Derby game

The teams entered the match on the back of some very good results in Europe with Lyon ensuring progress to the Champions League next round with a point against Liverpool, while Marseille returned into contention for the second place in the group with a 6:1 win over Zurich. Both sides were a bit inconsistent in Ligue 1 and went into the match trailing Bordeaux by two and seven points respectively. That could have been the fact that pushed the sides into more adventurous approach and that was definitely a good thing.

If someone missed the opening 15 minutes of the game because the old lady from the neighbourhood had asked them to help her track down her missing cat, they would have missed no less than three goals. After Souleymane Diawara’s header cancelled out Miralem Pjanic’s opener, Sidney Govou took the matter into his own hands and scored a beautiful goal after slaloming through Marseille’s defence virtually unchallenged. OM, nevertheless, managed to level the score in the dying moments of the first half when Lloris couldn’t save Benoit Cheyrou’s tame effort.

The second half was even more exciting than the first even though Marseille looked to be on the course to victory when they went two goals up thanks to Kone and Brandao. With just ten minutes to go, Lyon were in a difficult situation but they responded in beautiful manner by overturning the deficit through Lisandro Lopez (2) and Bastos. However, the game was not over since Toulalan’s own goal deep into the injury time gifted the visitors a deserved point in what was one of the most exciting matches in Ligue 1 history.

Even though neither manager is likely to be happy with their side conceding five goals, the fans were and are probably still delighted with the beautiful performance at Gerland. This was a real triumph of football and it certainly gives us hope that more derby games will be like the last OL-OM match.

It was Bazdarevic who led Grenoble to promotion from Ligue 2 and the team had a great start to last season after producing some impressive performances in the top flight. They clearly couldn’t continue the great run of results for much longer but still managed to avoid the relegation fight and finished the season in 13th place. Smart recruitment during the summer was definitely one of the reasons for the good season since the boss had brought mostly players with a wealth of Ligue 1 experience and that worked like a charm. He tried to do something similar this summer, having recruited Ljuboja, Dieuze, Matsui and Viviani but that didn’t have the same effect.

If you look at Grenoble’s results this season, you will see they lost most of the games by the narrowest of margins and could have, probably should have taken some points but the reality is they are sitting at rock bottom pointless after 11 league rounds. The situation is obviously alarming at the moment but it seems the team just need a couple of good results to turn this season around. They definitely have the quality to match most of the teams in the league and are now 9 points adrift of safety, but will need to start picking up points very soon. The only problem is that Grenoble face Monaco, Lyon, Lorient and Toulouse in the next four rounds and these are not exactly the teams they would want to be playing at the moment.

The injuries to strikers Ljuboja and Boya only add to the worries, especially since the Serbian striker has been in great form ever since returning to Ligue 1, having scored four out of Grenoble’s five goals this season. Battles, Dieuze, Vitakic, Paillot, Tadic, Ravet and talented Feghouli are all on the sidelines at the moment and survival looks like the mission impossible, at least for the time being.

French Ligue 1

The biggest shock of the round saw struggling Nice hammer high-flying Lyon 4:1 and Les Aiglons thus knocked Claude Puel’s side from the top of the standings. Not even the most optimistic of Nice fans could have expected such a scenario as their team were facing the side that had just beaten Liverpool at Anfield. It is these kinds of results that make Ligue 1 so special.

Bordeaux took advantage of Lyon’s defeat and returned to the top with an easy win over Le Mans and they are now two points clear of Les Gones. It is Monaco, the surprise package of the season, who are in second place after the away win over Boulogne and it seems that this could be their season after all. Guy Lacombe has hit the ground running in no time and his side are playing great football at the moment.

Montpellier couldn’t continue the outstanding run of results as they were deservedly beaten by Rennes, the side that are slowly climbing the league ladder. I see Les Bretons as one of the best sides in the league and the 3:0 win over high-flying Montpellier is the sign of this.

Grenoble remained without points after 10 rounds as they lost to Nancy despite taking the lead and they are now nine points adrift of safety. Unless they can record few good results in quick succession, Grenoble will go down this season.

