French Ligue 1 09/10 Thread

[LFCtorresLFC]

Originally Posted by trenty21

Surprised ESPN didnt pick this league up? they picked up everyother one going, even the Portuguese league is on ESPN.

Yea me too, I've heard Eurosport were bidding but that was a few weeks and I've heard nothing since...

[CescPistols]

There was a prgram on channel4 in the UK a while back where they showed Ligue1 highlights of all matches, the commentary was pretty good too.
Think it was called Goalissimo, seems to have gone off air, shame, showcased the league, and you got to see quite a few talents. Anyhow it is good to see Lyon's dominance coming to an end, though I don't dislike them.

[COYS]

Lyons are sparing no expense in effort to regain French title - Times Online

Lyons are sparing no expense in effort to regain French title

When an economic powerhouse hits hard times, one way to get out of the predicament may seem counter-intuitive: spend more, not less. The idea is to dip into the common coffers, find some cash, and kick start the whole operation into gear.

John Maynard Keynes figured it out a long time ago, Barack Obama has been doing much the same over the past few months. Football is no different, as evidenced by Lyons’ summer stimulus spending plan.

Last season, Lyons failed to win the French title for the first time in eight years, finishing a disappointing third, nine points behind Bordeaux, the champions. Jean-Michel Aulas, the club president, could have razed the side to the ground, beginning with Claude Puel, the manager who had come up short where Jacques Santini, Paul Le Guen, Gérard Houllier and Alain Perrin had suceeded. And some suggested he do just that.

They contended that if the above — generally unremarkable — group of predecessors had all delivered titles, surely Lyons had all the tools in place to win year after year. After all, they are France’s wealthiest and best-run club, one that have grown steadily under Aulas’s tutelage (before his arrival they had a total of zero French titles). When things go badly wrong — as they did last year — surely the problem must be the one new variable in the footballing equation: Puel.

But that is not how Aulas sees it. And it may be that he is right. Maybe Lyons’ underachievement wasn’t solely down to Puel but also to the inertia that sets in when you get too accustomed to winning. Maybe the way to prove that last season was a blip is to shake things up by spending even more cash.

Aulas put his money where his mouth is, with an outlay of more than €70 million (£58.4 million), a phenomenal sum by the standards of French football. Half of that was offset by the sale of Karim Benzema, the club’s best player, to Real Madrid for €35 million (about £29.7 million). But the other half came from Lyons’ war chest in what is undoubtedly a bold move.
Spending so much under what could well be a lame duck of a manager — it’s hard to see Puel staying if they fail to win the title this season as well — takes guts.

Lyons however were clever about it, buying the kind of players who have a long-term future and who are likely to come in handy even if Puel departs. In other words, they provide both a short-term boost and longer-term benefits, like any good stimulus package.

To replace Benzema, Lyons acquired not one, but two strikers, spending £31.5 million (rising to about £36 million depending on performances) on Bafétimbi Gomis, from Saint-Étienne, and Lisandro López, from Porto.
Gomis, 24, is the kind of forward scouts tend to love more than pundits.

Nevertheless he is a French international who, if he harnesses his considerable skills, could turn into a dependable centre forward. López, on the other hand, is more of a sure thing. The Argentinian has scored 44 goals over the past two seasons for Porto and, just as importantly, he has four seasons of European football under his belt, including some dazzling performances in the Champions League.

Lyons also raided Porto for Aly Cissokho, arguably one of the top left backs in Europe in the latter half of last season. The 21-year-old was a virtual unknown 12 months ago, but now he is a £12.7 million rising star who was pursued long and hard by AC Milan.

The final piece of Lyons’ stimulus package is Michel Bastos, the leftsided midfield player. Like Cissokho, the elegant Brazilian came up the hard way, joining Lille as an unheralded 22-year-old in 2006 and establishing himself as one of the best players in Le Championnat last season. At £15.3 million he did not come cheap, but Lyons were no doubt impressed that he has proved himself in France. Puel, who previously managed Lille, has also worked with him before.

