Having taken on OGC Nice in pre-season last year and beaten them 1-0 via an Axel Tuanzebe goal, Town will once again take on French opposition on the form of AJ Auxerre in their last outing of pre-season.

Based in the Burgundy region just outside Paris, the French side finished safely mid-table in 11th place last season having won Ligue 2 the year before. In recent history they have bounced between the two divisions on a fairly regular basis and will now be looking to stabilise themselves as a top-flight team.

They are managed by Christoph Pelissier, who joined the club in October 2022 and currently sits on a 40% win ratio, overseeing a relegation, a promotion back to the top flight and a season of stablisation having previously got Amiens promoted to Ligue 1 for the first time in their history back in 2014.

Auxerre will represent another step up in terms of quality of opposition as the Super Blues get close to a return to competitive action following victories against Blau-Weiss Linz, Aberdeen and Charlton.

Goalkeepers

Donovan Leon was one of the best keepers in Ligue 1 last season. The French Guianan prevented 8.47 goals and made 122 saves. It’s clear from his passing stats that Auxerre are a team who like to go long and play direct football with his goal-kicks on average travelling 56.4 yards (the highest in the division), whilst 53% of his open play passes also went long.

His form has been so good in recent seasons that there’s not been many opportunities for the back-up keepers. Twenty-four-year-old Theo De Percin made two league appearances when Leon picked up a minor injury and 22-year-old Tom Negrel made just the one appearance in the Coupe de France.

Defenders

Last season Auxerre operated with a back five but have lost a key figure from that backline in Jubel, who scored six goals and has left to join FC Krasnodar on a free transfer. Despite that they still have a good young trio, full of potential in that area.

Gabriel Osho will be familiar to fans from his time with Luton Town. Auxerre signed him on a year-long contract but with an option for an extra season which has now been extended. He’s the most likely to move across to the centre of the back three with his pass completion percentage of 88.8% showing he’s comfortable on the ball, whilst he also has a high number of blocks.

To the right of him will be young Ivorian Sinaly Diomande, who having been released by Olympique Lyon at the end of the 23/24 season, found a new home quickly and settled in well, contributing defensively whilst also finding the back of the net three times.

Those two right-footers will be balanced out by another Ivorian, Clement Akpa. With those two the future of the Ivory Coast looks bright. Akpa didn’t look out of place in his first season in Ligue 1, playing on the left side of the back three but having the freedom to also get up the pitch. Auxerre kept eight of their nine clean sheets with him in the side.

With Ki-Jana Hoever returning to Wolves following his season-long loan spell where he was the main peg in the right wing-back hole, 25-year-old Paul Joly will be wanting to show he can claim that spot for himself. The Frenchman only made 10 starts last season often being used off the bench. His best attribute was his tackling ability as he averaged 2.64 tackles won per 90.

On the other side was Ghanaian Gideon Mensah, who started 29 games, making 5.62 ball recoveries per 90, the highest in the side as he looked to anticipate and win the ball back prevent counter attacks.

Twenty-two-year-old Norwegian Fredrik Oppegard was signed in January to compete with him having never really made the breakthrough at PSV Eindhoven despite promising loan spells but was largely used off the bench.

More depth has been added this July with the signing of Franciso Sierralta from Watford, who will bring plenty of experience and will be looking forward to a fresh start after five seasons with the Hornets and Lamine Sy who joins on a free transfer from SC Caen.

Sy didn’t have a great season in Ligue 2 but Auxerre must have seen something in the 22-year-old to think he’s worthy of a place in the squad. He’s a natural right-back which isn’t really a position that Pelissier uses so he may get converted to a right-sided centre-back.

Marvin Senaya, however, has likely been earmarked to provide competition at right wing-back, joining from RC Strasbourg having spent last season on loan at Lausanne in the Swiss Super League.

Midfield

Ahead of the back five was almost always a midfield four but how they set up varied. Sometimes it was four across from left to right and other times more of a box midfield.