Valenciennes and Toulouse remained in mid table with away wins over Saint Etienne and Lens respectively, leaving their opponents in the dangerous zone. Auxerre and Sochaux continued to overachieve by beating Lille and Lorient respectively, and this can be one of the rare seasons when the two teams will not be involved in the relegation fight.

As it is always the case with French Ligue 1, a couple of teams that were expected to fight for survival like Lorient, Auxerre and Sochaux are currently in the top part of the table, while teams like Lens, Saint Etienne, Lille and PSG remain in the bottom half of the standings. As I have already said, this is one of the most interesting competitions in Europe and the unexpected results are something that gives Ligue 1 its credibility.

Olympique Marseille have recently reminded their fans of old glory days as the club are again fighting for the title in Ligue 1 and playing Champions League football. Despite heavy investments in the playing squad, things haven’t been working well at the start of the season but it seems Didier Deschamps’ team have rediscovered their top form in the perfect time. The wins over Nancy and Zurich have helped the players restore much needed confidence before the big match, while due to the struggles of their title rivals, OM are still just three points off leaders Lyon. Boss Deschamps has almost full squad to choose from as Diawara has recovered from injury, but he’s been making a lot of changes lately and even Deschamps himself doesn’t know which team will start. The good thing is that the team kept two successive clean sheets, although nobody is too impressed with Hilton-M’Bia partnership in the heart of defence. Heinze is a good solution for the left-back position as he is much more defence-minded than Taiwo and it looks that defence can win them this game since Marseille have got more than enough attacking potential. Niang, Brandao, Kone, Ben Arfa, Valbuena, you name it.

Unlike their rivals, PSG had a good start of the season but they have recently started to struggle. The Saints picked up just three points from their last five games and the alarm bells are on. In all fairness, coach Antoine Kombouare had a lot of problems with injured players but a team supposedly fighting for the title simple need to have decent replacements for first team regulars. PSG have a very good starting 11 but they lack some strength in depth and that is the main reason for the poor results. The Saints probably have the best attacking partnership in the league but Horau and Erding haven’t played a single game together so far. First Hoarau was injured and then Erding and now it’s Hoarau all over again. The good thing for Komboare is that Erding has recovered from injury and he will be fit to play, whereas Makelele is also back. However, Giuly, Sakho and Clement are all injury doubts and if they fail to recover, it will be a problem.

As we all know, current form plays almost no part in derby games and that is the only reason why the Saints can hope to get a result at Velodrome. If this was a regular game, I would expect Marseille to win with relative ease but this is why derbies are so interesting.

In the first match of the round Auxerre will host second-placed Bordeaux in an attempt to continue the great run of results. Auxerre took 10 points from last 4 rounds and they enter the match high on confidence, unlike their opponents who lose to Saint Etienne in the last round. Nevertheless, Laurent Blanc’s side have too much quality at the moment for the hosts and I am pretty sure they will win the game.

High-flying Montpellier are set to host awakened Saint Etienne in what should be a very interesting match. The hosts have been exceeding expectations so far but Saint Etienne should have enough in them to win this match.

Leaders Lyon face an easy job against struggling Sochaux and home win looks like a banker here. Claude Puel will have much bigger squad to choose from then few weeks back and Les Gones are expected to record a big win.

Relegation strugglers Le Mans and Boulogne are set for a very important match as these are the teams that will be involved in the relegation fight. These are two evenly matched teams but I will give a slight advantage to Le Mans only because of the home field advantage.

The big question is whether Grenoble will be able to win their first points of the season. They travel to Valenciennes to face free-scoring hosts and maybe this is the time for them to kick-start their season. The odds are Grenoble will get something from this match but it will probably be just one point.

Marseille need to prove they are serious title contenders as they are already six points behind the leaders. Nancy have beaten them 3:0 at Velodrome last season and it’s payback time. I see Marseille just winning this one.

