SM Caen

It’s been a summer of change at Caen, who have seen Stephane Moulin depart and Jean-Marc Furlan arrive as head coach. One of the biggest clubs historically at this level, the Normandy outfit are hoping the experienced former Auxerre and Troyes boss can once again weave his magic to win a promotion to the top flight as he has done several times in the past. Furlan’s teams have not always been the best in Ligue 2 – he has not won a title at this level – but his ability to engineer teams good enough to go up has been impressive and what Caen are leaning on. Caen’s squad has been trimmed down significantly. Anton Saletros has returned home to Sweden after a promising six months in France, while Jessy Deminguet, potentially their best player, spent much of last season frozen out. Consequently, the weight of his loss might not be as large as it seems. The other player of real note to go is Ibrahim Cisse, who was a rock in central defence, playing 31 times last term. Furlan has been picky about the players he has brought in and has focused on strengthening the back four. Valentin Henry, Syam Ben Youssef and Alexandre Coeff have arrived. All are experienced at this level. Along with Romain Thomas and promising youngster Brahim Traore, Caen will be hopeful of at least maintaining the type of defensive strength that saw them concede 43 times last term. Where they suffered last season was inefficiency in attack, despite netting 52 goals. This improved towards the end of last season as they went on a belated charge, and Furlan will hope this momentum is maintained into the new season. Mathias Autret has arrived from Auxerre and should give more impetus and creativity from midfield – very welcome traits. So much in attack rests on Alexandre Mendy who is coming off his best season ever, having netted 19 goals, proving his 16 the campaign before was no fluke. Prior to that, the best he had managed in the top two flights was four, and it will be catastrophic for Caen if he goes back to that level, which looks unlikely.