The catastrophic start to the season continues for AS Saint-Étienne.
Still last in the Ligue 2 standings, with a penalty point to make up for, the Greens completely collapsed this Saturday against Le Havre (0-6), in a match played behind closed doors.
Extremely undisciplined, they ended the match eight against eleven, the referee having sent them four red cards: three against outfield players and one against a staff member.
Three expelled in ten minutes
ASSE was already in difficulty in the first period, jostled by enterprising Le Havre.
But the fate of the meeting changed forever at the half-hour mark, when Anthony Briançon was penalized with a second yellow card for an elbow in an aerial duel.
After this fact of play, the Greens entered a negative spiral: in the 37th, it was Mathieu Cafaro who was in turn expelled for a gesture of annoyance on an opposing player.
Three minutes later, the referee showed the red card again against the assistant coach of Saint-Etienne, Manu da Costa, who came to contest his decisions with a video tablet in his hand.
Despite these circumstances, Saint-Étienne managed to preserve the draw until half-time.
But the numerical inferiority was too complex to manage on the return from the locker room, even more so after the expulsion of goalkeeper Étienne Green for a delayed tackle.
The Le Havre then scored six times in forty minutes, through Arouna Sangante (51st), Nabil Alioui (56th), Victor Lekhal (64th), Christopher Operi (80th then 84th), author of a double, then Yann Kitaula (89th), making the afternoon of the Greens each time a little more nightmarish.
Already six reds in four days
This is not the first time this season that Saint-Étienne has been scuttled with red cards: during the first three days, two players from Forez had already been expelled: Denis Bouanga against Rodez then Mickaël Nadé at Quevilly.
A chronic indiscipline which says everything about the beginning of the complicated exercise of the club, which struggles to attract recruits, saw its acquisition aborted and still suffers the consequences of the excesses experienced during its return barrage against Auxerre, which sent it to League 2.
In the Ligue 2 classification, the Greens are therefore still in negative, with -1 point, while they still have two games to play behind closed doors.
Laurent Batlles will therefore have a lot to do to remobilize his men for the next trip, next Saturday to Valenciennes.
Especially since the disciplinary committee should not be lenient with the four expelled from the day...