Last game on Saturday will see a derby match between Lille and Rennes (Lille-Rennes odds). Both sides were expected to challenge for the European places this term but are somewhat struggling at the moment and we expect a very exciting match as both sides will be looking for a win. Rennes is my choice here as they are the better team.

In-form Lorient play host to Nice and this is where we are likely to see a surprise. Lorient are exceeding expectations while the situation with Nice is totally different and maybe it’s time for things to fall into place. Away win.

Monaco have the chance to remain very close to the top as they host Lens, the team that have started to struggle after the good start of the season. Nevertheless, the hosts will not have an easy job and i can see a very good Lens side taking at least one point.

The pick of the round is Toulouse-PSG match that will be played on Sunday evening. Both teams are underperforming at the moment and this is obviously a chance to kick-start their season. PSG are far from desired form and I don’t think they’ll be able to penetrate Toulouse’s impressive defence. Draw.

AS Monaco

As I have already mentioned, Monaco had a lot of success in its history, which was capped with the Champions League final in 2004, but the club’s downtrend started from the season that followed the big success as president Pierre Svara failed to hold on to the star players in the team. Ever since, Monaco have been one of the most boring teams in France as they were only restricted to mid table finishes.

The club management didn’t have a lot of money to spend this summer and they were forced to mostly rely on young but very talented players from their youth academy, like Nimani, Mollo, Thuram, Gakpe, Mongongu and N’Koulou. They, nevertheless, managed to bring a very good coach in Guy Lacombe, who has plenty of experience of working with young players, having had led Rennes, the club with the best youth academy in France, for three years. Lacombe’s reputation seems to have been enough to attract players like Gudjohnsen, Puygrenier and Coutadeur, who are expected to be of big help to the younger players.

As a result, Monaco are sitting fourth in Ligue 1 with 15 points from 8 games, after the memorable win over Marseille at Velodrome. The win over the title contenders could be just what they needed to kick-start this season and finally mount a serious challenge for the European places. Even though this is a very young team, even the youngsters have at least one season of Ligue 1 football behind them and will definitely get even better as they gain more experience. While it seems early for this team to shine this term and challenge the top 5 finish, next season could be the season Monaco fans will have been waiting for six years.

Saint Etienne

This is not Bergessio’s first European club as he has already played a couple of games for Benfica after joining the Eagles from Racing Club but he failed to leave his mark in Portugal and quickly returned to Argentina, that is to San Lorenzo. A year and a half at San Lorenzo saw him emerge as one of the leading strikers in Argentina and impressive performances in Argentinean League helped him earn three caps for the national team. This is one of the reasons Bergessio opted to make a switch to France as he intends to get back in the reckoning for the national team before the World Cup in South Africa.

When the player arrived to Saint Etienne, he was expected to step right into the first team and didn’t have enough time to adapt but that didn’t stop him from scoring four goals in as many games for the new club. Bergessio immediately formed a special understanding with fellow striker Boubacar Sanogo and it is these two that are expected to solve the problems in the scoring department. Everybody at the club is delighted with Bergessio’s contribution at the start of his career and if he continues his current run of form, Les Verts will have no problems avoiding the drop.

This is the player that does a lot of work for the team but at the same time he is very ruthless in front of goal and you cannot ask much more from a striker. Coach Alain Perrin recognized the player’s winning mentality and expects some of it to rub off on other players. Team’s uptrend in form came as a logical result of Bergessio’s goals and Saint Etienne have slowly started climbing the Ligue 1 ladder. The signings they made in the nick of time like Bergessio, Sanogo and Fernandez seem to have been spot on and they couldn’t have signed better players even if they had had whole summer to think about them. The new players have added a lot of quality to the side, especially Bergessio, and I expect Les Verts to play even better when the players fully adapt to the new surroundings.

Rennes have an excellent base for the first team set-up as their youth academy has been voted the best in France for three successive years and I would like to remind you that players like Petr Cech and Yoann Gourcuff have been shaped into the players they are by Rennes’ youth coaches. Their own players make up much of the current first team set-up with Moussa Sow, Jimmy Briand, Fabien Lemoine and Yann M’Vila all coming through the youth ranks at the club. With fresh bunch of talented youngsters making it to the first team every year, the club doesn’t need to spend a lot of money on new players.

