Le Championnat [Archive] - Page 6

BB Bob

08-02-2009, 08:53 AM

PSG rout Nantes to close gap
Paris Saint-Germain have closed to within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Lyon thanks to an emphatic 4-1 defeat of Nantes on Saturday. Ludovic Giuly struck twice while Peguy Luyindula and Stéphane Sessegnon both found the net as Paul Le Guen's men swept to a third successive league victory.
Saturday, February 07, 2009

FC Nantes / Paris Saint-Germain : 1 - 4

It had been a testing week in the build-up to the game with new club president Sébastien Bazin's first task to suspend Mateja Kežman, while a knee injury meant top scorer Guillaume Hoarau was unable to lead the line at the Stade de la Beaujoire Louis Fonteneau.

That left Le Guen two strikers short, but it barely showed as Giuly's early goal laid the foundations for one of PSG's most impressive performances of the season as they swept aside the disappointment of Wednesday's 3-0 League Cup semi-final defeat to Bordeaux to join the second-placed Girondins on 42 points.

Paired with Luyindula up front, the former French international had already struck a post before he snapped onto the loose ball when the home defence failed to clear his strike partner's cross to give his side a 12th-minute lead.

Nerves

Luyindula doubled the visitors' advantage ten minutes later after latching onto Claude Makelele's long ball, only for the hosts to be thrown a lifeline eight minutes before the interval when Sylvain Armand upended Aurelien Capoue in the box - Djamel Abdoun beat former Nantes captain Mickaël Landreau from the spot.

If there were any nerves among the PSG players during the half-time break, they were dispelled barely four minutes after the restart when Giuly claimed his second of the night.

Sessegnon then wrapped up an impressive win with the fourth on 69 minutes to give former PSG goalkeeper and current Nantes number one Jérôme Alonzo a night to forget.

Lille put Sochaux to the sword
Pierre-Alain Frau scored against former side Sochaux to help Lille come back from two goals down to clinch a thrilling 3-2 win on Saturday and move into fifth place in the table.
Saturday, February 07, 2009

LOSC / FC Sochaux-Montbéliard : 3 - 2

A run of one defeat in eight Ligue 1 matches prior to kick-off had seen Sochaux inch ever closer to moving out of the bottom three, and they appeared destined to build on last weekend's surprise defeat of Marseille as they went two goals up before the break.

Front duo Mevlut Erding and Václav Svěrkoš linked up to provide Romain Pitau with the chance to open his account for the season on 33 minutes before Svěrkoš scored his second goal in four games for the Montbéliard club as he swept home a 41st-minute penalty awarded for a foul on the Czech international.

Lille, though, had moved to within touching distance of the top three thanks to a run of one defeat in 15 league matches, and Rudi Garcia's men were able to find their way back into the game following Sochaux defender Omar Daf's sending-off for a second bookable offence just five minutes into the second half.

Frau began the fightback on 59 minutes before Slovak forward Robert Vittek brought the hosts level with 16 minutes left to play.

That proved ample time for Hazard to reaffirm the massive potential that has helped the 18-year-old win a place in the Lille midfield as his low drive beat Teddy Richert to complete a remarkable turnaround and leave Sochaux positioned precariously four points from safety.

Hot-shot Gignac takes Toulouse fourth
André-Pierre Gignac scored goal number 14 of a prolific season as Toulouse beat struggling Le Mans on Saturday to move into fourth. Rennes lost ground as they suffered a surprise last-gasp defeat at Le Havre, while Saint-Etienne spiced up the relegation battle by beating Caen 3-2.
Saturday, February 07, 2009

Toulouse FC / Le Mans UC 72 : 2 - 0

Alain Casanova's side extended their unbeaten run to eight league games with victory over a Le Mans side in freefall.

In his first match since taking over first-team affairs, Le Mans coach Daniel Jeandupeux saw his side hold their hosts at bay until just a minute before the break when Moussa Sissoko made the breakthrough.

Gignac then moved to the top of the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts as he struck ten minutes from time to leave the visitors with just a single point from their last six league encounters.

>> Team Sheet

Havre AC / Stade Rennais FC : 1 - 0

Rennes' bid for a top-three finish took a major blow as Amadou Alassane's injury-time goal gave Le Havre a rare victory.

The Normandy club's top scorer struck his eighth of the season to revive his side's faint hopes of avoiding relegation while leaving Guy Lacombe's men with just a point from their last three Ligue 1 matches.

>> Team Sheet

FC Lorient / AS Monaco FC : 1 - 1

Monaco continued their recent upturn in fortunes by extending their unbeaten run to three league games with a point in Brittany.

Yohan Mollo's first goal of the season had put the visitors ahead on 21 minutes, but Les Merlus levelled on the hour mark through Fabrice Abriel to leave both teams firmly ensconced in mid-table.

>> Team Sheet

AS Nancy Lorraine / AJ Auxerre : 0 - 2

Auxerre picked up their first victory since Week 14 to keep their heads above water.

Defender Cédric Hengbart put Jean Fernandez's men ahead on 36 minutes when he nodded in Benôit Pedretti's free-kick before Ireneusz Jelen claimed his fourth of the season just after half-time to keep his team out of the relegation zone.

>> Team Sheet

AS Saint-Etienne / SM Caen : 3 - 2

Three goals in eight second-half minutes ensured Saint-Etienne would end the weekend outside the drop zone and brought their visitors into the midst of the relegation battle.

Alain Perrin's team had gone behind on 22 minutes when Mouhamadou Dabo put through his own goal, but Bafétimbi Gomis' 63rd-minute strike heralded a purple patch for the hosts as Brazilian Ilan found the net twice in quick succession to give Les Verts a two-goal cushion.

Steve Savidan's late effort - his ninth league goal of the season - was scant consolation for Caen, who have not won since late November.

BB Bob

08-02-2009, 08:54 AM

Ligue 1 P W D L GD Pts
1 Olympique Lyonnais 22 12 7 3 +13 43

2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 22 12 6 4 +17 42
3 Paris Saint-Germain 23 13 3 7 +9 42

4 Toulouse FC 23 11 8 4 +10 41

5 LOSC 22 10 9 3 +11 39
6 Olympique de Marseille 22 10 8 4 +12 38
7 Stade Rennais FC 23 9 11 3 +10 38
8 OGC Nice 21 9 6 6 +5 33
9 FC Lorient 23 7 9 7 +2 30
10 AS Monaco FC 23 7 7 9 -1 28
11 AS Nancy Lorraine 22 7 7 8 -3 28
12 FC Nantes 23 7 5 11 -11 26
13 Le Mans UC 72 22 7 4 11 -7 25
14 Grenoble Foot 38 22 6 7 9 -8 25
15 SM Caen 22 5 9 8 -1 24
16 AJ Auxerre 23 6 6 11 -7 24
17 AS Saint-Etienne 23 7 3 13 -13 24

18 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 23 3 11 9 -7 20
19 Valenciennes FC 21 4 7 10 -8 19
20 Havre AC 23 4 3 16 -23 15

Lyon can't afford any slip ups tonight...

kabbott

08-02-2009, 10:49 AM

From the highlights I saw last night:

1) PSG looked really good
2) Great come-back from Reggie's boys
3) Steve Savidan should have scored 6 last night, so his misses and/or Janot's saves let ASSE back in
4) Good come-back too from Lille. I was following on the radio and stopped when they were 0:2 down after about an hour's play. Lille could be the dark horses.

As for today's fixtures, they are the sort of matches that, in the past, Lyon win easily and the threatening second-placed team contrive to c*ck up, and Lyon confirm their supremacy. If this doesn't happen (at least if Lyon don't win convincingly), then I will start to get worried. Bordeaux looked good the other night. They play pretty football, score goals and don't just rely on one player to do so.

BB Bob

08-02-2009, 05:26 PM

A week to forget for nos amis du cote d'azur.

- Terminé Nice (8) 1 - 3 Lyon (1)
Apam (45e+1)
Makoun (17e, 80e)
Benzema (26e)

Nice have two sent off as Lyon have fun by the sea....

kabbott

08-02-2009, 05:35 PM

A week to forget for nos amis du cote d'azur.

- Terminé Nice (8) 1 - 3 Lyon (1)
Apam (45e+1)
Makoun (17e, 80e)
Benzema (26e)

Nice have two sent off as Lyon have fun by the sea....

Lyon without breaking into a sweat if I may say so. Nice threatened at the start of the 2nd half until their first player got red carded for a reckless challenge. That made it 10 against 10, if you saw yet another stunning performance from Keita. We've got Lawrence, and it looks like the first name on Claude's feuille de match is Keita's. Put Keita and Piquionne in the same team for 90 minutes, it would be funnier than any French comedy series.

BB Bob

08-02-2009, 06:43 PM

Put Keita and Piquionne in the same team for 90 minutes, it would be funnier than any French comedy series.

...that's not very stiff competition though....

jookbeard

08-02-2009, 07:45 PM

See Ben Arfa Daley's not playing

BB Bob

08-02-2009, 09:15 PM

I don't know if he was injured or not, but he's not been right in the head for most of the season. Anyway, OM won without him:-

17:00 Grenoble Foot 38 0 - 0 Valenciennes FC
17:00 OGC Nice 1 - 3 Olympique Lyonnais
21:00 Olympique de Marseille 1 - 0 FC Girondins de Bordeaux

Which gives a most interesting table of

1 Olympique Lyonnais 23 13 7 3 +15 46

2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 23 12 6 5 +16 42
3 Paris Saint-Germain 23 13 3 7 +9 42

4 Olympique de Marseille 23 11 8 4 +13 41

5 Toulouse FC 23 11 8 4 +10 41
6 LOSC 22 10 9 3 +11 39
7 Stade Rennais FC 23 9 11 3 +10 38
8 OGC Nice 22 9 6 7 +3 33
9 FC Lorient 23 7 9 7 +2 30
10 AS Monaco FC 23 7 7 9 -1 28
11 AS Nancy Lorraine 22 7 7 8 -3 28
12 Grenoble Foot 38 23 6 8 9 -8 26
13 FC Nantes 23 7 5 11 -11 26
14 Le Mans UC 72 22 7 4 11 -7 25
15 SM Caen 22 5 9 8 -1 24
16 AJ Auxerre 23 6 6 11 -7 24
17 AS Saint-Etienne 23 7 3 13 -13 24

18 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 23 3 11 9 -7 20
19 Valenciennes FC 22 4 8 10 -8 20
20 Havre AC 23 4 3 16 -23 15

kabbott

08-02-2009, 09:58 PM

As for today's fixtures, they are the sort of matches that, in the past, Lyon win easily and the threatening second-placed team contrive to c*ck up, and Lyon confirm their supremacy. If this doesn't happen (at least if Lyon don't win convincingly), then I will start to get worried. Bordeaux looked good the other night. They play pretty football, score goals and don't just rely on one player to do so.

Well predicted!

GodstoneEagle

08-02-2009, 11:45 PM

Well done sir!

kabbott

09-02-2009, 11:19 AM

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Ederson: 'Nice turning point'

Champions Lyon have some breathing room at the top after beating Nice 3-1. Victory was sweet for Hugo Lloris and Ederson on their return to their old club, with the latter describing the three points as a “turning point”.
A vital win for coach Claude Puel's men was only their third in nine Ligue 1 games. Widely criticised for their pragmatic style of play this season, it was particularly sweet for the seven-time champions to score three goals to temporarily silence their detractors.

There was plenty of emotion for Lloris, France's number two goalkeeper, who spent 11 years at Nice before joining Lyon for a fee estimated at 8 million euros last summer. Brazilian wide man Ederson made the same move but was even more costly at 14 million.

Ederson provided the cross for Jean II Makoun to net the first of his two goals and enjoyed one of his better games in a Lyon shirt.

'On the front foot'

Ederson said: "I spent three and a half years here and it was a great pleasure for me to play once again at the Stade du Ray. This result could be the turning point of our season. We have to keep this performance in mind for future games. We have to be just as committed, keep working as a team and remember how we played on the front foot and went out and scored goals."

Lyon's French international striker Karim Benzema both scored and missed a penalty in a match Nice finished with nine men. Two new signings, midfielder Julien Sablé and Brazilian striker Adeilson, were sent off in the second half.

Lyon captain Juninho, Adeilson's compatriot, said: "The red cards were totally justified. We were up against a team who had played 120 minutes of football in the League Cup semi-finals against Vannes in midweek [Nice lost on penalties] and we took advantage of their fatigue."

Poor home form

Ironically the biggest obstacle between Lyon and their eighth Ligue 1 title in a row is their faltering home form. The champions have drawn their last four Ligue 1 gales at the Stade Gerland.

Claude Puel said: "It is strange. We win away and we draw at home. We now have to sort that out and make our home support happy."

Lyon's next home game sees them face Ligue 1's bottom club Le Havre on Sunday February 15.

kabbott

09-02-2009, 11:21 AM

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Chamakh’s own goal horror
Come the end of the season a distraught Marouane Chamakh will hope that his own goal at Marseille has not deprived Bordeaux of a first title since the 1998/99 season.
Bordeaux needed to win at the Stade Vélodrome to remain a point behind leaders Lyon after the Week 23 games. Les Girondins did not help their own cause. Defender Souleymane Diawara was sent off late on for a second yellow card. The game's decisive moment, though, came in the 57th minute.

Marseille midfielder Karim Ziani swung over a free kick from the left and Chamakh, under no pressure, powered a header past a startled Ulrich Ramé.

'Disgusted'

Chamakh said: "I'm disgusted to have scored an own goal and to have lost. We could have won this game. But we're now four points behind Lyon. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes."

Statisticians cruelly point out that this was the Bordeaux striker's fourth goal in his last three Ligue 1 away games; the other three, of course, having been scored at the right end.

Chamakh has form when it comes to shooting his own team in the foot. An own goal in a home game against Lille in January 2007 brought an end to a run of eight games without defeat for his side.

France's number 1

Bordeaux had plenty of chances but came up against a Marseille goalkeeper in Steve Mandanda who was in inspirational form. With Raymond Domenech in the stands, Mandanda justified his billing as France's number 1 ahead of Wednesday evening's friendly against Argentina in Marseille.

Mandanda said: "Of course I wanted to play well in front of the national team coach. This was a high-level match, the intensity was worthy of the Champions League. This is a real breakthrough for us as at last we've beaten one of Ligue 1's top teams."

Marseille joy

Eric Gerets' side have struggled against France's big guns this season but are now up to fourth in the table, a point behind Bordeaux and a further four behind champions Lyon.

Gerets said: "That was like a cup final for us but not for Bordeaux and it showed. If we had lost we would have been seventh in the table. As things stand we're not totally out of the championship race. The objectives we laid down at the beginning of the season are still attainable. And what is more it was a great, open match which is rare when two big teams meet."

kabbott

11-02-2009, 09:08 AM

One to look out for.

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Foreign correspondent: Eden Hazard
Lille’s 18-year-old Belgian wonderkid Eden Hazard has a special talent. Dubbed a “little Messi” by former coach Claude Puel, Hazard confesses to dreaming of one day winning the Ballon d’Or.
Hazard's current prominence owes just a little bit to chance. His late winner at home to Sochaux in Week 23 drew flattering headlines but Hazard was only playing because Brazilian star Michel Bastos was out with a calf problem.

The goal was invaluable and showcased the diminutive forward's talent. By his own admission his first touch to control a long ball was not great but the youngster composed himself, cut in from his left wing berth and planted a perfect shot into the corner of the net to secure a precious three points for his side in their quest for European qualification.

Hazard said: "In coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 we showed our quality. The joy when you win like that is so intense and now we've gone nine games unbeaten."

International debut

Hazard made his international debut as a precocious 17-year-old in a 1-1 draw with Luxembourg last November. He was again named in the Belgian squad for this week's friendly with Slovenia. His second club goal of the season came four days before Luxembourg-Belgium, his third four days before Belgium-Slovenia. Maybe Lille coach Rudi Garcia should try to arrange more international fixtures?

Born in the Belgian town of Louvière on January 7 1991, Hazard made his Lille debut as a 16-year-old against Nancy in November 2007 and scored his first Ligue 1 goal in September 2008 against Auxerre.

Impressive Ligue 1 form enabled him to skip a stage in his international development, jumping from the Under-19 squad to the senior side.

Seventh youngest debutant

An appearance as a 67th minute substitute in Luxembourg made him the seventh youngest player to have been capped by Les Diables Rouges. Hazard joked: "That's not bad, but I would have loved to have been number one!"

His international debut saw him impress observers with his technique, movement and maturity. And he almost scored with his first real touch after a weaving, jinking run.

Hazard said: "I used the ball well but I didn't catch the shot right. I wanted to put more curl on the ball but there was a little bobble just as I went to shoot."

Fresh face

He is a player in a hurry, determined to make an impact. "I wasn't stressed on my international debut. For me playing in front of 10 or 10,000 spectators amounts to the same thing. Now I've tasted international football I want much more of it. The national squad was a bit tired and needed some fresh faces. I try to contribute what I can as a new boy."

