Deans of French football, Le Havre obtained top half finishes in 9 out of their last 11 Ligue 2 campaigns and they aimed at repeating themselves also in the new season, with coach Le Guen confirmed in charge.
However, despite losing several regulars, significantly former Ligue 2 top scorer Kadewere, they were not particularly active during the transfer campaign and Le Guen found himself with not many options especially in the attack.
Le Havre debuted with a 0-2 away defeat to eventually-promoted Troyes but managed to win 5 out of the following 8 games, thus making it to the top 4. That would be the peak of their season as, from that moment on, they just found it almost impossible to win games.
In fact, Thiare and his mates had serious problems scoring and Boutaib, who was signed in October to provide some goals, was ineligible for several months due to contractual problems caused by his former club.
From week 10 to week 23, Le Havre won only once thus falling to the 13th spot. Between early February and mid-March they managed to obtain 3 wins out of 6 games, though, thus making the top 10 for the last time.
After that, they faced another winning drought, characterized by 3 defeats and 4 consecutive 1-1 draws, which brought them all the way down to the 15th standing, only inches away from the danger zone.
Despite rumours of a serious clash between coach Le Guen and his players, Le Havre managed to pull themselves together and they even closed the season on a high, obtaining back-to-back successes in the last two and defeating Troyes with a squad depleted by a Covid outbreak.
Goals were Le Havre's main issue in the season as they only scored more than 1 on 6 occasions, 3 of them coming in the last 4, and this is a problem that will have to be addressed for the future. Unlike his predecessor up-front, Thiare is not a finisher – while he is very good at opening defences and obtaining penalties - and his meagre 7 goals and 3 assists are testament to that.
Mayembo at the back, Lekhal and Bonnet in the midfield are also players that, alongside Thiare and Boutaib, should represent the backbone for Le Havre in the future campaign.