This quartet represent the biggest gamble in Lyons’ history. By the time the transfer window closes, Lyons will have outspent all but a handful of clubs in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and perhaps one or two others). In the financial climate — and given the club’s situation — it’s a massive gamble and one that could backfire badly. Then again, so too is Obama’s stimulus plan.

Tough times call for tough decisions.

[Olforever06]

Bordeaux4 - 1Lens- Lille1 - 2Lorient Auxerre0 - 1Sochaux- Grenoble0 - 2Marseille- Le Mans2 - 2Lyon- Monaco1 - 0Toulouse- Montpellier1 - 1Paris Saint-Germain- Rennes3 - 0Boulogne-sur-Mer- Saint-Etienne0 - 2Nice- Valenciennes1 - 3Nancy

[chris louie II]

Toulouse 2 St Etienne 1 at the moment Machado, who was at ASSE last season, scored for Toulouse, as has Gignac. lalalala. Still like 20 minutes to go though.

[chris louie II]

Toulouse scored again - 3-1, full-time. St Etienne will be relegation contenders for sure.

[RAB SAFC 1879]

They should have kept hold of GOMIS

[chris louie II]

Originally Posted by RAB SAFC 1879

They should have kept hold of GOMIS

Indeed, what a traitor Haven't got much firepower up front now.

[Olforever06]

Results

Toulouse 3 - 1 Saint-Etienne
(Machado'11 FK ,Gignac 66',Sissokho 80') ( Riviere 25')

Lens 2 - 0 Auxerre
(Monnet-Paquet 14', Boukari 60')

Lorient 2- 2 Montpellier
(Gameiro 69' , Koscielny 90') (Tino 58' , Spahic 67' )

Lyon 1 - 0 Valenciennes
(Gomis 38')

Nancy 4 - 0 Monaco
(Dia 31' ,Andre Luiz 42' , Alo' Efoullou 49' et 80 ' )

Paris 3 - 1 Le Mans
(Erding 33' , Thomas (autogoal) 60' , Giuly 82' ) ( Helstad 22')

Sochaux 2 - 3 Bordeaux
(Davies 61' et 90 ' ) ( Wendel 43 ' , Chamakh 31' et 80' )

Toniqht:
Boulogne-sur-mer 2 - 1 Grenoble
Nice 1-1 Rennes
Marseille 1-0 Lille

Best Striker after 2 Days :

1. Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux ) 3 Goals
2. Ludovic Giuly (Paris) 2Goals
Gourcuff ( Bordeaux)
Spahic ( Monpellier)
Gameiro ( Lorient )
Davies ( Sochaux )
Alo'o Effoulou ( Nancy )
Wendel ( Bordeaux )

Thil ( Boulogne )

Best Team Strike : Bordeaux / Nancy
Best Defense Team : Marseille

Classement

1. Nancy 6pts
2.Bordeaux 6pts
3.Marseille 6pts
4.Rennes 4 pts
5.Paris 4 pt

18. Valenciennes 0 pt
19. Auxerre 0 pt
20. St-Etienne 0 pt

[COYS]

When Saturday Comes - The Half Decent Football Magazine - France stops exporting players

Friday 21 August

Thirteen years after the exodus began, French football decided that summer 2009 was the moment when it would call time on its unofficial role as a relatively successful supplier of cheap goods for richer clubs in other parts of the continent. The trend began in the months around Euro 96, when Zinedine Zidane, Christophe Dugarry, Bixente Lizarazu and other members of the generation that would go on to win the World Cup and European Championship departed for clubs in Italy, Spain and England for inexplicably low fees (Zidane cost less than Chris Sutton had done two years earlier).

The French game eventually realised the value of its most talented assets (Michael Essien fetched Lyon £26 million and Marseille sold Didier Drogba for £24m), but the pattern has continued for years, with little of the money reinvested in players of a similar standard.

This summer things changed: France’s leading clubs embarked on an unprecedented spending spree while also managing to retain the services of players who have reached the stage in their careers where, since the Bosman ruling, a move abroad has become the next logical step. Didier Deschamps, Marseille’s ambitious new coach, oversaw the arrival of first-choice targets Lucho Gonzalez for €18m (£15.6m) from FC Porto and Stephane Mbia (€12m) from Rennes.