Hazard's first thought as he made his international bow was for his family. "As always I didn't want to forget all they've done for me in the past and what they continue to do for me now."

Lille coach Rudi Garcia has used Hazard sparingly this season yet already the ambitious teenager has plundered three Ligue 1 goals from just 383 minutes of action. When Bastos returns to action Hazard is likely to have to renew his acquaintance with the Stadium Lille Métropole bench.

Finding a balance between protecting the player without stunting his development will be one of Garcia's welcome headaches. With a three-year contract signed last autumn and bags of potential, Hazard is a man in a hurry.

More Messi than Scifo

Garcia's predecessor Claude Puel, who left Lille to join champions Lyon last summer, gets the final word on the player he handed a Ligue 1 debut at 16.

"He needs to develop a greater range to his game and become more consistent. Does he make me think of Enzo Scifo? No. He's more like Messi. He's small, can beat players and has a low centre of gravity. He has pure pace and is capable of beating three or four opponents in a flash."

BB Bob

12-02-2009, 12:02 PM

Marseille emerge as contenders after Chamakh's calamity

An own goal from Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh gave Marseille victory in the battle of Lyon's closest challengers

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Marseille players celebrate the own goal scored by Marouane Chamakh, far right, that decided the match between Lyon's Ligue 1 challengers. Photograph: Claude Paris/AP

He's a centre-forward who hardly ever scores. He wants to play for Arsenal but Tottenham will also do. And he scored the winning goal in France's biggest game this weekend, but was "disgusted with himself" after the match. Poor old Marouane Chamakh: the Bordeaux striker's headed goal just before the hour-mark went into his own net, giving Olympique Marseille a 1-0 win in the battle of the challengers for Lyon's Ligue 1 crown.

It might have been different had Chamakh not shot wide after Yoann Gourcuff's early backheel set him up, or if Steve Mandanda had not kept out Fernando Cavenaghi when he was clean through. But as the game went on, Marseille grew in confidence and despite missing four first-teamers – their captain Lorik Cana, top-scorer Mamadou Niang, Bakary Koné and Ronald Zubar – found an unlikely hero in Sylvain Wiltord, the 34-year-old making his first home start for the club. After Chamakh had deflected Karim Ziani's free-kick past Ulrich Ramé, Wiltord even had a goal wrongly ruled out 15 minutes from time. "Wiltord is still here", ran L'Equipe's headline.

The Marseille coach Eric Gerets knew it was a must-win game and his side are now one point behind Bordeaux and five behind Lyon. "We showed that L'OM are capable of getting stuck in and you could feel what was at stake," Gerets said. "We had more to lose than Bordeaux: it was a final for us, not for them. We just have another 15 finals to play now." His future still remains unclear though, and perhaps it was significant that Marseille won with Hatem Ben Arfa on the bench. To his immense frustration, Gerets has been unable to tame the big summer signing. .

This was Bordeaux's chance to show Lyon they are serious contenders but just like at Stade Gerland during week 14, they fell short. "We've been knocking Lyon for several weeks but sadly they're still in front," said the former Bordeaux hero Alain Giresse. "My fear is that no one took the opportunity when they dropped points, and Lyon will get back on track before the end of the season."

The Bordeaux manager, Laurent Blanc, on the other hand, was left to bemoan the missed opportunities, which included Gourcuff heading wide and Jussiê hitting a post late on. The only consolation, it seemed, was that Le Président now has a man-crush on Gerets. "I like his attitude, his analysis and I like him as a man," said Blanc. "It's a bit like with a woman: when you like a woman, you just like her. Gerets is the best signing that L'OM have made."

Lyon's lead is now up to four points after they won 3-1 at Nice, with the midfielder Ederson setting up goals for Jean Makoun and Karim Benzema, on his return to his former club, before Julien Sablé's two-footed challenge on him reduced the hosts to 10 men. The biggest surprise, in fact, was that Nice had two men sent off and neither were their hard-man defender "Sex and Drugs and" Cyril Rool. "Cyril could have been part of France's 1998 world champion generation, he's that good," said the Nice coach Frédéric Antonetti. "But his personality didn't help. Other guys are perhaps smarter and come across better in the media, but it's guys like Rool that make you win matches."

Not this time, Frédi, whose bad week started with the League Cup semi-final loss on penalties to the second division team Vannes, and continued on Sunday when they went down to nine men when the substitute Adeilson elbowed Jean-Alain Boumsong after only 15 minutes on the pitch.

"We're on a funny old run as we win away from home and keep drawing at home but this was a big win for us," said the Lyon coach Claude Puel. L'Equipe suggested that when Le Havre visit Lyon next week, the champions, having drawn their past four home games, might want to use the away team's dressing-room.

Paris Saint-Germain are still in the race and hardly missed Guillaume Hoarau in their 4-1 win at Nantes. "We've rarely bossed a game like that and if we can continue playing like that, then we have the right to dream," said Jérôme Rothen.

It has been a weird week in the capital: as expected, Sébastien Bazin replaced Charles Villeneuve as president, before Bordeaux beat PSG 3-0 in the League Cup semi-final, a game in which Mateja Kezman threw off his shirt and left it on the pitch after he was substituted. The club suspended him for two weeks and his recruitment, at the urging of Villeneuve, appears ever more ludicrous.

"We need to help Kezman, but I'm not too worried about the presidential situation because I'm on my sixth in five years, so I don't get too attached to them," Rothen told L'Equipe. "Anyway, I never wanted conflict with Jacques Villeneuve." "You mean Charles?" the reporter responded. "Yes, Charles," laughed PSG's answer to Joe Kinnear, "but he won't mind, he often used to get our names wrong."

Lille are France's form side, coming from two goals down to beat Sochaux 3-2: the sixth time they have been behind and got something out of the game. If the season had started in week four, they would be top of the table. As it is, they will move into joint-second if they win their game in hand against Le Mans next week. Lille will still be missing the long-term injury victim Tulio di Melo, but Michel Bastos, one of Ligue 1's stars of the season so far, should be back. His replacement against Sochaux, 18-year-old Eden Hazard, scored their last-minute winner and follows Kevin Mirallas as the latest young Belgian prospect to nip over the border and look rather good.

Rennes are doing less well and were victims of the shock result of 2009 when Le Havre ended a run of seven consecutive defeats with a 1-0 win over the Champions League chasers. Rennes have now scored only six goals in their past nine matches and their top scorer, Mikaël Pagis, last scored on 9 November, with Jimmy Briand's last effort one week later. Asamoah Gyan, their €8.5m summer signing from Udinese, limped off with yet another injury. Grenoble are also goal-shy: they drew 0-0 with Valenciennes, are yet to score in 2009, and have only scored four goals in 11 matches in their new stadium.

Both clubs could do with Ligue 1's top-scorer André-Pierre Gignac, back on the score-sheet in Toulouse's 2-0 win over Le Mans. "I'm not letting him go anywhere, and if so, he's going to cost €120m," said the Toulouse president Olivier Sadran. "After all, Lyon say Benzema costs €100m and A-P has scored more than him."

Attention this week remains in Marseille, where France play Argentina on Wednesday night. Diego Maradona got a hero's welcome when he flew in on Sunday night, 19 years after he almost joined Marseille. He is a bigger draw than Raymond Domenech, whose surprise squad picks were the Toulouse goalkeeper Cedric Carasso and Saint-Etienne's Mouhamadou Dabo. For France, expect Eric Abidal to give his Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi an easy ride. "The most important thing is that I don't injure him," said Abidal. "If I did that, Barcelona would tear up my contract."

It will also be interesting to hear Domenech's reaction to the allegation in So Foot magazine that Nicolas Sarkoky is so desperate to see the coach out of a job that he wants France to miss out on South Africa 2010. "Keeping on Domenech adds to the current climate of despair in France," the magazine reported Sarkozy telling an adviser. "Screwing things up and still holding onto your job is great French tradition."

There are obvious similarities between the two men's management styles (Florent Malouda, winger, dropped; Rachida Dati, Minister of Justice, sacked), but that's about all they have in common. "He is as bloody boring a national coach as he was when he played for Lyon," Sarko is alleged to have told a friend at the Parc des Princes. On that count, he is definitely in the wrong: Domenech may be lots of things, but bloody boring isn't one of them.

kabbott

13-02-2009, 10:35 AM

Domenech is making new friends.

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Blanc blast for Domenech over Gourcuff.

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc said the "ridiculous" decision to allow Yoann Gourcuff to play all 90 minutes of France's friendly with Argentina on Wednesday could harm both the cause of club and country as he prepares his team to face Grenoble this weekend.

Gourcuff, who has missed just one league game for Les Girondins this season, had been expected to make way for former Marseille star Samir Nasri at half-time at the Stade Vélodrome.

However, Raymond Domenech changed his mind as he firmed up his plans for the upcoming World Cup qualifying double bill against Lithuania. Blanc, however, believes the move could work against Domenech and himself.

"I saw what happened, but I'm not the national team boss," said Blanc, who was a candidate for the then-vacant post when Domenech was awarded the job in 2004.

"We just have to take it on the chin. It could cause me a problem, but it could also be tricky for him, because if I play Yoann again and he gets injured, then he won't be available to play against Lithuania. So, it's a ridiculous situation."

Blanc added: "In a tough match like that [against Argentina], I would have hoped that he would give Yoann a breather, especially given the fact he could make a lot of changes, and that he'd seen Yoann play only three days previously."

kabbott

13-02-2009, 10:37 AM

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Ederson demands more home work

Home is where the heart is, they say, but Ederson believes Lyon need to be more committed at Stade Municipal de Gerland if they are to retain their Ligue 1 title this season.

With a quartet of draws and just two goals in their last four league games at Gerland, Lyon's recent home form has been so mediocre there have been suggestions Claude Puel's men should occupy the away dressing-room to ensure an improved showing when Le Havre arrive in town on Sunday.

"We mustn't drop any more points at home," said Ederson, who had a simple explanation for his side's frustration in front of their own supporters. "Teams are highly motivated when they come to Gerland, and we can't expect any easy games.

"When we've played away, we've shown exemplary team spirit, which we have to reproduce at home. We have to be focussed and fight for every ball for 95 minutes."

Nice boost

Last weekend's impressive 3-1 win at Nice was ample illustration of the Brazilian's point as OL transformed a one-point lead prior to the weekend into a four-point advantage after it thanks to an industrious display on the south coast.

"We played a very good game at Nice - it was one of our best league performances of the season," said the ex-Nice midfielder, who joined Lyon last summer.

"Our attacking display was good, but we have to highlight our defensive work - everyone made the effort required. We have to keep that in mind for the remainder of the season. It could be the game that kickstarts our season, but we have to stay focussed as we're only four points ahead - that's nothing."

Anything other than three points against the league's bottom side on Sunday would be a major surprise, but Ederson is wary of Frédéric Hantz's men who shocked Rennes with a last-minute winner in Week 23.

"Anything can happen in football," said the 23-year-old, who scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot when the sides met in Normandy in Week 6. "We have respect for Le Havre. I remember that in the first game we only won 1-0 and it wasn't easy. Le Havre won against Rennes last weekend, and we have to stay humble in order to win the game."

'Defensive solidity'

While Lyon start favourites against Le Havre, they will be underdogs when Barcelona arrive in Lyon later this month for the duo's last 16 encounter in the Champions League.

Despite OL being written off as mere grist to the Catalans' all-conquering mill, Ederson is confident the French champions' Ligue 1-leading defence can stop Lionel Messi & co. in their tracks.

"Messi is a player who is very difficult to stop, but I have faith in our squad," he said. "We've got players who can produce top-class performances. We'll have to not make any mistakes in defence, and defend as a team. We've managed to refind our defensive solidity, and that could count against Barça."

BB Bob

13-02-2009, 06:08 PM

Madame BB Bob a fait son choix!

Accumulator 10
14 Feb 2009 - Bordeaux v Grenoble - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 3/1

14 Feb 2009 - Caen v Lorient - 90 Minutes
Caen @ 6/5

14 Feb 2009 - Le Mans v Nice - 90 Minutes
Nice @ 9/5

14 Feb 2009 - Auxerre v Lille - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 19/10

14 Feb 2009 - Rennes v Nancy - 90 Minutes
Nancy @ 7/2

14 Feb 2009 - Valenciennes v Nantes - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 15/8

14 Feb 2009 - Paris S.G. v St Etienne - 90 Minutes
Paris S.G. @ 4/6

15 Feb 2009 - Lyon v Le Havre - 90 Minutes
Lyon @ 1/5

15 Feb 2009 - Sochaux v Toulouse - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 15/8

15 Feb 2009 - Monaco v Marseille - 90 Minutes
Marseille @ 13/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £12226.01

I don't mind losing if that lot come in!!!!!

BB Bob

13-02-2009, 06:14 PM

Here are my choices:-

Accumulator 10

14 Feb 2009 - Bordeaux v Grenoble - 90 Minutes
Bordeaux @ 1/3

14 Feb 2009 - Caen v Lorient - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 15/8

14 Feb 2009 - Le Mans v Nice - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 15/8

14 Feb 2009 - Auxerre v Lille - 90 Minutes
Lille @ 13/10

14 Feb 2009 - Rennes v Nancy - 90 Minutes
Draw @ 21/10

14 Feb 2009 - Valenciennes v Nantes - 90 Minutes
Valenciennes @ 6/5

14 Feb 2009 - Paris S.G. v St Etienne - 90 Minutes
Paris S.G. @ 4/6

15 Feb 2009 - Lyon v Le Havre - 90 Minutes
Lyon @ 1/5

15 Feb 2009 - Sochaux v Toulouse - 90 Minutes
Toulouse @ 9/5

15 Feb 2009 - Monaco v Marseille - 90 Minutes
Marseille @ 13/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £2226.60

I still hope Mrs BBB comes up trumps!

kabbott

13-02-2009, 06:36 PM

Et voici les miens:

Week 24 - Saturday, February 14, 2009

19:00 AJ Auxerre v LOSC HOME
19:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux v Grenoble Foot 38 DRAW
19:00 SM Caen v FC Lorient HOME
19:00 Le Mans UC 72 v OGC Nice DRAW
19:00 Stade Rennais FC v AS Nancy Lorraine DRAW
19:00 Valenciennes FC v FC Nantes DRAW
21:00 Paris Saint-Germain v AS Saint-Etienne AWAY

Week 24 - Sunday, February 15, 2009

17:00 Olympique Lyonnais v Havre AC HOME
17:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard v Toulouse FC DRAW
21:00 AS Monaco FC v Olympique de Marseille HOME

No telly for a week and maybe not even l'Equipe every day. My mobile will just about keep me going for a week.

BB Bob

13-02-2009, 06:52 PM

For me - with any luck - it'll be l'Equipe every day and France Foot next saturday/sunday! Allez les vacances!

kabbott

13-02-2009, 09:10 PM

Ligue 2 results. Don't panic Phil!

Friday, February 13, 2009

20:00 SC Bastia 2 - 0 Tours FC
20:00 LB Châteauroux 0 - 1 RC Strasbourg
20:00 Nîmes Olympique 1 - 0 ESTAC
20:00 Stade de Reims 1 - 3 Amiens SC
20:00 CS Sedan 1 - 0 EA Guingamp
20:00 Vannes OC 1 - 1 AC Ajaccio
20:30 Stade Brestois 2 - 1 Angers SCO
20:30 Dijon FCO 1 - 0 US Boulogne CO
20:30 FC Metz 3 - 1 Montpellier HSC

Monday, February 16, 2009

20:30 Clermont Foot - RC Lens

BB Bob

14-02-2009, 07:20 PM

Tonights scores on the doors:-

Commentaires audio en direct sur -TerminéBordeaux (2)1 - 1Grenoble (12)
Chamakh (60e)
César (76e)

-Terminé Auxerre (16)2 - 0Lille (6)
Jelen (30e)
Chafni (34e)

-TerminéRennes (7)1 - 1Nancy (11)
Briand (87e)
Hadji (58e)

-Terminé Le Mans (14)1 - 2Nice (8)
Helstad (51e)
Faé (75e)
Traoré (89e)

-TerminéCaen (15)1 - 1Lorient (9)
Savidan (33e)
Saïfi (47e)

-TerminéValenciennes (19)1 - 1Nantes (13)
Schmitz (14e)
Klasnic (60e)

Another slip up from Bordeaux!

BB Bob

14-02-2009, 07:23 PM

An impressive 4/6 for you , kabbott
A less impressive 2/6 for me
Madame has 3/6

The shame....

