The coach’s impressions

By: Houssem | August 8th, 2008

In an interview with daily newspaper La Presse, Étoile coach Michel Decastel played down Chermiti’s absence and set high ambitions for the team this season :

“The group I’m working with is strong on every level and can accomplish its role. Besides, we are close to make the team stronger with a defensive midfielder and a right back, two positions where we are experiencing a shortage at the beginning of this new season. Up front, Chermiti’s departure shouldn’t cause problems, especially after Emeka Opara’s return, but also thanks to the availability of Tarek Ziadi, and obviously, Ben Dhifallah. In return, Gelson could leave, because I have been told he got offers from abroad but, honestly, I don’t know if he will be released”

“Our ambitions for this season are very high. We will try to win the CAF Confederation Cup. At the same time, we will have to do our best to achieve the best finish possible in the league. This will allow us to rejoin the Champions League and retrieve our real african dimension. The cup is also one of our many objectives. The most imprtant thing is knowing how to deal with the situation at hand.”

“The league title will be decided between the four big clubs : Étoile, Club Africain, Espérance and Club Sfaxien. It’s hard to tell at this point who is going to win the competition, since all four clubs enjoy similar resources and share the same ambitions”

Alright. You told us nothing new there Michel, except for the part about Étoile’s summer shopping frenzy not being over yet. We need an experienced player in midfield, to fill the void left by Moussa Narry and Mejdi Traoui and maybe help Nafkha improve. As for the right back position, I believe we can count on the fighting spirit of Souhaiel Ben Radhia and the experience of Walid Yaken, so maybe a young player in that position wouldn’t hurt, since Yaken is 27 (that’s way over the team’s middle age), and Ben Radhia’s career could take a very interesting turn if he performs well enough in the CAF Confederation Cup and with the national team (these are my personal expectations anyway).

Regarding the season’s objectives, there’s no doubt that a new african cup just needs to stand on the trophy shelf every year, but we’ll have to give a 100% in the league as well, because we will be facing stiff competition. I expect Espérance to make a big return this season (turning into a cup team isn’t really worthy of a club which has won 20 league titles. Club Africain didn’t feel like they could do without any of their key players, and gave Abdelhak Ben Chikha their full trust. They start into the season with the same well trained and coherent group, which clearly isn’t Étoile’s case. The transition has to be operated in a fast and efficient manner if we want to be present on all fronts.