Lyon splashed out €72m – the heftiest outlay by a French club in a single transfer period – on Lisandro Lopez (€24m) and Aly Cissokho (€15m) from FC Porto, Lille’s Brazilian left-winger Michel Bastos (€18m) and St Etienne centre-forward Bafetimbi Gomis (€15m) in an attempt to win back the title they relinquished last May after seven consecutive triumphs. Bordeaux made perhaps the most astute purchase of all, permanently signing Ligue 1’s player of the year, Yoann Gourcuff, from AC Milan, following his superb performances on loan in 2008-09 when he inspired their title triumph and scored a couple of goals that will be shown for decades.

The net result of all this transfer activity is that Marseille have an excellent chance of becoming champions for the first time in 18 years; Lyon ought to make a decent fist of regaining their crown; and Bordeaux have decent prospects of successfully defending the title they won stylishly last season. More than anything, though, it’s heartening to see that the teams at the top have got stronger for the first time in 15 years, while the chasing pack (PSG, Rennes, Lille and Toulouse) ought to have improved after making ambitious purchases in the transfer market and holding on to most of their important players.

As if all that spending weren’t good news enough, there are also signs that Ligue 1’s days as Europe’s lowest-scoring major league may be coming to an end. Laurent Blanc, one of the finest defenders France has produced, always sought an opportunity to move up from the back, so it’s no surprise that since turning his hand to coaching he’s imbued his Bordeaux side with similar attacking values.

Having seen the former St Etienne and Auxerre centre-half’s relentlessly positive approach – two strikers and a playmaker at home, the will to win rather than draw away games – land him the title in only his second season, some of his contemporaries appear to be throwing off the shackles, too – the opening two weekends of the season spawned 57 goals, an average of 2.85 goals a game, the highest tally in eight seasons. It may not last, but the air of optimism was impossible to escape as 2009-10 kicked off. James Eastham

[RAB SAFC 1879]

Has Mensah been training is he match fit?

[dena]

That's a good article there COYS, it's good to see French clubs improve upon themselves to not only compete domestically (breaking Lyon's 7 year run has seemed to open doors for France's other big clubs) but for Europe as well, it'll be interesting to see how they fare in CL.

[Gorayfle]

O.L. one up. Boumsong with a cheeky backheel.

[DeacsWF]

Anybody know how Sochaux is doin?

[chris louie II]

Originally Posted by DeacsWF

Anybody know how Sochaux is doin?

0-0 v Montpellier at half-time.

ASSE losing again, this time to Boulogne.

[DeacsWF]

Thanks, are you watchin btw?

[Gorayfle]

Gomis really was ASSE only competent striker. Why not go for J. Audel. He's pretty good I hear.

[Gorayfle]

Pjanic with O.L.'s 3rd. A walk in the park with 30 minutes to play.

[DeacsWF]

Pjanic is so good, I saw him in their champions league game with Anderlecht. He's 18 isn't he? Really baffling and can't wait to watch him regularly.

[supersewelly]

Wow, can't believe how low Monaco's attendances are.

[Gorayfle]

Yea, he's 18. Great talent, Serbia is really stepping their youth system. Only problem is he will get Juninho's playmaker spot and that was supposed to go to Ederson .

[supersewelly]

Originally Posted by Gorayfle

Yea, he's 18. Great talent, Serbia is really stepping their youth system. Only problem is he will get Juninho's playmaker spot and that was supposed to go to Ederson .

He's Bosnian isn't he?

[DeacsWF]

Originally Posted by supersewelly

He's Bosnian isn't he?

Yes.

[Gorayfle]

Originally Posted by supersewelly

He's Bosnian isn't he?

Faux pas right there. Thanks for the correction. I better edit it.

Tbh I'm not really surprised Monaco has such low figures.

[supersewelly]

Originally Posted by Gorayfle

Faux pas right there. Thanks for the correction. I better edit it.

Tbh I'm not really surprised Monaco has such low figures.

Yeah, I understand why they would have such low figures, but looking back a team that gets 8k a week was playing in a Champions League final not long ago.