BB Bob

15-02-2009, 08:31 AM

21:00 Paris Saint-Germain 2 - 1 AS Saint-Etienne

1 Olympique Lyonnais 23 13 7 3 +15 46

2 Paris Saint-Germain 24 14 3 7 +10 45
3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 24 12 7 5 +16 43

4 Olympique de Marseille 23 11 8 4 +13 41

5 Toulouse FC 23 11 8 4 +10 41
6 Stade Rennais FC 24 9 12 3 +10 39
7 LOSC 23 10 9 4 +9 39
8 OGC Nice 23 10 6 7 +4 36
9 FC Lorient 24 7 10 7 +2 31
10 AS Nancy Lorraine 23 7 8 8 -3 29
11 AS Monaco FC 23 7 7 9 -1 28
12 AJ Auxerre 24 7 6 11 -5 27
13 Grenoble Foot 38 24 6 9 9 -8 27
14 FC Nantes 24 7 6 11 -11 27
15 SM Caen 23 5 10 8 -1 25
16 Le Mans UC 72 23 7 4 12 -8 25
17 AS Saint-Etienne 24 7 3 14 -14 24

18 Valenciennes FC 23 4 9 10 -8 21
19 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 23 3 11 9 -7 20
20 Havre AC 23 4 3 16 -23 15

P.Hep

15-02-2009, 03:07 PM

PSG keep marching on, one of my brothers was at the game yesterday with his girlfriend, incredible atmosphere as always. Hoping to get over for PSG marseille next month.
Anyway for those that are interested, this is what wwent on in the tribunes

volcano from the supras!

http://www.supras91.net/photos/St%20Etienne_18_1_1_2692.jpg

http://www.supras91.net/photos/St%20Etienne_18_1_1_2693.jpg

authentiks getting revenge for a saint etienne tifo from last season
this was at saint etienne's last year
http://nsa05.casimages.com/img/2009/02/15//090215021640902837.jpg

Paris town of tourists
http://nsa05.casimages.com/img/2009/02/15//090215021735890419.jpg

so authenitks reply with a metro train crashing into the saint etienne jcb!
http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte1.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte2.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte3.jpg
http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte7.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte8.jpg
then an explosions
http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte10.jpg

and
"your fathers in our bars, your mothers on the champs elysee, your sisters in our arms, stephanois, in Paris, it's you the tourists!!"

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte20.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte15.jpg

http://membres.lycos.fr/davidatks/sainte24.jpg
saint etienne valenties day reference
http://www.fansupporters.com/galleries/2008_2009/LIGUE1/JOURNEE24/Psg_St_Etienne/PSG_ST_ETIENNE_8.jpg

philsick

15-02-2009, 06:18 PM

Monday, February 16, 2009

20:30 Clermont Foot - RC Lens

Is that on telly?

philsick

16-02-2009, 09:05 PM

Clermont 1 lens 2.

Watched the 2nd half on justin TV.Clermont were the better team from what i saw,but lens looked dangerous on the break and scored the winner in the 94th minute.Boo.

kabbott

21-02-2009, 01:11 PM

Clermont 1 lens 2.

Watched the 2nd half on justin TV.Clermont were the better team from what i saw,but lens looked dangerous on the break and scored the winner in the 94th minute.Boo.

Just got back from a week's skiing up in the Alps.
The match was live on France Eurosport. Glad to see you managed to see your French boys even though they lost!
So here are last night's scores which should cheer you up a little more.

Friday, February 20, 2009

20:00 AC Ajaccio 1 - 1 Stade Brestois
20:00 Amiens SC 0 - 1 SC Bastia
20:00 EA Guingamp 2 - 1 LB Châteauroux
20:00 Montpellier HSC 4 - 1 Dijon FCO
20:00 Tours FC 4 - 1 Nîmes Olympique
20:00 ESTAC 0 - 1 Clermont Foot
20:30 Angers SCO 0 - 1 Vannes OC
20:30 US Boulogne CO 0 - 3 Stade de Reims
20:30 RC Strasbourg 1 - 3 CS Sedan

Monday, February 23, 2009

20:30 FC Metz - RC Lens

kabbott

21-02-2009, 01:12 PM

Clermont go soaring up Ligue 2, well every little helps.

1 RC Lens 23 15 2 6 32 22 +10 47
2 FC Metz 23 12 6 5 32 21 +11 42
3 Angers SCO 24 11 8 5 34 22 +12 41
4 Montpellier HSC 24 11 7 6 43 24 +19 40
5 RC Strasbourg 24 10 9 5 35 28 +7 39
6 US Boulogne CO 24 10 6 8 27 26 +1 36
7 Vannes OC 24 10 5 9 18 22 -4 35
8 CS Sedan 24 9 7 8 26 27 -1 34
9 SC Bastia 24 9 6 9 26 28 -2 33
10 Tours FC 24 9 5 10 31 33 -2 32
11 Dijon FCO 24 8 8 8 26 30 -4 32
12 EA Guingamp 24 7 10 7 25 21 +4 31
13 Stade Brestois 24 9 4 11 28 29 -1 31
14 ESTAC 24 8 6 10 25 27 -2 30
15 Clermont Foot 24 7 8 9 29 34 -5 29
16 Amiens SC 24 6 10 8 23 23 0 28
17 AC Ajaccio 24 6 7 11 32 41 -9 25
18 LB Châteauroux 24 5 8 11 22 29 -7 23
19 Stade de Reims 24 4 8 12 29 41 -12 20
20 Nîmes Olympique 24 4 8 12 19 34 -15 20

kabbott

21-02-2009, 01:16 PM

Last Sunday's missing scores:

Sunday, February 15, 2009

17:00 Olympique Lyonnais 3 - 1 Havre AC
17:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 - 2 Toulouse FC
21:00 AS Monaco FC 0 - 1 Olympique de Marseille

So in the end:

kabbott 5/10
BB Bob 6/10
Madame BB Bob 6/10

Bien joué. I'll have to ask Madame kabbott for a tip or two. Chérie, CHERIE! Viens ici tout de suite!

kabbott

21-02-2009, 01:25 PM

Here goes (these are mine, by the way):

19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 v Paris Saint-Germain DRAW
19:00 Havre AC v AJ Auxerre DRAW
19:00 FC Lorient v FC Sochaux-Montbéliard DRAW
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine v Olympique Lyonnais DRAW
19:00 FC Nantes v SM Caen HOME WIN
19:00 Toulouse FC v Valenciennes FC AWAY WIN

21:00 OGC Nice v Stade Rennais FC DRAW

Week 25 - Sunday, February 22, 2009

17:00 Olympique de Marseille v Le Mans UC 72 AWAY WIN
17:00 AS Saint-Etienne v FC Girondins de Bordeaux HOME WIN
21:00 LOSC v AS Monaco FC HOME WIN

kabbott

22-02-2009, 11:16 AM

Last night's scores:

Week 25 - Saturday, February 21, 2009

19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
19:00 Havre AC 1 - 2 AJ Auxerre
19:00 FC Lorient 1 - 2 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine 0 - 2 Olympique Lyonnais
19:00 FC Nantes 1 - 1 SM Caen
19:00 Toulouse FC 0 - 0 Valenciennes FC

21:00 OGC Nice 0 - 1 Stade Rennais FC

Week 25 - Sunday, February 22, 2009

17:00 Olympique de Marseille Le Mans UC 72
17:00 AS Saint-Etienne FC Girondins de Bordeaux

21:00 LOSC AS Monaco FC

palacemaniac

22-02-2009, 11:41 AM

Hope BDX recover from their dip in form and win tonight

kabbott

22-02-2009, 12:19 PM

Hope BDX recover from their dip in form and win tonight

I still believe they will be Lyon's biggest threat this year. However all the challengers are still lacking in consistency.
Mind you, if Lyon get tonked big time on Tuesday against Barcelona, that won't do their confidence much good either.

BB Bob

23-02-2009, 08:03 AM

Je reviens de Chamonix!

So, last nights results...

17:00 Olympique de Marseille 0 - 0 Le Mans UC 72
17:00 AS Saint-Etienne 1 - 1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
21:00 LOSC 2 - 1 AS Monaco FC

Another great night for Lyon, although the positive from Bordeaux's point of view is that Cavenaghi scored. If he can recapture some form and turn into Cavigol again, Bordeaux could be on for a late run.

BB Bob

23-02-2009, 08:04 AM

1 Olympique Lyonnais 25 15 7 3 +19 52

2 Paris Saint-Germain 25 14 4 7 +10 46
3 Olympique de Marseille 25 12 9 4 +14 45

4 Toulouse FC 25 12 9 4 +11 45

5 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 25 12 8 5 +16 44
6 LOSC 25 11 10 4 +10 43
7 Stade Rennais FC 25 10 12 3 +11 42
8 OGC Nice 25 11 6 8 +4 39
9 FC Lorient 25 7 10 8 +1 31
10 AJ Auxerre 25 8 6 11 -4 30
11 AS Nancy Lorraine 25 7 8 10 -6 29
12 AS Monaco FC 25 7 7 11 -3 28
13 Grenoble Foot 38 25 6 10 9 -8 28
14 FC Nantes 25 7 7 11 -11 28
15 Le Mans UC 72 25 7 6 12 -8 27
16 SM Caen 25 5 11 9 -3 26
17 Valenciennes FC 25 5 10 10 -6 25

18 AS Saint-Etienne 25 7 4 14 -14 25
19 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 25 4 11 10 -7 23
20 Havre AC 25 4 3 18 -26 15

philsick

23-02-2009, 08:10 AM

Can st ettienne survive?I hope so.

palacemaniac

23-02-2009, 08:26 AM

That's it then, with BDX drawing :sob: I can't see any other teams being any threat to Lyons, another palpitating title chase comes to an end in France :rolleyes:

BB Bob

23-02-2009, 09:10 AM

Can st ettienne survive?I hope so.

I think they will. They've got Reggie in charge and, if Gomes can find his form, they should have goals in them.

BB Bob

23-02-2009, 09:12 AM

That's it then, with BDX drawing :sob: I can't see any other teams being any threat to Lyons, another palpitating title chase comes to an end in France :rolleyes:

At least it has lasted longer than usual this year.....

anyway, the real fun in le Championnat this season is for 2,3 and 4. With PSG looking good (despite not winning in Grenoble), who is going to miss out on the Champions League payday?

kabbott

23-02-2009, 05:25 PM

Another great night for Lyon, although the positive from Bordeaux's point of view is that Cavenaghi scored. If he can recapture some form and turn into Cavigol again, Bordeaux could be on for a late run.

it's a funny old game innit? Cavenaghi and Zamora both find their goalscoring knack the same weekend.

BB Bob

23-02-2009, 05:34 PM

I think I know who I'd rather was playing for my team.....

If zamora is worth £6m how much for cavigol? I read a good interview with him in the week. He seems pretty sound, if a bit laid back. It must be those italian genes....

BB Bob

24-02-2009, 01:50 PM

Barça game gives united Lyon a chance to move out of the slums

The French champions have put their dressing-room squabbles behind them in time for their Champions League encounter with the La Liga leaders

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Clubs/Club%20Home/2009/2/24/1235478258999/Karim-Benzema-Lyon-001.jpg

Lyon were able to rest Karim Benzema, right, against Nancy but the striker came off the bench to score their second in a 2-0 win.
Photograph: Cedric Joubert/AP

There was fist-pumping and toothpick-grinning, accusations of diving and declarations of loyalty, while in the background shady businessmen looked on with bulging pockets. No, not the highlights of Kate Winslet's Oscars party, but this weekend's Ligue 1 action, as Lyon extended their lead at the top to six points after beating Nancy 2-0 and Paris Saint-Germain, Bordeaux and Marseille all failed to win.

As a supporting cast, those three are turning into a rum bunch, not that Lyon coach Claude Puel seems too bothered. He was able to rest Fabio Grosso, Juninho, Ederson and Karim Benzema before Barcelona come to Stade Gerland on Tuesday night, and after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved Youssouf Hadji's second-half penalty, substitute Benzema secured the win with a neat feint and shot late on. Cue Puel's pumped-fist celebration.

The Barcelona game has come at a good time for the champions. The dressing-room problems revealed by Cris, Juninho and Sidney Govou, who said that team spirit was poor and the side lacked leaders (at least they could agree on something), have passed after the players and Puel had it out together. The team are no longer as reliant on Juninho and Benzema as they were, and other players, such as Jean II Makoun and Ederson, have become more influential.

Ederson, a summer signing from Nice, has scored three in his last five games, compared to one in his first 19. "I wasn't bad in my first six months here but I lacked belief and I have that now. Everyone says I'm here to succeed Juni but I'm not," said the Brazilian.

"I won't think about my future until after the game but I think we can pull off a surprise against Barcelona," said Benzema, who explained that his 12 goals this season (as opposed to 16 this time last year) are down to Puel's more defensive tactics. He is pretty much on his own with that view, given Lyon's continuing problems at full-back, where John Mensah (a centre-back playing at right-back) and Grosso (well, he's just Grosso) will be up against Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi.

"It's one thing keeping clean sheets against Nancy and Grenoble but against Barcelona, it's a different matter," said Xavier Cerf of Lyon's official magazine Allez Lyon. "It will be impossible for Lyon to get past Barcelona." France Football's Marc Beaugé is a bit more positive. "Lyon are in better form than Barcelona, but have a much weaker team, so you have to ask what's more important in a match: form, or quality?

"I think it's quality. Lyon players are not blind: they know it will be hard, but they have a confidence that was not there a month ago, so it might be close."

Lyon's best chance might be if Benzema played up front alongside Fred (the pair have scored seven goals between them in Europe this season) but that's not going to happen: Lyon were meant to terminate the Brazilian's contract at the weekend to allow him to move to Fluminense, but Fred, still demanding that he is paid his bonuses in full, did not turn up to sign the papers. "It's unreal, it goes beyond human behaviour, how he's treating the club and his team-mates," fumed president Jean-Michel Aulas.

At least Aulas would have been cheered by the failures of the chasing pack: Marseille were booed off following a goalless draw at home to Le Mans, as Eric Gerets's failure with Hatem Ben Arfa, still on the bench, overshadows their season. This was their fifth clean sheet in six, and the return of Julien Rodriguez, described by one local reporter as "like Nemanja Vidic but with bigger thighs", has bolstered the defence. Now it's the attack that needs help, although at least Mamadou Niang is now back from injury. Mathieu Valbuena annoyed visiting coach Daniel Jeandupeux with his diving. "If a player dives five times outside the box and no foul is given," said Jeandupeux, "he loses credibility when he goes down in the area looking for a penalty."

Bordeaux needed a last-minute equaliser to save their blushes in the 1-1 draw at Alain Perrin's improving Saint-Etienne – cue Laurent Blanc with the toothpick cameo – while PSG's goalless game with Grenoble was notable for Stéphane Sessegnon, the head-butting villain last week, being on the receiving-end of similar treatment from Serbian defender Milivoje Vitakic. Both men will be up before the disciplinary committee next week. Le Journal du Dimanche, meanwhile, reported that PSG's former chairman Charles Villeneuve still owns the mandate to sell the club to investors in the Middle East, and that he spoke to Abu Dhabi United Group before they bought Manchester City.

Lille continued their impressive rise up the table after beating Monaco 2-1 and are now just three points behind PSG in second. Coach Rudi Garcia, in his first season there, has a dominant midfield marshalled by Rio Mavuba, back from his disastrous spell at Villarreal. "This move has re-started my career," said Mavuba. On either side of him, Michel Bastos and Ludovic Obraniak have shared 17 goals between them and it's just as well that Lille have one of the best midfields in France, given that their four strikers have managed a combined seven goals.

The next problem for the coach will be how to keep those outstanding midfielders next season. "At the moment, we're just happy to stay in the background as let's be honest, Lyon are on a different level to us," said Garcia, once named by Raymond Domenech as his favourite Ligue 1 boss (but don't hold that against him).

Lille may not be as good as Lyon but on current form they're not far behind Marseille and Bordeaux, and could yet sneak into third place. With movie mogul Michel Seydoux, producer of Cyrano de Bergerac, still pulling the strings in the background, it would be his perfect season finale.

But could even a Seydoux script have Lyon beat Barcelona tonight? "We have been preparing for Barcelona for a long time, it's not like the game has just come into view," said Puel. Whether his team can overcome the odds to become the latest successful Slumdog Mill-Lyon-aires remains to be seen.

Results, Week 25: Nancy 0-2 Lyon, Grenoble 0-0 PSG, Toulouse 0-0 Valenciennes, Lorient 1-2 Sochaux, Le Havre 1-2 Auxerre, Nantes 1-1 Caen, Nice 0-1 Rennes, Marseille 0-0 Le Mans, Saint-Etienne 1-1 Bordeaux, Lille 2-1 Monaco

BB Bob

25-02-2009, 07:09 AM

0-0 would probably have been better, but you can't complain too much with that......

Lyon held by Barcelona

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/grandFormat/0809_ldc_lyon_barcelone_cris_mono.jpg

Thierry Henry’s 68th-minute header cancelled out Juninho’s majestic free-kick for Lyon as Barcelona held the Ligue 1 leaders in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Stade Gerland on Tuesday.

Lyon were anything but overawed as they look to go one step better than they did in the competition last season, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Manchester United. They took the game to their highly-rated Catalan rivals, closing down the space and looking to attack at every opportunity.