The club management have made a very good move by bringing very ambitious Frederic Antonetti to take over the reigns from Guy Lacombe, while they also signed a couple of very good players this summer like Ismael Bangoura, Alexander Tettey and Junichi Inamoto, while excellent striker Asamoah Gyan has finally recovered from injury. When impressive Jimmy Briand returns to full fitness, boss Antonetti will have the team capable of matching the best in the league. Rennes have already proven their immense quality by taking 12 points from first six rounds and they are yet to lose a game this season. I have no doubts they’ll achieve a top five finish this season and if the club continues going in the right direction, I can see them winning the Ligue 1 title in a couple of years’ time.

Frederic Antonetti now has a good blend of youth and experience and this side will obviously continue to progress as the time goes by. With just few more new players and a couple of youngsters from their own academy that will gain much needed experience over the next couple of years, Les Bretons look capable of fighting teams like Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille for the coveted Ligue 1 title.

Olympique Marseille

OM have emerged as one of the favourites for the Ligue 1 title this season after the heavy recruitment during the summer and the squad definitely have enough depth to play well in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League. However, while the start of the league campaign have been more or less satisfying, the opening Champions League game exhibited some weaknesses that could prevent the team from challenging for trophies this term.

You probably remember that Marseille had outplayed teams like Liverpool, PSV and Atletico Madrid in the last edition of the Champions League but they could only take three points against PSV and that showed they were still not ready to play at the highest level despite the quality the team possessed. Same thing happened this season as they completely outclassed a very poor Milan side but went on to lose the game even though apart from the two goals, the Italians never really threatened Steve Mandanda.

It is more than clear that this side do not possess the winning mentality that is simply crucial if the team are to fight for honours. Maybe with the integration of new players that had fought for trophies in some other clubs this will change, but for the time being, despite the plenty of quality throughout the squad, Marseille do not look as serious title contenders.

Even last season, when Marseille were fighting for the title, they somehow missed every chance they had to leapfrog one of their rivals at the top of the table and the team are also struggling to win derby games against the title contenders. These are some heavy problems for the team that so desperately want to win the league title and unless OM improves on this aspect of the game, their fans will not have plenty to cheer about, come end of the season.

Raymond Domenech spent big part of his playing career in Lyon and he was known as one of those old style defenders that would do anything just to stop their opponent. Need I say that he had no technical skills whatsoever and that he wasn’t really the best possible candidate for the coaching career? He, nevertheless took up coaching and after ten years in charge of Les Bleus under-21 side somehow managed to get appointed as the boss of the senior national team.

He immediately became the laughing stock of the nation when he opted not to call certain players like Robert Pires because of the ‘unfavourable’ star sign. His side struggled to reach the World Cup 2006 even though their main competitors were Republic of Ireland and Switzerland. France managed to reach the final but Domenech had nothing to do with that success.

Les Bleus were then eliminated from the Euro 2008 after the group stage, but yet again Domenech stayed. France are now largely struggling in the World Cup qualifiers and they are four points adrift of Serbia, the team they will face tonight in Belgrade, but nobody is surprised any more. Narrow wins over Faroe Islands, defeats to Austria and draws against Romania at Saint Denis have become a normal thing for what was not so long ago the team that ruled the World. And they have only mad man Domenech to thank to.

The players are aware that Domenech doesn’t know much about football and even captain Henry admitted they don’t really know what the boss wants them to do on the pitch. Domenech, on the other hand, continues with ridiculous statements like the one where he said the match in Belgrade would not be decisive for his side even though the defeat in this match would see them lose all chances to finish top of the group.

When one see who is leading one of the best national teams in Europe, one has to wonder just what kind of people are in charge of the football association in France. Maybe Domenech has signed an eternal contract with France national team that states a heavy punishment will be inflicted upon those who try to sack him, since that would be the only logical explanation as to why he is still the national team boss.