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·28 December 2024
Get French Football News
·28 December 2024
Where do you start with this cult Stade Brestois side? Les Pirates’ rise to Champions League glory has been one of the most captivating and exciting stories in the last decade of French football. The plaudits have often focussed on the likes of Pierre Lees-Melou, Mahdi Camara, Ludovic Ajorque, Steve Mounié. Yet, Éric Roy’s side would have been nowhere without their flying Dutchman and steady-handed number one: Marco Bizot.
“It’s true that I like to keep to myself. I’m not the loudest speaker. I like to observe, drink my coffee in my corner, in peace and quiet”, he said in an interview with Le Télégramme in early February. Bizot speaks with a modesty and calmness which befits a sense of hard-working humbleness that exudes throughout the Brest squad on their journey to Europe last season. Yet it’s also reflective of a playstyle that has been frighteningly efficient.
“Marco is a reliable, calm guy who knows his job. He has a very sober, pragmatic style. He’s more interested in making an effective save than a flamboyant one,” analysed current Stade Brestois goalkeeping coach Christophe Revel in Le Télégramme last December.
Bizot’s beginnings were anything but calm when he joined the club. “I arrived, I signed my contract on the first day, and I trained alone. The next day I was with the team, and the third day I played that match against Lyon. I didn’t know the names of any of my teammates, I had absolutely no preparation. It was really completely crazy.”
After that baptism of fire in a 1-1 draw with Lyon in 2021, the Dutchman made steady progress to dislodge local lad and current number one of Saint-Étienne, Gautier Larsonneur. After Éric Roy arrived at the club and initiated an upward spiral for the ages, Bizot’s performances would reach a new frightening level.
At the end of the 2023-2024 Ligue 1 season, only OGC Nice had conceded fewer goals than the Bretons, who for much of the season held the second-best defensive record. The Dutchman ruthlessly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the French top flight last season. His shot-stopping and save percentages had him up there with some of the best goalkeepers in world football, with his Post-Shot Expected Goals minus Goals Allowed ranking him among the best 6% of goalkeepers according to Opta & FBREF. And like a fine wine, he has only aged better with the challenge of European football this season: playing 100% of all minutes in all six Champions League games this season.
Clearly being the goalkeeper of last season’s Ligue 1 campaign wasn’t enough for Bizot, he has since shone in the Champions League this season. Against PSV, the Dutchman put in a Man of the Match performance, making five stunning saves to keep a clean sheet. The 33-year-old became the first goalkeeper to stop the Dutch giants from scoring in over nine months. “It’s an incredible feeling,” said Bizot after the game to Dutch TV channel Ziggo. “Being on the edge of qualification is amazing for us, nobody would have thought this beforehand – It’s unbelievable. You can tell me three, four times, and I still won’t believe it. If we can keep this up in the league as well, we will be hard to beat.”
Yet, in the league this season it’s been a different story. Coming back to reality, like for much of the Brestois squad, has been a real difficulty. With the added workload of Europe, Les Brestois are finding it difficult to replicate the same defensive record this campaign. Bizot has consequently only kept three clean sheets in the league this season. Les Pirates have already conceded 27 times this season in Ligue 1, reaching around 79% of last season’s total goals conceded already. There was cause for concern in the early weeks of the season, when manager Roy called for his players to “take a look at themselves.”
“It’s been a difficult start to the campaign because in Ligue 1 we haven’t yet managed to find our DNA like we did last season,” Bizot admitted himself when speaking to Brest’s club website earlier this month. “Paradoxically, in the Champions League, we’re in a different frame of mind. But that makes sense since it’s something magical for everyone.”
Even Bizot has admitted himself that there have effectively been two versions of Brest this season. Against the likes of Salzburg, Strasbourg, Leverkusen, and Toulouse there has been a clear demonstration of togetherness and spirit. Yet, against Lille and Marseille at home there have been Ligue 1 matches that have completely passed Bizot and his teammates by. “To be honest, I can’t fully explain it. But we know our qualities and we know what we can all hope to achieve together.”
Is it the price you pay for living the fairytale dream in European football? Perhaps. Yet Bizot insists that he still has progress to make in order to reach the levels of consistency that he and Les Pirates reached last season. “I’m not happy with my start to the season. I know I can do much better and I’ve already proved it. It’s not always easy to get back to concentrating on things, but I’m working at 200% to be even stronger.”
A certain amount of recency bias would incline observers to agree with him, but when looking at the bigger picture the Dutchman is arguably being rather harsh on himself. He has clearly been one of the key drivers behind the rise of Brest over the last year and a half and deserves to be recognised as one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Now receiving recognition on the European level, further games in the Champions League following a likely qualification will present another fantastic opportunity to show the rest of the world what he is made of.
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