An attractive first-half

And their courageous approach was rewarded as early as the seventh minute when Juninho's free-kick, wide on the left, curled and dipped viciously, leaving Victor Valdes no chance in the visitors goal.

It was the Brazilian's 17th European goal in Lyon colours, a new club record, surpassing his compatriot Sonny Anderson. The free-kick was also the Brazilian's 43rd direct free-kick for OL since he signed for the club in 2001.

In an open and attractive opening 45 minutes, Karim Benzema fired across the face of goal before Barcelona created a chance of their own when Samuel Eto'o got the better of Cris on the edge of the area, only to see his toe-poked effort come back of Hugo Lloris' right-hand upright.

One post each!

Just before the half-hour, Karim Benzema was looking to add to his five Champions League goals already this season, when a 24m snap-shot caught Valdes napping in the Barca goal, but again, the ball bounced to safety off the woodwork.

The French league leaders were riding a wave of confidence and minutes later that went close to doubling their advantage again when Fabio Grosso picked out Abdul Kader Keita on the right-wing. The Côte d'Ivoire international's low cross was cut out by a full-stretch Valdes, with Benzema bearing down on goal.

Brilliant Lloris!

At the start of the second-half, Lyon invited Barcelona forward as they looked to defend their lead. The 2006 winners began to look more dangerous and Lyon 'keeper Lloris produced no-less than three top drawer reflex saves to preserve his side's lead in the minutes following the restart.

However, there was nothing he could do when Henry stooped to nod home at the back-post after Rafael Marquez flicked on Xavi Hernandez's corner.

All to play for

The two sides now head to the Camp Nou in Barcelona on March 11, with Lyon knowing that a 1-0 win, or a 2-2 draw will see them through to the quarter-final stage of the competition.

kabbott

27-02-2009, 09:04 PM

Got a bit carried away with the rugger tonight and forget there were Ligue 2 games:

Friday, February 27, 2009

20:00 SC Bastia 1 - 3 US Boulogne CO
20:00 Stade Brestois 1 - 2 Amiens SC
20:00 LB Châteauroux 1 - 1 Tours FC
20:00 Clermont Foot 1 - 1 AC Ajaccio
20:00 Dijon FCO 2 - 3 EA Guingamp
20:00 CS Sedan 1 - 1 Montpellier HSC
20:30 Nîmes Olympique 1 - 1 Angers SCO
20:30 Stade de Reims 1 - 1 FC Metz
20:30 Vannes OC 2 - 2 RC Strasbourg

Monday, March 02, 2009

20:30 RC Lens - ESTAC

Ligue 2 P W D L GD Pts

1 RC Lens 24 16 2 6 +11 50
2 FC Metz 25 12 7 6 +10 43
3 Angers SCO 25 11 9 5 +12 42
4 Montpellier HSC 25 11 8 6 +19 41
5 RC Strasbourg 25 10 10 5 +7 40
6 US Boulogne CO 25 11 6 8 +3 39
7 Vannes OC 25 10 6 9 -4 36
8 CS Sedan 25 9 8 8 -1 35
9 EA Guingamp 25 8 10 7 +5 34
10 Tours FC 25 9 6 10 -2 33
11 SC Bastia 25 9 6 10 -4 33
12 Dijon FCO 25 8 8 9 -5 32
13 Amiens SC 25 7 10 8 +1 31
14 Stade Brestois 25 9 4 12 -2 31
15 ESTAC 24 8 6 10 -2 30
16 Clermont Foot 25 7 9 9 -5 30
17 AC Ajaccio 25 6 8 11 -9 26
18 LB Châteauroux 25 5 9 11 -7 24
19 Stade de Reims 25 4 9 12 -12 21
20 Nîmes Olympique 25 4 9 12 -15 21

BB Bob

28-02-2009, 08:15 AM

Madame has first shout at the loto this week:-

Le Mans v Le Havre Draw @ 23/10
Nantes v Grenoble Draw @ 2/1
Valenciennes v Lille Lille @ 6/4
Sochaux v Nice Nice @ 5/2
Auxerre v Toulouse Draw @ 15/8
Caen v Marseille Caen @ 13/5
Bordeaux v Lorient Bordeaux @ 6/10
Monaco v St Etienne Monaco @ 13/10
Paris S.G. v Nancy Paris S.G. @ 6/10
Lyon v Rennes Draw @ 23/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £17420.69 (in my dreams.....)

BB Bob

28-02-2009, 08:20 AM

And here are mine:-

Le Mans v Le Havre Le Mans @ 3/4
Nantes v Grenoble Nantes @ 23/20
Valenciennes v Lille Lille @ 6/4
Sochaux v Nice Draw @ 19/10
Auxerre v Toulouse Toulouse @ 11/5
Caen v Marseille Draw @ 2/1
Bordeaux v Lorient Bordeaux @ 6/10
Monaco v St Etienne Draw @ 19/10
Paris S.G. v Nancy Paris S.G. @ 6/10
Lyon v Rennes Draw @ 23/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £6415.61

kabbott

28-02-2009, 11:18 AM

Just got back from a 90km étape around les Monts du Lyonnais. I'm pretty stiff all over. Cue the pathetic punchline.

And so here are mine:

Le Mans v Le Havre DRAW
Nantes v Grenoble DRAW
Valenciennes v Lille DRAW
Sochaux v Nice HOME WIN
Auxerre v Toulouse HOME WIN
Caen v Marseille HOME WIN
Bordeaux v Lorient DRAW
Monaco v St Etienne HOME WIN
Paris S.G. v Nancy DRAW
Lyon v Rennes HOME WIN

BB Bob

01-03-2009, 08:53 AM

Week 26 - Saturday, February 28, 2009

19:00 Le Mans UC 72 2 - 0 Havre AC
19:00 FC Nantes 1 - 1 Grenoble Foot 38
19:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 - 0 OGC Nice
19:00 Valenciennes FC 2 - 0 LOSC
21:00 AJ Auxerre 1 - 1 Toulouse FC

kabbott

01-03-2009, 06:33 PM

One more left tonight, Lyon against their bogey team. Rumour has it Claude will put out a near full strength team. Surprising since they looked to have blown a gasket in the second half against ''Barca''.
PSG looked really good this afternoon. Hoarau was quality again today. Great atmosphere in le Parc too.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

17:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1 - 0 FC Lorient
17:00 SM Caen 0 - 1 Olympique de Marseille
17:00 AS Monaco FC 2 - 2 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 Paris Saint-Germain 4 - 1 AS Nancy Lorraine

21:00 Olympique Lyonnais Stade Rennais FC

So that's 4 for Madame BB Bob, 4 for BB Bob and a paltry 3 for yours truly.
I'll make do with a Lyon win for a final score of 4 4 3!

kabbott

01-03-2009, 08:58 PM

Lyon pegged back in the closing minutes. Rennes deserved their point. Lyon players well cream crackered at the end, and Benzema's got some kind of hip injury.

21:00 Olympique Lyonnais 1 - 1 Stade Rennais FC

BB Bob

02-03-2009, 08:44 AM

Honours even chez moi

Table now:-

1 Olympique Lyonnais 26 15 8 3 +19 53

2 Paris Saint-Germain 26 15 4 7 +13 49
3 Olympique de Marseille 26 13 9 4 +15 48

4 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 26 13 8 5 +17 47

5 Toulouse FC 26 12 10 4 +11 46
6 Stade Rennais FC 26 10 13 3 +11 43
7 LOSC 26 11 10 5 +8 43
8 OGC Nice 26 11 6 9 +3 39
9 FC Lorient 26 7 10 9 0 31
10 AJ Auxerre 26 8 7 11 -4 31
11 Le Mans UC 72 26 8 6 12 -6 30
12 AS Monaco FC 26 7 8 11 -3 29
13 Grenoble Foot 38 26 6 11 9 -8 29
14 AS Nancy Lorraine 26 7 8 11 -9 29
15 FC Nantes 26 7 8 11 -11 29
16 Valenciennes FC 26 6 10 10 -4 28
17 SM Caen 26 5 11 10 -4 26

18 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 26 5 11 10 -6 26
19 AS Saint-Etienne 26 7 5 14 -14 26
20 Havre AC 26 4 3 19 -28 15

kabbott

03-03-2009, 05:48 PM

French Cup last 16 tonight and tomorrow.

TUESDAY, MARCH 03, 2009

18:00 EA Guingamp - Le Mans UC 72
19:30 Dijon FCO - Grenoble Foot 38
20:45 US Boulogne CO - Toulouse FC

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 04, 2009

18:00 Rodez - Paris Saint-Germain
19:00 AC Ajaccio - AS Monaco FC
20:00 CS Sedan - Vitré
20:45 Stade Rennais FC - FC Lorient
20:45 LOSC - Olympique Lyonnais

GodstoneEagle

04-03-2009, 02:41 AM

PSG to get relegated next year?

BB Bob

04-03-2009, 07:25 AM

Ha ha ha! Not likely - they look like a team on the up at the moment. More likely OM to flirt with relegation the way that they are organised!

kabbott

04-03-2009, 02:01 PM

PSG to get relegated next year?

Va faire un gros dodo. Ca ira mieux demain!

kabbott

04-03-2009, 02:02 PM

Last night and tonight's French Cup matches.

TUESDAY, MARCH 03, 2009

18:00 EA Guingamp 1 - 0 Le Mans UC 72
19:30 Dijon FCO 1 - 1
a.e.t.
2 to 4 Grenoble Foot 38
20:45 US Boulogne CO 0 - 2 Toulouse FC

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 04, 2009

18:00 Rodez - Paris Saint-Germain
19:00 AC Ajaccio - AS Monaco FC
20:00 CS Sedan - Vitré
20:45 Stade Rennais FC - FC Lorient
20:45 LOSC - Olympique Lyonnais

kabbott

04-03-2009, 09:23 PM

Oh dear! One or two shock in the Coupe de France tonight. Lyon knocked out by Claude Puel's ex-club Lille in a cracking match. Lille's keeper made a number of fine saves in the 2nd half, but MOM again was this young Belgian Lille attacking midfielder by the name of Hazard who looks real class. Can't see him up staying up north for much longer.

TUESDAY, MARCH 03, 2009
18:00 EA Guingamp 1 - 0 Le Mans UC 72
19:30 Dijon FCO 1 - 1
a.e.t.
2 to 4 Grenoble Foot 38
20:45 US Boulogne CO 0 - 2 Toulouse FC

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 04, 2009
18:00 Rodez 3 - 1
a.e.t. Paris Saint-Germain
19:00 AC Ajaccio 0 - 2 AS Monaco FC
20:00 CS Sedan 3 - 0 Vitré
20:45 Stade Rennais FC 3 - 0 FC Lorient
20:45 LOSC 3 - 2 Olympique Lyonnais

kabbott

06-03-2009, 06:52 PM

So it's an early one for me this (busy) weekend. School Open Day tomorrow all day.

Week 27 - Saturday, March 07, 2009

19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 SM Caen DRAW
19:00 FC Lorient Paris Saint-Germain HOME WIN
19:00 Olympique de Marseille Valenciennes FC AWAY WIN
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine Le Mans UC 72 HOME WIN
19:00 OGC Nice AS Monaco FC HOME WIN
19:00 Toulouse FC FC Girondins de Bordeaux DRAW
21:00 LOSC Olympique Lyonnais AWAY WIN

Week 27 - Sunday, March 08, 2009

17:00 Havre AC FC Sochaux-Montbéliard AWAY WIN
17:00 Stade Rennais FC AJ Auxerre DRAW
21:00 AS Saint-Etienne FC Nantes DRAW

kabbott

06-03-2009, 06:54 PM

This is a great player to look out for in the very near future, if not sooner.

The Duke of Hazard

Lille’s Belgian teenager Eden Hazard was the architect of Lille’s stunning 3-2 win over reigning French champions Lyon, scoring once and laying on two other goals just three days before the two sides meet again at the Stade de France in Ligue 1.

The youngster who has already scored three times in Ligue 1 this season as well as make his international debut for the Belgian senior side set-up Brazilian Michel Bastos for the opening goal before helping himself to a second.

Rapture

Then, deep in stoppage time and with extra-time looming large, the 18-year-old played in Nicolas Fauvergue for a 94th-minute winner which sent the majority of the 15,000 crowd at Stadium Lille-Métropole into rapture.

"I gave it absolutely everything," he said. "I just played the way I always do, the only way I know how to play, whether it be with the reserves, the first team or anywhere.

Hazard: "Just doing what I do"

"I honestly didn't expect so much to come off so well. Like the goal for instance, where I didn't even know where the goalkeeper was. You can't exactly say I've got the most powerful shot in the world, but it's improving.

"I didn't run the show or do anything I wanted out there - far from it," he added. "I just did what I know how to do."

kabbott

06-03-2009, 06:56 PM

Let's have a thought for Philsick's Clermont who are playing tonight.

Friday, March 06, 2009

US Boulogne CO 20:00 Stade Brestois
EA Guingamp 20:00 Vannes OC
Stade de Reims 20:00 SC Bastia
Tours FC 20:00 ESTAC
FC Metz 20:30 Dijon FCO
Montpellier HSC 20:30 LB Châteauroux
RC Strasbourg 20:30 Clermont Foot

Saturday, March 07, 2009

AC Ajaccio 17:00 Nîmes Olympique
Amiens SC 17:00 CS Sedan

Monday, March 09, 2009

Angers SCO 20:30 RC Lens

BB Bob

07-03-2009, 04:32 PM

Busy myself at the mo. Just managed to get my bets in for this weekends games:-

Lorient v Paris S.G. Paris S.G. @ 6/4
Marseille v Valenciennes Marseille @ 8/15
Nancy v Le Mans Draw @ 2/1
Grenoble v Caen Draw @ 15/8
Nice v Monaco Draw @ 15/8
Toulouse v Bordeaux Bordeaux @ 19/10
Lille v Lyon Draw @ 2/1
Le Havre v Sochaux Draw @ 2/1
Rennes v Auxerre Rennes @ 7/10
St Etienne v Nantes St Etienner @ 4/5

BB Bob

07-03-2009, 04:35 PM

Et pour madame......

Accumulator (10)

Lorient v Paris S.G.
Draw @ 2/1

Marseille v Valenciennes
Draw @ 13/5

Nancy v Le Mans
Nancy @ EVS

Grenoble v Caen
Grenoble @ 13/10

Nice v Monaco
Nice @ 13/10

Toulouse v Bordeaux
Draw @ 19/10

Lille v Lyon
Lyon @ 17/10

Le Havre v Sochaux
Draw @ 2/1

Rennes v Auxerre
Auxerre @ 19/4

St Etienne v Nantes
St Etienne @ 4/5

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £27780.04 (which as usual would be nice.....)

kabbott

07-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Not such good news again for Philsick.

Friday, March 06, 2009

20:00 US Boulogne CO 0 - 1 Stade Brestois
20:00 EA Guingamp 1 - 1 Vannes OC
20:00 Stade de Reims 2 - 0 SC Bastia
20:00 Tours FC 4 - 3 ESTAC
20:30 FC Metz 2 - 0 Dijon FCO
20:30 Montpellier HSC 3 - 0 LB Châteauroux
20:30 RC Strasbourg 2 - 0 Clermont Foot

Saturday, March 07, 2009
17:00 AC Ajaccio 2 - 1 Nîmes Olympique
17:00 Amiens SC 0 - 0 CS Sedan

Monday, March 09, 2009
20:30 Angers SCO - RC Lens

kabbott

07-03-2009, 05:29 PM

Clermont are flirting with the danger zone.

1 RC Lens 25 16 3 6 35 24 +11 51
2 FC Metz 26 13 7 6 36 24 +12 46
3 Montpellier HSC 26 12 8 6 47 25 +22 44
4 RC Strasbourg 26 11 10 5 39 30 +9 43
5 Angers SCO 25 11 9 5 35 23 +12 42
6 US Boulogne CO 26 11 6 9 30 28 +2 39
7 Vannes OC 26 10 7 9 21 25 -4 37
8 Tours FC 26 10 6 10 36 37 -1 36
9 CS Sedan 26 9 9 8 27 28 -1 36
10 EA Guingamp 26 8 11 7 29 24 +5 35
11 Stade Brestois 26 10 4 12 30 31 -1 34
12 SC Bastia 26 9 6 11 27 33 -6 33
13 Amiens SC 26 7 11 8 25 24 +1 32
14 Dijon FCO 26 8 8 10 28 35 -7 32
15 ESTAC 26 8 7 11 29 32 -3 31
16 Clermont Foot 26 7 9 10 30 37 -7 30
17 AC Ajaccio 26 7 8 11 35 43 -8 29
18 Stade de Reims 26 5 9 12 32 42 -10 24
19 LB Châteauroux 26 5 9 12 23 33 -10 24
20 Nîmes Olympique 26 4 9 13 21 37 -16 21

BB Bob

08-03-2009, 08:38 AM

Some food for thought tonight!

