means that a new generation have to step up quickly. Whether they are ready to is another matter altogether. 

This week’s Ligue 1 subplots

GFFN | Nick Hartland