When the season began, Guingamp were expected to be one of the Ligue 2 sides competing for automatic promotion, but instead found themselves fighting a grim relegation battle almost until the end of the season.
Indeed, after 35 matches, they were still 16th in the league, and the fact that they finished in the top half offers an incredibly flattering reflection of the football they produced for much of the season. Indeed, they only finished two matchdays all term in the top half of the standings.
Guingamp’s biggest issue was that they did not score enough goals, which given they had one of the best attacking line ups in the league was rather embarrassing. Again, their tally of 42 in total is flattering given that seven of these arrived in the last three matches.
Mecha Bazdarevic produced a miserable start to the season for Guingamp, which saw him sacked just after the halfway point of the season. Frederic Bompard came in for a firefighting role and was demonstrably better, suffering only three defeats – which all came against top-four opponents. There were, however, too many draws, but it took a long time to turn the confidence in the squad around.
By the end of the season, they were functioning like the team they were expected to be, albeit in a rather nervy manner at times given the stakes of the fixtures.
If the attack underperformed, the midfield had its life complicated by injury issues, with Pierrick Valdivia and Lebogang Phiri two notable performers to miss long periods of time. It was an area that leaned too heavily on Youssouf M’Changama, though ultimately Guessouma Fofana came onto a game in that sector.
Similarly, the rearguard underperformed for long periods of the season, with neither coach able to really settle on a first choice in either of the full-back roles, which were a source of weakness. Philipe Sampaio arrived from Brazilian football and was a rock in a defence that sorely missed the combativity of Felix Eboa Eboa, injured early in the season not to return.
Goalkeeper, too, was an area of disappointment. Nicolai Larsen arrived as first choice last summer but was horribly error prone and gave way to Enzo Basilio.
Guingamp must continue the momentum they picked up at the end of last term under new management. The goal next season, though, will remain promotion.