19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 2 - 1 SM Caen
19:00 FC Lorient 0 - 1 Paris Saint-Germain
19:00 Olympique de Marseille 0 - 0 Valenciennes FC
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine 2 - 2 Le Mans UC 72
19:00 OGC Nice 0 - 0 AS Monaco FC
19:00 Toulouse FC 3 - 0 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
21:00 LOSC 2 - 0 Olympique Lyonnais
Week 27 - Sunday, March 08, 2009

17:00 Havre AC FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
17:00 Stade Rennais FC AJ Auxerre
21:00 AS Saint-Etienne FC Nantes

PSG move within one point of Lyon!

1 Olympique Lyonnais 27 15 8 4 +17 53
2 Paris Saint-Germain 27 16 4 7 +14 52
3 Olympique de Marseille 27 13 10 4 +15 49
4 Toulouse FC 27 13 10 4 +14 49
5 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 27 13 8 6 +14 47
6 LOSC 27 12 10 5 +10 46
7 Stade Rennais FC 26 10 13 3 +11 43
8 OGC Nice 27 11 7 9 +3 40
9 Grenoble Foot 38 27 7 11 9 -7 32
10 FC Lorient 27 7 10 10 -1 31
11 AJ Auxerre 26 8 7 11 -4 31
12 Le Mans UC 72 27 8 7 12 -6 31
13 AS Monaco FC 27 7 9 11 -3 30
14 AS Nancy Lorraine 27 7 9 11 -9 30
15 Valenciennes FC 27 6 11 10 -4 29
16 FC Nantes 26 7 8 11 -11 29
17 SM Caen 27 5 11 11 -5 26
18 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 26 5 11 10 -6 26
19 AS Saint-Etienne 26 7 5 14 -14 26
20 Havre AC 26 4 3 19 -28 15

philsick

08-03-2009, 09:02 AM

Clermont:(
6 pointer for st etienne today.

kabbott

08-03-2009, 04:47 PM

Benzema is doubtful against Barcelona. Oh dear. An even bigger drubbing is on the cards. And if loris doesn't play ...

Puel: ‘It could have gone either way’

Despite being beaten by his former club Lille twice in a week, Lyon coach Claude Puel is staying circumspect, preferring to focus on Wednesday’s champions League clash in Barcelona.
With a mid-week 3-2 French Cup defeat still ringing in their ears, Lyon travelled to Paris' Stade de France to take on Lille on Saturday night hoping to make amends, but instead suffered another defeat, going down 2-0 in an excellent match. But Claude Puel isn't despairing just yet.
"It could have gone either way. We had a great chance at the start for Kader [Keita], who could have really changed things up. We weren't very good at the beginning of the second half and Lille took advantage. But really we were just missing the final ball, the final touch – we were unlucky in all our scoring chances and Greg [Malicki, Lille's 'keeper] made some stunning saves."

Lyon's attention has now turned to their crucial Champions League tie on Wednesday night in Barcelona, where they will need to score at least one goal to make it to the quarter-finals.

Star striker Karim Benzema is uncertain to play, having taken a knock against Lille, while Jean-Alain Boumsong is nursing a groin strain. Puel could however be able to count on the services of Mathieu Bodmer and François Clerc, both of whom made a return to action against Lille after –term injury.

"Having Mathieu and François back is a big deal. They both played really well but it was their first match in a long time… For the Barcelona game, we'll just have to adapt and play the hand we're dealt. We'll see who starts the match."

Still with one eye on the league however, Puel knows things are getting tight and that there are no easy matches.

"PSG is within one point of us now, but that's how it is, the championship is tough and every game is a huge battle."

kabbott

08-03-2009, 04:48 PM

3f8d

Le Guen pleased with turnaround

After being unceremoniously knocked out of the French Cup by third-division Rodez mid-week, Paris coach Paul Le Guen was reassured by his men’s crucial league win away to Lorient on Saturday night.
"It was a gutsy win, we scrapped hard for the points," noted a relieved Le Guen after the match in which two pieces of individual brilliance – Ludovic Giuly's stunning volley from the edge of the area and Mickäel Landreau's second-half penalty save – redeemed Paris' week, keeping them second on the table, now just one point shy of leaders Lyon.
With the Clasico at home to arch-rivals Marseille, who drew 0-0 with on Saturday night, looming next week, the win comes at a good time for the men form the capital.

"We're watching the results very closely. This win puts us in front of Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Nonetheless, we're hosting Marseille next week, we'll have to redouble our efforts."

But with Paris' calendar chock-full of big matches, including Toulouse, Lille and Lyon in coming weeks, Le Guen knows his side face a tough test in the coming weeks.

Le Guen has admitted his squad lacks depth, and as a result his first-team regulars are playing most of the time, while many squad players are lacking crucial game time. Several of his big names were visibly fatigued in the second half against Lorient, a warning sign ahead of their run of big matches to come.

"We've got no margin for error. You might think I'm a broken record, but that's what I think. We're going to have to try twice as hard in order to keep up."

kabbott

08-03-2009, 07:21 PM

Week 27 - Sunday, March 08, 2009

17:00 Havre AC 2 - 1 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
17:00 Stade Rennais FC 2 - 0 AJ Auxerre
21:00 AS Saint-Etienne FC Nantes

BB Bob

09-03-2009, 07:18 AM

21:00 AS Saint-Etienne 2 - 1 FC Nantes

Leaving the table:-

1 Olympique Lyonnais 27 15 8 4 +17 53

2 Paris Saint-Germain 27 16 4 7 +14 52
3 Olympique de Marseille 27 13 10 4 +15 49

4 Toulouse FC 27 13 10 4 +14 49

5 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 27 13 8 6 +14 47
6 Stade Rennais FC 27 11 13 3 +13 46
7 LOSC 27 12 10 5 +10 46
8 OGC Nice 27 11 7 9 +3 40
9 Grenoble Foot 38 27 7 11 9 -7 32
10 FC Lorient 27 7 10 10 -1 31
11 Le Mans UC 72 27 8 7 12 -6 31
12 AJ Auxerre 27 8 7 12 -6 31
13 AS Monaco FC 27 7 9 11 -3 30
14 AS Nancy Lorraine 27 7 9 11 -9 30
15 Valenciennes FC 27 6 11 10 -4 29
16 FC Nantes 27 7 8 12 -12 29
17 AS Saint-Etienne 27 8 5 14 -13 29

18 SM Caen 27 5 11 11 -5 26
19 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 27 5 11 11 -7 26
20 Havre AC 27 5 3 19 -27 18

kabbott

10-03-2009, 07:10 PM

Lyon v Barcelona

Lyon walking wounded win Zidane backing

Lyon's injury-hit stars Karim Benzema, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Hugo Lloris have made the trip to Barcelona for the crunch second leg of the club's Champions League tie with Barcelona. OL have received the backing of Zinedine Zidane.
To reach the quarter-finals Ligue 1 leaders Lyon must score a goal at the Nou Camp following a 1-1 draw when the clubs met at the Stade Gerland a fortnight ago.

Zidane backing

Former Real Madrid star Zidane said: "This Lyon team have the quality to do something special at the Nou Camp. We saw that in the first leg at the Stade Gerland. Lyon were as good as Barcelona.

"The Catalan club aren't playing as well as they were. I think it's time to make the most of that. Lyon have every chance on Wednesday evening. At the very least, my heart is with them."

Benzema and Boumsong to Barça

Lyon hearts were in mouths as key striker Karim Benzema limped out of Saturday's Ligue 1 defeat against Lille at the Stade de France, after suffering another knock to his damaged hip.

Benzema was on the plane to Barcelona, as were goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who missed the Lille game through illness, and fellow France international Jean-Alain Boumsong, who was absent from the Stade de France clash with a thigh injury.

Full-back François Clerc, another of OL's Les Bleus contingent, made a long-awaited return to first-team colours against Lille after several months out following knee surgery. With Ghanaian John Mensah and Brazilian Fabio Santos on the sidelines through injuries of their own, OL coach Claude Puel has to decide whether Clerc is fit enough to take on Thierry Henry et al.

Ederson hopes

Brazilian midfielder Ederson says the French champions are ready to give it their all against Barça who, having lost to Espanyol and Atletico Madrid in recent weeks, got back to winning ways in La Liga with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao last weekend.

Ederson said: "The only problem for us is the goal we conceded in the first leg. That said there's everything to play for. I think our chances are 50-50. We've got to be confident, even if we come into the match off the back of two defeats [to Lille in the French Cup and to Lille again in Ligue 1] and that's not the best way to prepare for a Champions League game at Barcelona."

BB Bob

10-03-2009, 09:01 PM

Bonne chance demain. I think you may need it....

kabbott

11-03-2009, 10:58 AM

Bonne chance demain. I think you may need it....

Nobody really expects them to do anything tonight, but this just could be the right time for an exploit. There's no point in them closing up shop and hoping for a sneaky one like they tried to do last year against Man. Utd. They've got to take Barcelona by the scruff of the neck. They need to score goals.

ALLEZ L'OL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BB Bob

11-03-2009, 11:01 AM

Lyon's defeat throws title race wide open as coaches feel the heat

Marseille's outside chances of claiming the title are being overshadowed by Pape Diouf's autobiography

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Clubs/Club%20Home/2009/3/9/1236614021590/Lyons-goalkeeper-Remy-Ver-001.jpg

Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre can't keep out Lille's opening goal in their 2-0 win in front of a record crowd of 78,056 at the Stade de France. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Tense times in France, and the pressure finally seems to be getting to the coaches. In the last few days, one has fallen out over a bib, one might regret signing a new contract, one was sent off, and another admitted he has not been himself for months. All this while the weekend action had the usual thrills and spills: shocking refereeing decisions, last-minute penalty drama and players squaring up to fans – all in the same game. Oh, and a title race that is officially ON (again).

The reason? Lille beat Lyon for the second time in four days, following Wednesday's 3–2 French Cup triumph with a deserved 2–0 win at the Stade de France in front of a Ligue 1 record attendance of 78,056. "We do better against the top teams than the others and that's our big problem," admitted their star player Michel Bastos, who set up one goal and scored the other. Lille are now three points behind Marseille in third place and the coach, Rudi Garcia, has demanded more consistency. "When you can beat Lyon twice in a week it means you're at a certain level and we have to stay at that level every week."

Lyon's preparations were not helped by the late withdrawals of Hugo Lloris and John Mensah, an injury that forced Karim Benzema off at half-time, and a bizarre midweek bust-up between the coach, Claude Puel, and Anthony Réveillère, the injured full-back, who wanted to swap bibs during a training exercise. "There was an altercation," admitted the coach, who reportedly barked at Réveillère: 'Who do you think you are? Sod off to the dressing room.' Puel is still nonplussed by Réveillère's decision to refuse him surgery after rupturing his knee ligaments in November. "We still have question marks over the situation but it's the first time I've seen anything like that."

The situation bodes well for their Champions League opponents Barcelona, but also everyone else in Ligue 1, not least Paris Saint-Germain, who are now only one point behind Lyon after Ludovic Giuly's brilliant volley beat Lorient 1–0. It was a huge win for PSG, not just because they were without the suspended duo Claude Makélélé and Stéphane Sessègnon, or because they reverted to the 4-3-3 system that had failed them earlier in the season, but also because they had just lost 3–1 after extra-time in the Cup to third-division Rodez. "This victory was down to our courage," said the coach, Paul Le Guen. In fact, it was down to Mickaël Landreau.

The goalkeeper was terrible last season but is now back to his best form, as he showed when he saved a last-minute penalty from Rafik Saïfi that was very harshly given. "He took a penalty against me last season and he scored with a side-foot, so I knew I had to wait until the last possible second," said Landreau, who since saving a penalty from Lubomir Moravcik, then of Bastia, on his Nantes debut in August 1996, has now stopped 14 spot-kicks in Ligue 1.

"We had to bounce back from Rodez, and our aim at the moment is to keep defending our second place," said Landreau, whose renaissance is all down to his coach, according to Sonny Anderson, the former Lyon striker who won the title under Le Guen in 2003. "Paul has a way of instilling confidence in his players. He's so calm, he gives players a lot of responsibility and I'm not surprised to see him succeeding."

Saïfi lost his cool at the end of the game, and waded into the crowd to confront a fan who had shouted at him as the players headed down the tunnel. He demanded the fan withdraw his comment – which he did – but the pair then squared up and had to be separated by stewards. The fan was taken away by police.

PSG still have tough fixtures to come against Marseille, and away at Toulouse, Lille and Lyon, but there's no doubt they are Ligue 1's form team. Marseille, by comparison, have strung together three consecutive league wins only once all season and their cutting edge was lacking again in a 0–0 draw at home to Valenciennes, who hit the post, the crossbar, and saw Steve Mandanda make a point-blank save. Valenciennes have not lost since early December, and are now three points clear of the drop zone. "I'm not making excuses but it took us several months to recover from David Sommeil's heart attack [last August]," explained the coach, Antoine Kombouaré. "It affected us all a lot, it turned me soft but I am back to my old self again now. That can no longer be an excuse for us."

Finishing second is still the objective at Marseille, although attention on next week's trip to PSG has been overshadowed by the publication of agent-turned-president Pape Diouf's autobiography, in which he talks about Lyon ("they think about the business of football before anything else") Barack Obama ("his election gives me more credibility") and one particular player who refused to appoint him as agent even though they had got on well: "He wasn't sure how he would be perceived if he had a black agent, and thought it was too much of a risk for him. His name: Jérôme Rothen." "I am not a racist," Rothen responded on Canal Plus. "I will wait to read the section of the book in question but I don't want to get in a row about it now."

Toulouse are level on points with Marseille after the result of the weekend, a 3–0 thumping of Bordeaux. TFC's Andre-Pierre Gignac scored again, his 16th of the season coming from a nicely worked free-kick routine, while Bordeaux have won only once in the six games since Laurent Blanc extended his contract with the club. "They beat us in every department but especially mentally," said Blanc. "They wiped the floor with us physically, and when you play as badly as we did, you can't expect anything." Bordeaux's president, Jean-Louis Triaud, added: "The Toulouse gameplan is simple, they have nine at the back and one up front and they try to hit you on the counter. And yet we were surprised. We were like a fly squashed against the window." Bordeaux's top-scorer, Fernando Cavenaghi, is injured for the next six weeks and Champions League qualification, which is necessary if they want to keep Yoann Gourcuff, is now looking like their best-case scenario.

Caen slipped into the bottom three after losing 2–1 at Grenoble, although they were not helped by the referee Oliver Thaul showing Gregory Keca a straight red card after nine minutes, and then sending the coach, Franck Dumas, to the stands. "When the referees are rubbish and just produce a load of shit, it needs to be said," ranted Caen's Gregory Proment after the game. "Tonight they produced a lot of shit. They were crap. They were … I think I'd better shut up now."

He was not the only one with complaints: both captains had a go at referee Tony Chapron after Nice drew 0–0 with Monaco, with Olivier Echouafni (Nice) claiming his behaviour was "unacceptable and incomprehensible". It was a surreal game, as music was played over the Tannoy during the second half, a firecracker landed inches from Monaco goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier and abusive chants were directed at Prince Albert of Monaco, which, said ex-president Jérôme de Bontin "were a form of racism that I will be writing to the league about".

"The match was stopped every two minutes, the firecracker shows there are still idiots out there, while that music made me think I was in a nightclub," moaned the Monaco manager, Ricardo, while his opposite number, Frédéric Antonetti, who has probably frequented a few of those in his time, responded: "It's true we shouldn't have firecrackers, but let's not exaggerate, it was a lot worse in the 1970s and 1980s."

Back then, Lyon had barely even played in the top flight, so for them to be 90 minutes away from a Champions League quarter-final represents major progress, of course, even if defeat against Barcelona this week might cause more problems in their squad. Lyon face Auxerre next week and any slip-up then could see PSG top the table were they to beat Marseille. There are a few ifs to negotiate, but since when has that stopped PSG fans from dreaming?

Results, Week 27: Lorient 0–1 PSG, Marseille 0–0 Valenciennes, Toulouse 3–0 Bordeaux, Nice 0–0 Monaco, Nancy 2–2 Le Mans, Grenoble 2–1 Caen, Lille 2–0 Lyon, Rennes 2–0 Auxerre, Le Havre 2–1 Sochaux, Saint-Etienne 2–1 Nantes.

jookbeard

11-03-2009, 02:17 PM

kabbott

11-03-2009, 03:31 PM

was that the French league cup final?

No, for some inexplicable reason Lille are allowed to play other than at their current temporary stadium. (A new one is being built). Whether it's just one game or more I don't know. Last year, like this, they chose to play their ''home'' game against Lyon enabling them to break the all-time highest attendance in French league football.

Some people moaned that it was giving Lyon an unfair advantage playing a team supposedly at home, but actually playing away. It didn't help Lyon this year.