Whichever formation was played, Gaetan Perrin was more often than not the star man. He finished with 21 goal contributions last season (10 goals and 11 assists). Four of those were from outside the box, two of them were free-kicks and he exceeded his xG by close to four goals. His off the ball work rate was also very good often leading the press and winning the ball back high up the pitch.

I’d written all that and even pulled his data to show you all and he was then sold to Trabzonspor for €5 million, such is the danger of writing previews when a transfer window is open.

He largely played either wide on the right or as a right ten, whilst on the opposite side was Hamed Traore, who is another who will be back in the Premier League having returned to Bournemouth following a 10-goal, two-assist season. The two of them scored 43% of Auxerre’s goals for the season so leave big shoes for their replacements to fill.

Japan international Ado Onaiwu, 29, was Traore’s back-up and scored four goals last season from just nine starts and will be hoping he can impress in pre-season to try and earn more starts.

However, the most likely replacement for him on that side is Ibrahim Osman, who has joined on loan from Brighton following a successful loan spell at Dutch side Feyenoord last season. The 20-year-old Ghanaian didn’t have the best season there in terms of output but Brighton have a good track record of unearthing talents so he could well flourish in Ligue 1.

Josue Casimir looks to be another astute signing, Auxerre having poached him from Le Havre, where he had a very strong finish to the season. He’s more of an outright winger and fairly diminutive in height so it will be interesting to see how he’s used in this new system.

Then there’s Lasso Coulibaly, who missed almost all of last season with a cruciate ligament injury but alongside Casimir will have the job of filling the big shoes left by Perrin.

Behind them, the combative midfield double pivot was made up of a mix of youth and experience. Four players shared the minutes. Han-Noah Massengo has returned to Burnley following a season-long loan, so it will be likely be one of Assane Diousse or Kevin Danois playing alongside Elisha Owusu, who rarely missed a game last season and captained the side on four occasions.

Owusu provides the combative tackling, so it depends on the match what’s required alongside him. Diousse has got an excellent long-range pass on him, finding his target with 48 of his 55 passes that were longer than 30 yards last season, whereas 20-year-old youth prospect Danois is a more mobile option for when Auxerre want to press higher.

French U17 international Rudy Matondo is also one to watch in central midfield with the youngster impressing in pre-season so far with a goal against Orleans.

Forwards

Five central strikers made appearances for Auxerre across the course of the season. Twenty-four-year-old Dutchman Eros Maddy got two appearances off the bench, whilst 20-year-old Ivorian Aristide Zossou did one better with three, but neither of them started any games such was the traffic ahead of them.

That traffic consisted of 28-year-old Florian Aye, who was unable to convert his 10-goal Ligue 2 form into Ligue 1 with just the two goals, albeit from only four starts plus 22 appearances of the bench.

Canadian Thelonius Blair got more starts (11) but still only managed two goals as both of them found themselves supporting 25-year-old Malian Lassine Sinayoko, who scored five and assisted eight in 34 appearances as he fulfilled the a role very similar to that of a striker in an Ipswich side of pressing high, running the channels and creating space for the players in behind him.

The Teams

With the season proper fast approaching, it looks like both sides will play close to their strongest line-ups.

For Town, despite Kieran McKenna suggesting there are still places to play for, I imagine the team that started against Aberdeen will be very close in terms of players and tactics to that that faces Birmingham on the opening day of the season

For this one, I think it’s likely that the right hand side will play a half each with Ashley Young and Omari Hutchinson replacing Ben Johnson and Chieo Ogbene at half-time. Jacob Greaves missed out at Charlton because of illness so may be another that either doesn’t play or is only given limited time on the pitch

Auxerre have mixed their squad up over recent pre-season games, but I think they’ll go with a fairly strong side here.

ChestnutSe added 12:41 - Aug 1 What time/date is KO?
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