But then they're going to do the business tonight ...maybe.

jookbeard

11-03-2009, 03:40 PM

No, for some inexplicable reason Lille are allowed to play other than at their current temporary stadium. (A new one is being built). Whether it's just one game or more I don't know. Last year, like this, they chose to play their ''home'' game against Lyon enabling them to break the all-time highest attendance in French league football.

Some people moaned that it was giving Lyon an unfair advantage playing a team supposedly at home, but actually playing away. It didn't help Lyon this year.

But then they're going to do the business tonight ...maybe.

that's a good idea, fair play by the French FA, this enables fans from the capital to see the league champions in a state of the art complex, and showing huge support for other teams

kabbott

12-03-2009, 05:56 PM

How good were Barcelona and how bad were Lyon in the first half?

Cris: 'Worst defeat of my life'

Lyon’s Brazilian defender Cris has described the 5-2 loss at Barcelona which sent the French champions crashing out of the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage for the third season running as 'the worst defeat of my life'.
La Liga leaders Barça stormed out of the blocks, France striker Thierry Henry scoring twice, to add to his first leg equaliser, with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o also on the mark before half-time. Jean II Makoun pulled one back to make the score at the interval 4-1 but the damage had been done.

Cris said: "It's the worst defeat of my life, a defeat that's really difficult to swallow. We played to our level but Barcelona were better than us. We saw the difference between ourselves and the best teams in Europe. Even when we got back to 4-2 down in the second half I didn't think we'd equalise."

Mountain too high

Lyon had been comeback specialists in this competition this season but they had left themselves a mountain too high to climb on this occasion.

During the group stage Lyon came back from 2-0 down to Fiorentina to draw 2-2, from 3-1 down at Steaua Bucharest to win 5-3, and from 3-0 down at home to Bayern Munich to salvage some pride with a final score of 3-2.

When Lyon captain Juninho reduced the arrears against Barça to 4-2 in 48 minutes, the Ligue 1 leaders could dream, not least because Lyon had never before lost a Champions League match in which the Brazilian had scored.

'No regrets'

Italian left-back Fabio Grosso said: "If we'd scored again with ten minutes to go then things could have been different. Our second-half display was much better. We showed real character. We go out of this competition with our heads held high. We have no regrets."

Barça substitute Seydou Keita killed off any lingering hopes of an improbable comeback with the home side's fifth goal of the night in stoppage time at the end of the game.

Lyon have reached the last 16 of the Champions League in each of the last six seasons but this is the third successive season in which they have failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Another last 16 exit

To exits to eventual champions Manchester United last season and Roma the previous season can now be added the Barça blues. Take into account a 3-1 aggregate loss to AC Milan in the 2005/06 quarter-finals and Lyon have not won any of their last eight matches in the knockout phase of Europe's premier club competition.

Lyon coach Claude Puel said: "Against Barça we were timid. There are always things you could have done better. We let them play to their strengths. But I want to congratulate them. They were favourites for this competition at the start of the campaign and they remain so today."

It has been a shocking week for Lyon. Knocked out of the French Cup by Lille, their defeat at the hands of the same opponents saw their lead at the top of Ligue 1 over Paris Saint-Germain cut to a single point. Having been in the running for three trophies, last season's domestic double winners now have no choice but to focus on the championship.

Ligue 1 focus

Lyon's Swedish international midfielder Kim Källström said: "We have the same feeling as last season. We let our chances of qualifying slip in the first match. Going out of this competition shouldn't change anything for the rest of the season. We have the squad to win the championship and we are professionals after all."

To complete Lyon's Nou Camp nightmare Juninho was sent off for a second bookable defence and will be suspended for the start of the next European campaign.

kabbott

12-03-2009, 05:57 PM

Lyon tamed as five-star Barça run riot

Lyon produced a brave but ultimately vain effort to rein in Barcelona as the Ligue 1 leaders were beaten 5-2 in Spain on Wednesday to crash out of the Champions League 6-3 on aggregate.
There were shades of Bayern's 7-1 rout of Sporting Lisbon 24 hours earlier as Barcelona went 4-0 ahead inside 43 minutes before Jean II Makoun and Juninho struck either side of half-time to briefly raise hopes of an upset.

The only tears, though, were French as they failed to add to their tally. Juninho's red card for a second bookable offence and Seydou Keita's strike in stoppage time delivered the coup de grace to the French champions' European ambitions for yet another season.

Barça coach Josep Guardiola had warned his team against conceding free-kicks within range of their own goal with Juninho in the Lyon side. It was not a message heeded by the visitors who gave the hosts an early set-piece in an inviting position on the edge of the box, but Xavi saw his effort deflect off the wall and fly narrowly wide of Hugo Lloris' goal.

That tenth-minute effort sparked a spell of sustained pressure which saw the Lyon rearguard, including François Clerc for the first time in the competition this season, tested to breaking point. They held firm, however, and almost caught Barcelona on the counter-attack, but Ederson's weak finish failed to trouble Victor Valdes.

Henry finish

This was not the high-tempo opening that Lyon had produced in the first leg, as Barça dictated play in the visitors' half of the pitch, and the hosts unsurprisingly took the lead on 25 minutes. Rafael Marquez neatly nipped a Lyon attack in the bud before instantly clipping a ball to Thierry Henry to race clear and slip the ball under Lloris.

If the Lyon fans who had made the long trip to Catalonia were irked that one of their compatriots had doused their ambitions of an upset, then they may well have been pushed to breaking point when Henry all but extinguished those hopes just two minutes later.

With Lyon unable to get out of their own third, Barça swept forward, Xavi slipping the ball to Henry, and the former Arsenal again opted for a low finish which Lloris was powerless to stop.

The two-goal lead was little more than the hosts deserved for an enterprising start, with the only surprise that Lionel Messi had barely been involved. The diminutive Argentine genius made up for that, though, five minutes before half-time as he added yet another glorious goal to his already glittering collection.

Sublime

Picking the ball up on the right, Messi skipped away from two challenges, played a sharp one-two with Samuel Eto'o before curling the ball round the outstretched hand of Lloris and into the bottom corner, all with an aire of disconcerting ease. Simply sublime.

If Messi is all about flair and finesse, Eto'o's forte is his finishing, and the Cameroon international mercilessly punished Cris' failure to cut out a dangerous ball by crashing the ball high into the net two minutes before half-time.

But the defensive deficiencies which may just undermine Barça's hopes of picking up the club's third European crown emerged barely sixty seconds later as Makoun rose unchallenged to meet a Juninho corner and plant a firm header past Victor Valdes.

Lyon appeared determined to chase a lost cause when they re-emerged onto the Camp Nou pitch, and Benzema failed to take a half-chance in the opening seconds before Juninho profited from an alert dummy from the French international striker to convert César Delgado's cross to reduce the deficit to two three minutes after the interval.

It was still Barça, though, that created the most significant openings, with Lloris and Cris combining to clear the danger and deny Henry a hat-trick shortly before the hour mark.

Juninho red

Despite Messi's influence over his side's play increasing, Lyon - with Makoun battling industriously, and Jérémy Toulalan employed as a makeshift right-back - managed to contain the Spanish league leaders.

Ederson and Benzema in particular had chances to make it a tense finish, but the former saw his effort blocked while the latter snatched at a shooting opportunity, blazing over.

As time ticked down, tempers flared, and a minor altercation between Fabio Grosso and Lionel Messi led to Juninho saying a word out of turn and being given a second yellow card.

Keita, who had come off the bench to replace Henry 15 minutes from time, broke down the right-hand channel soon after before lifting a shot over Lloris to complete a convincing win for the Catalan giants.

GodstoneEagle

12-03-2009, 06:20 PM

did you watch it?

kabbott

14-03-2009, 12:41 PM

Clermont still just above the danger zone!

Friday, March 13, 2009

20:00 SC Bastia 1 - 0 Montpellier HSC
20:00 Stade Brestois 0 - 1 Tours FC
20:00 LB Châteauroux 1 - 0 US Boulogne CO
20:00 Clermont Foot 1 - 1 EA Guingamp
20:00 Dijon FCO 1 - 1 Stade de Reims
20:00 Vannes OC 2 - 1 Amiens SC
20:30 RC Lens 0 - 1 AC Ajaccio
20:30 CS Sedan 3 - 2 FC Metz
20:30 ESTAC 1 - 2 Angers SCO

Monday, March 16, 2009

20:30 Nîmes Olympique - RC Strasbourg

Ligue 2 table:

1 RC Lens 27 16 4 7 37 27 +10 52
2 Angers SCO 27 12 10 5 39 26 +13 46
3 FC Metz 27 13 7 7 38 27 +11 46
4 Montpellier HSC 27 12 8 7 47 26 +21 44
5 RC Strasbourg 26 11 10 5 39 30 +9 43
6 Vannes OC 27 11 7 9 23 26 -3 40
7 US Boulogne CO 27 11 6 10 30 29 +1 39
8 Tours FC 27 11 6 10 37 37 0 39
9 CS Sedan 27 10 9 8 30 30 0 39
10 EA Guingamp 27 8 12 7 30 25 +5 36
11 SC Bastia 27 10 6 11 28 33 -5 36
12 Stade Brestois 27 10 4 13 30 32 -2 34
13 Dijon FCO 27 8 9 10 29 36 -7 33
14 Amiens SC 27 7 11 9 26 26 0 32
15 AC Ajaccio 27 8 8 11 36 43 -7 32
16 ESTAC 27 8 7 12 30 34 -4 31
17 Clermont Foot 27 7 10 10 31 38 -7 31
18 LB Châteauroux 27 6 9 12 24 33 -9 27
19 Stade de Reims 27 5 10 12 33 43 -10 25
20 Nîmes Olympique 26 4 9 13 21 37 -16 21

philsick

14-03-2009, 12:52 PM

Clermont still just above the danger zone!

20:00 Clermont Foot 1 - 1 EA Guingamp

Still a poor result really.When i saw them play lens the leaders a few weeks ago,i thought they looked pretty good.But the lens injury tim e winner seems to have knocked the stuffing out of them.Need a win badly.

kabbott

14-03-2009, 12:52 PM

did you watch it?

Yes, I did. It's difficult to know if Barcelona were brilliant in the first half or if Lyon were cr*p. It looked like they had twice as many players on the pitch. In defence Cris, normally very solid, was a few metres off the pace, Grosso was ridiculed so many times by Messi, and the gamble of playing Clerc, who'd played just one game since a 7 month lay-off, didn't come off. Strangely enough Lyon got a goal either side of the break and for a while Barcelona looked a little shaky. If Benzema had made better use of a pass it could have been 4:3 and it might have been ''game on''. But I think, in all honesty, Barcelona had taken their foot off the gas and were playing out until the end of the game.

The only good news this week out of Lyon is that it seems like Benzema is going to stay at Lyon for another season. He's still young, and unlike other young players is not a ''hot-head'' and he is well advised too.
Mind you, if Lyon don't beat Auxerre on Sunday afternoon, it could be the start of a crisis at the club, and maybe the beginning of the end.

kabbott

14-03-2009, 12:54 PM

Benzema: 'I'm staying'

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/grandFormat/0809_l1_caen_lyon_benzema2_mono.jpg

Karim Benzema has insisted he will still be playing for Lyon next season, despite his obvious disappointment following OL’s Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona on Wednesday.

Benzema was powerless to prevent the French league leaders slipping to a 6-3 aggregate defeat against their Spanish counterparts, but despite having hinted he would quit France earlier this season, the 21-year-old now plans on remaining in Ligue 1.

"I'm going to stay at Lyon next season," said Benzema, who has struck 12 league goals this season. "I know everyone here, I grew up in Lyon. It's my second season as first-choice. I'm only 21, and I've a got a lot of years ahead of me in which I can join another club."

When he does decide to quit the Stade Municipal de Gerland, there will be no shortage of suitors for Benzema, who has developed into one of Europe's most sought-after goal-getters. The French international, however, has told potential buyers they will have to wait at least another season before being able to lure him away from his hometown club.

'Feel good'

"I really want to continue with Lyon," he said after training on Friday. "I've still got a lot of things to learn both on and off the pitch. I feel really good here. Everyone supports me."

Everyone, including coach Claude Puel, who was naturally delighted to learn he would be conserving one of the key elements of his team. "It's an important sign," Puel said. "It shows that the club has the resources, and that we have to continue developing and progressing to do something big next season.

"It's good news for us and for him as well. He's at a club where he plays in big competitions and important games, and that will help him progress. It's a wise decision, and – as he's a big boy – he didn't need to talk it over with me before making his mind up."

kabbott

14-03-2009, 01:02 PM

What about loto sportif time?

Week 28 - Saturday, March 14, 2009

19:00 SM Caen v LOSC DRAW
19:00 Le Mans UC 72 v Stade Rennais FC DRAW
19:00 AS Monaco FC v Toulouse FC DRAW
19:00 FC Nantes v FC Lorient HOME
19:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard v AS Nancy Lorraine HOME
19:00 Valenciennes FC v Havre AC HOME

21:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux v OGC Nice DRAW

Week 28 - Sunday, March 15, 2009

17:00 Grenoble Foot 38 v AS Saint-Etienne HOME
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais v AJ Auxerre HOME

21:00 Paris Saint-Germain v Olympique de Marseille HOME

BB Bob

14-03-2009, 02:00 PM

Boy, I've had a busy busy week!

Just time to get some tips from madame:-

Le Mans v Rennes - Le Mans @ 9/5
Monaco v Toulouse - Draw @ 19/10
Nantes v Lorient - Nantes @ 5/4
Caen v Lille - Lille @ 6/4
Sochaux v Nancy - Draw @ 2/1
Valenciennes v Le Havre - Draw @ 5/2
Bordeaux v Nice - Bordeaux @ 8/13
Grenoble v St Etienne - Grenoble @ 8/5
Lyon v Auxerre - Lyon @ 2/5
Paris S.G. v Marseille - Paris S.G. @ 13/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £6485.94

And here are mine....

Lyon v Auxerre - Lyon @ 2/5
Caen v Lille - Lille @ 6/4
Nantes v Lorient - Draw @ 2/1
Monaco v Toulouse - Draw @ 19/10
Le Mans v Rennes - Rennes @ 8/5
Sochaux v Nancy - Sochaux @ 21/20
Valenciennes v Le Havre - Valenciennes @ 6/10
Bordeaux v Nice - Draw @ 5/2
Grenoble v St Etienne - Draw @ 2/1
Paris S.G. v Marseille - Draw @ 2/1

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £8179.84

BB Bob

14-03-2009, 02:01 PM

Oh and very, very good news about Benzema!

kabbott

14-03-2009, 09:13 PM

Week 28 - Saturday, March 14, 2009

19:00 SM Caen 0 - 1 LOSC
19:00 Le Mans UC 72 2 - 2 Stade Rennais FC
19:00 AS Monaco FC 3 - 2 Toulouse FC
19:00 FC Nantes 1 - 1 FC Lorient
19:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 2 - 1 AS Nancy Lorraine
19:00 Valenciennes FC 3 - 2 Havre AC

21:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 2 - 1 OGC Nice

Week 28 - Sunday, March 15, 2009

17:00 Grenoble Foot 38 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais AJ Auxerre

21:00 Paris Saint-Germain Olympique de Marseille

BB Bob

14-03-2009, 09:20 PM

I watched some of the Bordeaux Nice game. Les girondins always seemed to have a measure of control and looked far too strong for Nice.

Roll on tomorrow night. Blimey - a PSG - OM game that means something! It's been a while since we had one of those....

kabbott

14-03-2009, 09:24 PM

I watched some of Monaco v Toulouse. Quite entertaining. That Monaco team is full of relative unknowns. Shame, they had a good team a couple of years back.

GodstoneEagle

15-03-2009, 01:20 AM

Isn't it just, that team of Evra, Prso, Nonda, Morientes, Rothen and Giuly replaced by Gakpé and the like

BB Bob

15-03-2009, 07:58 AM

But they also had players like Jan Koller and kabbott's friend from Lyon, Piquionne, who were pretty obviously only there for the money....

BB Bob

15-03-2009, 08:44 AM

Interesting table now......

1 Olympique Lyonnais 27 15 8 4 36 19 +17 53
2 Paris Saint-Germain 27 16 4 7 39 25 +14 52

3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 28 14 8 6 44 29 +15 50

4 Olympique de Marseille 27 13 10 4 40 25 +15 49

5 Toulouse FC 28 13 10 5 33 20 +13 49
6 LOSC 28 13 10 5 39 28 +11 49
7 Stade Rennais FC 28 11 14 3 32 19 +13 47
8 OGC Nice 28 11 7 10 31 29 +2 40
9 AS Monaco FC 28 8 9 11 33 35 -2 33
10 FC Lorient 28 7 11 10 31 32 -1 32
11 Valenciennes FC 28 7 11 10 26 29 -3 32
12 Le Mans UC 72 28 8 8 12 33 39 -6 32
13 Grenoble Foot 38 27 7 11 9 17 24 -7 32
14 AJ Auxerre 27 8 7 12 21 27 -6 31
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 28 7 9 12 27 37 -10 30
16 FC Nantes 28 7 9 12 26 38 -12 30
17 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 28 6 11 11 30 36 -6 29
18 AS Saint-Etienne 27 8 5 14 26 39 -13 29
19 SM Caen 28 5 11 12 30 36 -6 26
20 Havre AC 28 5 3 20 23 51 -28 18

No room for mistakes now...

BB Bob

15-03-2009, 08:49 AM

Sorry, I'm having a nerdy number crunching sunday morning. This is interesting though...or at least I think it is....it's the table since the break:-

1 Paris Saint-Germain 8 6 1 1 15 8 +7 19
2 Toulouse FC 9 5 3 1 14 5 +9 18
3 Valenciennes FC 9 4 5 0 10 4 +6 17
4 Olympique de Marseille 8 5 2 1 7 1 +6 17
5 LOSC 9 5 2 2 11 9 +2 17
6 Olympique Lyonnais 8 4 3 1 13 7 +6 15
7 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 9 4 3 2 13 10 +3 15
8 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 9 5 0 4 12 11 +1 15
9 Stade Rennais FC 9 3 4 2 8 6 +2 13
10 AJ Auxerre 8 3 2 3 7 8 -1 11
11 AS Saint-Etienne 8 2 4 2 11 11 0 10
12 AS Monaco FC 9 2 4 3 11 12 -1 10
13 FC Nantes 9 2 4 3 11 13 -2 10
14 OGC Nice 9 3 1 5 8 10 -2 10
15 Le Mans UC 72 9 1 5 3 8 11 -3 8
16 Grenoble Foot 38 8 1 4 3 4 7 -3 7
17 FC Lorient 9 0 6 3 6 9 -3 6
18 Havre AC 9 2 0 7 9 17 -8 6
19 AS Nancy Lorraine 9 1 2 6 9 20 -11 5
20 SM Caen 9 0 3 6 7 15 -8 3

kabbott

15-03-2009, 05:56 PM

After a thrilling afternoon of rugger, I switch over to watch Lyon's second half against Auxerre. Lyon were hopeless. Things don't look good.

Week 28 - Sunday, March 15, 2009

17:00 Grenoble Foot 38 1 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais 0 - 2 AJ Auxerre

BB Bob

15-03-2009, 07:22 PM

Merde a-bloody-lors mate! What is going on? A full scale crisis at the Gerland - can PSG take advantage and go top?

BB Bob

16-03-2009, 07:27 AM

.....er, no was the answer!

http://www.lfp.fr/images/logoClub/25/500247.gifParis Saint-Germain / http://www.lfp.fr/images/logoClub/25/500083.gifOlympique de Marseille : 1 - 3

Boudewijn Zenden opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes, but Ludovic Giuly equalised four minutes before the break for PSG, who could have gone top with victory.

The game slipped away from the club from the capital on 52 minutes, however, when Zoumana Camara was dismissed for a clumsy challenge on Zenden as the Dutchman bore down on goal.

From the resulting free-kick, Mickaël Landreau saved Zenden's effort only for the ball to ricochet off the unwitting Bakari Koné and into the net before former PSG midfielder Lorik Cana rubbed salt ino the wounds of his old club with a third to reignite Marseille's title challenge.

Bristled

The sense of anticipation around the most significant meeting between France's two biggest clubs in recent memory proved justified as the pair both made brisk openings, though it was not always easy to see the play through the smoke of the flares set off by the capacity crowd.

Determined to make up for their 4-2 defeat to PSG in Week 10, the visitors bristled into challenges while Brandao did exactly what he was bought for as he hustled and harried the PSG rearguard.

The Brazilian can look awkward and cumbersome at times, but there was more than a hint of his South American heritage as he created the opening for Zenden to strike on 25 minutes.

The ex-Shakhtar Donetsk forward brought down a high ball and held off Camara before executing a neat backheel into Zenden's path - the ex-Barcelona midfielder then advanced before drilling a low shot past Landreau.

With leading scorer Guillaume Hoarau well shackled by Vitorino Hilton and Renato Civelli, PSG had to look for other means of hurting their opponents, and it was the diminutive Giuly - the antithesis of his giant strike partner - who pulled them level with a cool finish four minutes before the break.

Broken spirit

The game turned with the second half just seven minutes old when Brandao flicked on a long ball, and Camara - surprised by the pace of Zenden's darting forward run - sent the Marseille midfielder crashing to the turf inches outside the area.

With the PSG defender heading to the dressing-room, Zenden fired goalwards. Landreau produced an excellent stop, but could only parry the ball onto Koné's thigh to gift the Ivorian the easiest of his eight goals this season.

If the home side's spirit was not already broken, it was soon afterwards.

Cana, once worshipped for his combative displays at the heart of the PSG midfield, firing home from outside the box to give the visitors a fourth victory in a six-game unbeaten run.

BB Bob

16-03-2009, 07:28 AM

1 Olympique Lyonnais 28 15 8 5 +15 53

2 Olympique de Marseille 28 14 10 4 +17 52
3 Paris Saint-Germain 28 16 4 8 +12 52

4 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 28 14 8 6 +15 50

5 Toulouse FC 28 13 10 5 +13 49
6 LOSC 28 13 10 5 +11 49
7 Stade Rennais FC 28 11 14 3 +13 47
8 OGC Nice 28 11 7 10 +2 40
9 Grenoble Foot 38 28 8 11 9 -6 35
10 AJ Auxerre 28 9 7 12 -4 34
11 AS Monaco FC 28 8 9 11 -2 33
12 FC Lorient 28 7 11 10 -1 32
13 Valenciennes FC 28 7 11 10 -3 32
14 Le Mans UC 72 28 8 8 12 -6 32
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 28 7 9 12 -10 30
16 FC Nantes 28 7 9 12 -12 30
17 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 28 6 11 11 -6 29

18 AS Saint-Etienne 28 8 5 15 -14 29
19 SM Caen 28 5 11 12 -6 26
20 Havre AC 28 5 3 20 -28 18

kabbott

16-03-2009, 07:06 PM

17:00 Grenoble Foot 38 1 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais 0 - 2 AJ Auxerre
21:00 Paris Saint-Germain 1 - 3 Olympique de Marseille

The final result was about the only positive.

Boumsong: 'Crisis? What crisis?'

Jean-Alain Boumsong has denied Lyon are in a crisis, despite the champions' 2-0 defeat at home to Auxerre on Sunday.

Goals from Ireneusz Jelen and Thomas Kahlenberg condemned OL to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions, but Boumsong is confident the squad will reverse the trend.

"I know that the papers will say, 'Lyon are in crisis' tomorrow, but there is no crisis," said Boumsong. "We're in a difficult situation, we're not playing well, but we'll work hard to get ourselves out of it.

"It's one of the first times that the club has found itself in this situation at this stage of the season, but it will be all the bigger and better for it."

To the surprise of everyone, including Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez, Claude Puel named exactly the same line-up that had lost 5-2 at Barcelona on Wednesday to go out of the Champions League.

'Keep working'

"I wanted to see them move on and get themselves into the championship," said the OL boss. "We played it into feet too much, and had difficulty knocking balls into space. That helped the opposition defence, and we were too timid to cause them any problems."

Puel has given his overworked squad two days' rest - "to regain some freshness in their heads and their legs," he said - before returning to training on Wednesday ahead of next weekend's encounter with resurgent Sochaux.

"This defeat has hurt us. It's our first loss at home in a while, and we really needed to win to get over what happened in Barcelona," said Boumsong. "It would be a crime if the squad imploded. We all know we're going through a rough patch, but by working calmly and quietly, we'll get back to winning ways."

kabbott

16-03-2009, 07:14 PM

For the loto sportif, scores on the doors:

kabbott: 4/10
BB Bob: 4/10
Madame BB Bob: 3/10

Tout le monde peut faire mieux.

BB Bob

16-03-2009, 08:11 PM

For the loto sportif, scores on the doors:

kabbott: 4/10
BB Bob: 4/10
Madame BB Bob: 3/10

Tout le monde peut faire mieux.

Like our teams.....

BB Bob

17-03-2009, 11:20 AM

Ben's latest piece:-

Zenden justifies his hefty income as Marseille profit from Lyon's loss

He earns more than €250,000 a month, but Bolo Zenden will be worth every penny to L'OM if he can keep them in the title race
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/3/17/1237283498054/Boudewijn-Zenden-Marseill-001.jpg

Marseille's Boudewijn Zenden gets the better of Paris Saint-Germain's Zoumana Camara, left, during L'OM's 3-1 away win in Paris.
Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP

The Zendens have been in the news recently. Just after Mrs Zenden, also known as the model Clio Pajczer, told So Foot magazine of her embarrassment that her parents owned a Renault with the same name (and yes, that was the interview's highlight), husband Bolo was revealed as Marseille's highest-paid player, earning a monthly €263,500 (£243,000). Just as well for the Dutchman, then, that he was man of the match in Marseille's 3-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain, a result that opens up the title race even more following Lyon's shock 2-0 capitulation at home to Auxerre.

Zenden was a controversial choice to start the game ahead of Mamadou Niang and Hatem Ben Arfa - L'OM's next two highest earners on £203,000 and £185,000 respectively - but he scored the first goal, was then brought down in an incident that earned Zoumana Camara a red card and he took the resulting free-kick from which Bakary Koné scored to put L'OM 2-1 up. "The red card and the goal that followed were the turning points," said the PSG coach Paul Le Guen, while Eric Gerets added: "I can just imagine the criticism I would have got for picking Zenden if we had lost."

In recent years, the rivalry between the two clubs has been dominated by matters off the pitch: PSG fans smashed Marseille's team bus windscreen in November 2004, while two years later PSG coach Laurent Fournier suggested their dressing-room had been contaminated; later that season, L'OM responded to a fans' ban by taking a reserve team to Paris and getting a 0-0 draw. And all because, according to the book OM-PSG, PSG-OM, les meilleurs ennemis, ex-Marseille president Bernard Tapie had created a rivalry because he wanted Marseille to have domestic rivals to keep the 1993 European Cup winners on their toes.

The build-up was more about the players' salaries. PSG's wage list was also leaked, with Claude Makélélé (£258,000 per month) and Ludovic Giuly (£240,000) the top earners, while other notables were flop Mateja Kezman third with £231,000 and top-scorer Guillaume Hoarau down in 15th, bringing in a monthly £74,000. "We are the ultimate losers as when we asked about Hoarau, his advisers asked us to pay twice as much," said Marseille's president Pape Diouf, who told Fabulous Sport that among his previous jobs, which included delivery boy, street cleanerand postman, he was also an underwear model.

Zenden admitted that his former side Liverpool's 4-1 win over Manchester United had inspired Marseille. "We watched the Liverpool game and said, 'That's what we've got to do against them,'" he said. "There was intelligence and character in our play and that was good to see," said Gerets, who claimed to have seen 3,000 policemen outside the L'OM hotel the night before the game. "I didn't realise how big this game was until I saw that."

Mention should also go to Englishman Tyrone Mears, standing in for Laurent Bonnart at right-back, who in his first league start kept Jérôme Rothen quiet. "We messed up the match and have taken a blow to the back of our heads, but we'll pick ourselves up," said Le Guen, who didn't change the team following Camara's 53rd-minute dismissal "because I didn't want to".

Marseille and PSG are now one point behind Lyon after the leaders lost at home to Auxerre, a team that a few weeks ago were looking like relegation candidates. Lyon have now lost four in a row: the last time that happened was 18 years ago, when a certain Raymond Domenech was in charge. "I was very surprised that they played the same team which lost [5-2] to Barcelona," said winning coach Jean Fernandez, "I guess Claude Puel was looking for a reaction." He didn't get one, and the result could have been worse had Hugo Lloris, lucky to stay on the pitch after bringing down Kévin Lejeune late on, not stopped Cédric Hengbart's subsequent spot-kick.

These are worrying times for the champions who, wrote France Football, "were not only beaten in Barcelona, they were crushed, humiliated and then spat out again". The club sacked their double-winning coach last summer and might end this season empty-handed. They have made mistakes, such as losing Fred in January without bringing in a replacement, while the signing of Frédéric Piquionne, bought at Puel's request, seems bizarre as he has started only six games. "Right now, we're short of top-quality centre forwards," admitted former hero Sonny Anderson, now working for Lyon as a strikers' coach. "If Karim Benzema gets injured, we're in real trouble."

The only good news for Lyon this week was Benzema's promise to stay at the club next season, though with question marks over Puel's decisions and the home crowd booing the team off the Gerland pitch, Benzema's future is, for once, not Lyon's biggest concern. "I know the papers will say Lyon are in crisis now but we're not," said Jean-Alain Boumsong, who went off injured at half-time. Benzema was not so sure. "We are in some danger," he admitted.

Elsewhere, improving Sochaux moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over Nancy, whose coach Pablo Correa had his resignation refused after the match, which was a fifth loss in seven. Bordeaux are three points behind Lyon after beating Nice 2-1, Caen lost 1-0 to Lille while Monaco's Igor Lolo scored in injury-time to beat Toulouse 3-2.

Lyon's former coach Alain Perrin was unhappy as another late goal cost Saint-Etienne as they lost 1-0 at Grenoble. Les Verts are back in the bottom three and this is the third game in four they have dropped points by conceding in injury-time (they did the same in the 2-2 draw at Monaco and the 1-1 draw against Bordeaux). That's good news for Werder Bremen, their Uefa Cup opponents this week. "The Uefa Cup has become a drag and we're not going to play to qualify against Bremen," said Perrin. "Will the fans be upset? Well, they won't want to see us in the second division next season." He has since retracted those comments.

This week sees the French Cup quarter-finals and Domenech's latest squad announcement for the World Cup qualifiers against Lithuania. For once, though, all the talk is about a title race that is finally wide open. Four points separate the top six sides and Lyon still have to play Marseille, PSG and Bordeaux. Laurent Blanc's team look to have the easiest run-in and could yet surprise us all.

Results, Week 28: Monaco 3-2 Toulouse, Le Mans 2-2 Rennes, Caen 0-1 Lille, Nantes 1-1 Lorient, Sochaux 2-1 Nancy, Valenciennes 3-2 Le Havre, Bordeaux 2-1 Nice, Lyon 0-2 Auxerre, Grenoble 1-0 Saint-Etienne, PSG 1-3 Marseille.

BB Bob

18-03-2009, 06:16 PM

Some cup games that I missed on Tuesday:-

CS Sedan 1 - 3 EA Guingamp

Toulouse FC 1 - 1 a.e.t.
7 to 6 LOSC

Grenoble Foot 38 2 - 0 AS Monaco FC

Last one tonight is:-

Stade Rennais FC - Rodez

BB Bob

19-03-2009, 08:37 AM

19:00 Stade Rennais FC 2 - 0 Rodez

Clapham Grand

19-03-2009, 08:47 AM

I see Tyrone Mears scored the winner for Marseilles to send them through in the UEFA Cup

kabbott

19-03-2009, 08:32 PM

I see Tyrone Mears scored the winner for Marseilles to send them through in the UEFA Cup

The few first teams he's played, he's been slated by the press. No skill, no technique, no idea of positional play. I thought there were one or two occasions where he looked like he had something. And then he pops up and scores the qualifying goal. Football, it's a funny ol' game.
By the way, the regular right back is out for the rest of the season, so he's got the time to make that spot his. It was also mentioned that he was selected by John Barnes , the Jamaican national coach. Good luck to him. Playing for Marseille has its up sides and its down sides. Big passionate partisan crowds but the fans can love you one day and hate you the next. Plus there's always lots going on backstage with a very complicated organisation. You're never really sure who is pulling the strings.

GodstoneEagle

19-03-2009, 08:35 PM

Zenden played up front :confused:

Was always a winger/centre mid over here, can't imagine him playing as a centre forward!

p.s kabbott, once I've finished it, would you look at a piece of french work I've done? It's not in until tuesday and I should finish it tonight/tomorrow hopefully? :)

kabbott

20-03-2009, 03:52 PM

kabbott

21-03-2009, 06:53 AM

Another bad result for philsick in Ligue 2:

Friday, March 20, 2009

20:00 AC Ajaccio 1 - 1 ESTAC
20:00 Amiens SC 0 - 1 Nîmes Olympique
20:00 US Boulogne CO 2 - 0 Vannes OC
20:00 Dijon FCO 2 - 0 SC Bastia
20:00 Montpellier HSC 3 - 2 Stade Brestois
20:00 Tours FC 2 - 0 Clermont Foot
20:30 EA Guingamp 0 - 0 RC Lens
20:30 FC Metz 1 - 0 LB Châteauroux
20:30 Stade de Reims 0 - 1 CS Sedan

Monday, March 23, 2009

20:30 RC Strasbourg - Angers SCO

kabbott

21-03-2009, 06:54 AM

Clermont remain 4 points off the drop zone:

1 RC Lens 28 16 5 7 37 27 +10 53
2 FC Metz 28 14 7 7 39 27 +12 49
3 Montpellier HSC 28 13 8 7 50 28 +22 47
4 Angers SCO 27 12 10 5 39 26 +13 46
5 RC Strasbourg 27 12 10 5 41 30 +11 46
6 US Boulogne CO 28 12 6 10 32 29 +3 42
7 Tours FC 28 12 6 10 39 37 +2 42
8 CS Sedan 28 11 9 8 31 30 +1 42
9 Vannes OC 28 11 7 10 23 28 -5 40
10 EA Guingamp 28 8 13 7 30 25 +5 37
11 Dijon FCO 28 9 9 10 31 36 -5 36
12 SC Bastia 28 10 6 12 28 35 -7 36
13 Stade Brestois 28 10 4 14 32 35 -3 34
14 AC Ajaccio 28 8 9 11 37 44 -7 33
15 Amiens SC 28 7 11 10 26 27 -1 32
16 ESTAC 28 8 8 12 31 35 -4 32
17 Clermont Foot 28 7 10 11 31 40 -9 31
18 LB Châteauroux 28 6 9 13 24 34 -10 27
19 Stade de Reims 28 5 10 13 33 44 -11 25
20 Nîmes Olympique 28 5 9 14 22 39 -17 24

kabbott

21-03-2009, 08:46 AM

This could be make or break weekend for Lyon. For tomorrow afternoon's game against Sochaux, they are without all their central defenders through injury or suspension. So no Cris, Boumsong or Mensah. Instead it's Bodmer (OK he's already played centre back before) and Toulalan. What is more, L'Equipe, this morning, said there weren't many smiling faces in training and that the quality of the forwards' training was poor to say the least. I'm not sure if they meant the players weren't knocking many in or what they were being made to do wasn't up to much.

Anyway, loto sportif time again:

Week 29 - Saturday, March 21, 2009

19:00 AJ Auxerre v Le Mans UC 72 HOME
19:00 Havre AC v FC Girondins de Bordeaux AWAY
19:00 LOSC v Grenoble Foot 38 DRAW
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine v AS Monaco FC DRAW
19:00 OGC Nice v SM Caen DRAW
19:00 Stade Rennais FC v Valenciennes FC AWAY
21:00 Olympique de Marseille v FC Nantes AWAY

Week 29 - Sunday, March 22, 2009

17:00 FC Lorient v AS Saint-Etienne AWAY
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais v FC Sochaux-Montbéliard HOME
21:00 Toulouse FC v Paris Saint-Germain DRAW

kabbott

21-03-2009, 08:52 AM

Saturday's probable teams

http://www.ligue1.com/photo/moyenFormat/0809_ajax_marseille_uefa_mears_art.jpg

Tyrone Mears was Marseille's hero in midweek after he scored the goal that took OM through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, and the full-back will be given another chance to prove his worth against Nantes on Saturday.
Saturday 21 March 2009

19:00 - AJ Auxerre / Le Mans UC 72

Auxerre: Sorin - Hengbart, Coulibaly, Grichting, Dudka - Pedretti (cap), Narry - Chafni, Kahlenberg, Birsa - Jelen.

Le Mans: Pelé - Geder, Paulo André, Cerdan - Ib. Camara, Stromstad, F. Thomas, Coutadeur (or Estigarribia), Maïga - Helstad.

19:00 - Havre AC / FC Girondins de Bordeaux

Le Havre: Revault - Baca, Ba, Kana-Biyik, Tixier - Anin, Aït Ben Idir, Alla, Davidas - Alassane, Diallo.

Bordeaux: Ramé - Chalmé, Henrique, Diawara, Trémoulinas - Jussiê (or Traoré), Ducasse, Gourcuff, Wendel - Chamakh, Bellion

19:00 - LOSC / Grenoble Foot 38

Lille: Malicki - Béria, Rami, Plestan, Tafforeau - Mavuba, Balmont, Chedjou - Hazard, Bastos - Vittek.

Grenoble: Wimbée (cap) - Jemmali, Paillot, Cesar, Robin - Grandin (or Touré), Batlles (or Baning), Romao, Courtois - Boya, Moreira.

19:00 - AS Nancy Lorraine / AS Monaco FC

Nancy: Bracigliano - Berenguer, Ouaddou, S. André Luiz, N'Diaye (or Macaluso), Biancalani - N'Guemo, Gavanon, Brison - Zerka, Hadji.

Monaco: Ruffier - Lolo, Simic, Nkoulou, Modesto - Mollo, Gosso, Pokrivac, Gakpé - Park, Pino.

19:00 - OGC Nice / SM Caen

Nice: Ospina - Apam, Hognon, Kanté, Rool - Faé (or Sablé), Echouafni, Hellebuyck - Bamogo, L. Rémy, Ma. Traoré.

Caen: Planté - Barzola, Leca, Sorbon, Lemaître - Deroin, Proment, Seube (cap) - Nivet, Ben Khalfallah - Savidan.

19:00 - Stade Rennais FC / Valenciennes FC

Rennes: Douchez - Fanni, Mangane, Hansson, Bocanegra - Lemoine, M'Bia - Danzé, Leroy, Thomert - Briand.

Valenciennes: Penneteau - Ducourtioux, Bisevac, Abardonado, Rafael - Mater, Sanchez, Lacourt, Danic - Pujol, Audel.

21:00 - Olympique de Marseille / FC Nantes

Marseille: Mandanda - Mears, Rodriguez (or Civelli), Hilton, Taiwo - Cana, Cheyrou - Wiltord (or Koné), Valbuena, Ben Arfa (or Niang) - Brandao

Nantes: Alonzo - Tall, Poulard, N'Daw, Maréval - Da Rocha, Vainqueur - Moullec, De Freitas, Bagayoko - Bekamenga.

kabbott

21-03-2009, 09:43 AM

I see Tyrone Mears scored the winner for Marseilles to send them through in the UEFA Cup

Are you a fan of his?

kabbott

21-03-2009, 09:48 AM

Zenden played up front :confused:

Was always a winger/centre mid over here, can't imagine him playing as a centre forward!

:)

I watched the game. I wouldn't have said he played centre forward. He was often out wide on the right and drifted inside from time to time and was maybe tucked in behind another forward.

BB Bob

21-03-2009, 02:11 PM

Salut!

Here are the votes from Leigh-on-Sea

21 Mar 2009 - Le Havre v Bordeaux - 90 Minutes

Bordeaux @ 8/11

21 Mar 2009 - Lille v Grenoble - 90 Minutes

Lille @ 1/2

21 Mar 2009 - Nancy v Monaco - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 2/1

21 Mar 2009 - Auxerre v Le Mans - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 21/10

21 Mar 2009 - Nice v Caen - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 2/1

21 Mar 2009 - Rennes v Valenciennes - 90 Minutes

Rennes @ 6/10

21 Mar 2009 - Marseille v Nantes - 90 Minutes

Marseille @ 4/9

22 Mar 2009 - Lorient v St Etienne - 90 Minutes

St Etienne @ 21/10

22 Mar 2009 - Lyon v Sochaux - 90 Minutes

Lyon @ 2/5

22 Mar 2009 - Toulouse v Paris S.G. - 90 Minutes

Toulouse @ 8/5

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £1885

I'll give madame a shout for hers....

BB Bob

21-03-2009, 02:33 PM

Mon dieu. She has surpassed herself with her predictions this week:-

21 Mar 2009 - Le Havre v Bordeaux - 90 Minutes

Le Havre @ 9/2

21 Mar 2009 - Lille v Grenoble - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 11/4

21 Mar 2009 - Nancy v Monaco - 90 Minutes

Monaco @ 11/4

21 Mar 2009 - Auxerre v Le Mans - 90 Minutes

Le Mans @ 3/1

21 Mar 2009 - Nice v Caen - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 2/1

21 Mar 2009 - Rennes v Valenciennes - 90 Minutes

Rennes @ 6/10

21 Mar 2009 - Marseille v Nantes - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 3/1

22 Mar 2009 - Lorient v St Etienne - 90 Minutes

Lorient @ 6/4

22 Mar 2009 - Lyon v Sochaux - 90 Minutes

Lyon @ 2/5

22 Mar 2009 - Toulouse v Paris S.G. - 90 Minutes

Draw @ 19/10

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £60291.00

Still, as they say, it's a funny old game.....I'll be laughing all the way to the bank if it's that funny!

kabbott

21-03-2009, 07:06 PM

Bordeaux go top, for at least 24 hours, no more I hope.

Week 29 - Saturday, March 21, 2009

19:00 AJ Auxerre 2 - 0 Le Mans UC 72
19:00 Havre AC 0 - 3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
19:00 LOSC 2 - 1 Grenoble Foot 38
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine 0 - 1 AS Monaco FC
19:00 OGC Nice 2 - 2 SM Caen
19:00 Stade Rennais FC 0 - 0 Valenciennes FC

21:00 Olympique de Marseille FC Nantes (just started)

GodstoneEagle

21-03-2009, 08:29 PM

Toulalan centre back!!! :D

BB Bob

21-03-2009, 09:43 PM

Toulalan centre back!!! :D

That really is an injury crisis!!!

Marseille 2 Nantes 0 in the other game tonight

Général Domicile Extérieur Buteurs Passeurs Fair-Play
Equipe Pts J. G. N. P. p. c. Diff.
1 Marseille 55 29 15 10 4 45 26 19
2 Bordeaux 53 29 15 8 6 47 29 18

3 Lyon 53 28 15 8 5 36 21 15

4 Lille 52 29 14 10 5 41 29 12

5 Paris-SG 52 28 16 4 8 40 28 12
6 Toulouse 49 28 13 10 5 33 20 13
7 Rennes 48 29 11 15 3 32 19 13
8 Nice 41 29 11 8 10 33 31 2
9 Auxerre 37 29 10 7 12 25 27 -2
10 Monaco 36 29 9 9 11 34 35 -1
11 Grenoble 35 29 8 11 10 19 26 -7
12 Valenciennes 33 29 7 12 10 26 29 -3
13 Lorient 32 28 7 11 10 31 32 -1
14 Le Mans 32 29 8 8 13 33 41 -8
15 Nancy 30 29 7 9 13 27 38 -11
16 Nantes 30 29 7 9 13 26 40 -14
17 Sochaux 29 28 6 11 11 30 36 -6

18 Saint-Etienne 29 28 8 5 15 26 40 -14
19 Caen 27 29 5 12 12 32 38 -6
20 Le Havre 18 29 5 3 21 23 54 -31

No pressure tomorrow night then.....

kabbott

22-03-2009, 11:49 AM

Nothing less than 6:0 will do for Lyon with a hat trick from Benzema.

kabbott

22-03-2009, 04:57 PM

3 pts that's about it. Nothing convincing in that performance. MOM Lloris just about says it all really.

Should be a good game tonight though. Hoping Madame kabbott will be a bit fatiguée ce soir. Hoarau v Gignac - who'll come out on top, I wonder?

Week 29 - Sunday, March 22, 2009

17:00 FC Lorient 3 - 1 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 Olympique Lyonnais 2 - 0 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
21:00 Toulouse FC Paris Saint-Germain

GodstoneEagle

22-03-2009, 05:05 PM

I like gignac but predict 1-1.

BB Bob

22-03-2009, 07:41 PM

It looks as though ASSE need some Reggie magic pretty quickly. Not a good result, not a good result at all...

BB Bob

22-03-2009, 07:55 PM

...and it looks as though Paul le Guen is going to have to deliver one hell of a half time talk:-

- Mi-Temps Toulouse (5) 3 - 0 Paris-SG (3)
Bergougnoux (6e)
Gignac (38e)
Sissoko (44e)

BB Bob

22-03-2009, 08:54 PM

- Terminé Toulouse (5) 4 - 1 Paris-SG (3)
Bergougnoux (6e)
Gignac (38e)
Sissoko (45e)
Braaten (80e)

Well, that's the second major scalp for Toulouse over the last few weeks. THey gave Bordeaux a stuffing too. Maybe they are for real....

GodstoneEagle

22-03-2009, 09:06 PM

...is what we were saying a couple of years ago too.

kabbott

23-03-2009, 05:55 AM

To be honest PSG didn't play badly in the first half. They were naively caught out at a free kick for the first goal. Good goal by Bergougnoux (ex-Lyon) who seems to be finding some form. Gignac's goal was from a good build up and Sissoko scored with a 20 yarder after a corner. Braaten scored his first Ligue goal since his move from Bolton and deserved it too. He was probably MOM. Toulouse is definitely not a one-man team. Two probing victories recently for Toulouse, but the title will go to the most consistent team in the final ten or so matches.

kabbott

23-03-2009, 05:56 AM

1 Olympique Lyonnais 29 16 8 5 +17 56
2 Olympique de Marseille 29 15 10 4 +19 55
3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 29 15 8 6 +18 53
4 Toulouse FC 29 14 10 5 +16 52
5 LOSC 29 14 10 5 +12 52
6 Paris Saint-Germain 29 16 4 9 +9 52
7 Stade Rennais FC 29 11 15 3 +13 48
8 OGC Nice 29 11 8 10 +2 41
9 AJ Auxerre 29 10 7 12 -2 37
10 AS Monaco FC 29 9 9 11 -1 36
11 FC Lorient 29 8 11 10 +1 35
12 Grenoble Foot 38 29 8 11 10 -7 35
13 Valenciennes FC 29 7 12 10 -3 33
14 Le Mans UC 72 29 8 8 13 -8 32
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 29 7 9 13 -11 30
16 FC Nantes 29 7 9 13 -14 30
17 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 29 6 11 12 -8 29
18 AS Saint-Etienne 29 8 5 16 -16 29
19 SM Caen 29 5 12 12 -6 27
20 Havre AC 29 5 3 21 -31 18

philsick

23-03-2009, 08:22 AM

Saint etienne and clermont need to pull their fingers out sharpish,or it will be a double relegation.After the season they both had last year,its really disapointing.

BB Bob

23-03-2009, 08:28 AM

Here is an update of the table since the winter break:-

1 Olympique de Marseille 11 7 2 2 12 5 +7 23
2 LOSC 11 7 2 2 16 11 +5 23
3 Toulouse FC 11 6 4 1 20 8 +12 22
4 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 11 6 3 2 20 13 +7 21
5 Olympique Lyonnais 11 6 3 2 16 9 +7 21
6 Paris Saint-Germain 11 6 2 3 19 17 +2 20
7 Valenciennes FC 11 4 7 0 12 6 +6 19
8 Stade Rennais FC 11 4 5 2 10 7 +3 17
9 AJ Auxerre 11 5 2 4 11 10 +1 17
10 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 11 5 1 5 13 14 -1 16
11 AS Monaco FC 11 3 4 4 15 16 -1 13
12 AS Saint-Etienne 11 3 4 4 14 15 -1 13
13 Grenoble Foot 38 11 3 4 4 8 10 -2 13
14 OGC Nice 11 3 3 5 12 14 -2 12
15 FC Nantes 11 2 5 4 12 16 -4 11
16 FC Lorient 11 1 6 4 10 12 -2 9
17 Le Mans UC 72 11 1 5 5 9 15 -6 8

18 AS Nancy Lorraine 11 2 2 7 12 21 -9 8
19 Havre AC 11 2 0 9 10 23 -13 6
20 SM Caen 11 0 4 7 9 18 -9 4

Ratified by the Competition Organisation Commission of the LFP

Caen have been really awful and I am afraid it looks like being a bad season for les normands. ASSE, though, should be OK if they maintain their form. A disappointing season for sure, but at least not relegation.

Nancy and Le Mans look like they should have one eye over their shoulders. Nancy have previous form of going down, of course, but this must go down as a very disappointing season for them. And Le Mans? You've got to feel a bit for them. They have discovered diamond after diamond there, but the constant change of personnel looks like it has taken its toll

BB Bob

23-03-2009, 02:07 PM

loto results

kabbott 4
bbb 6
madame bbb 4

Time to get your season back on track, kabbott?

GodstoneEagle

23-03-2009, 04:59 PM

Kabbott, could you send me your e-mail address so I could send you that thing to have a look at?

Merci bcp

BB Bob

26-03-2009, 08:16 AM

Gignac's rocky road takes a turn for the better with call for national service
Toulouse's 23-year-old striker has made into France's squad the hard way

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/3/24/1237893921715/Andre-Gignac-001.jpg

Toulouse's André-Pierre Gignac looks like finally fulfilling his promise with Toulouse. Photograph: BOB EDME/AP

A chance meeting at a wedding, an 11-hour commute, two broken ankles, a botched contract, a load of slimming pills and Gary Megson . It takes all sorts to create an international striker, and André-Pierre Gignac, Ligue 1's top-scorer after netting in Toulouse's 4–1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, is set to be France's latest after a first call-up to the full squad.

Toulouse's win keeps it tight at the top, with six teams still four points apart, but it was a bizarre weekend which saw Bordeaux and Marseille briefly top the table before Lyon, back to winning ways, moved one point clear again. One reporter has described Toulouse as "the worst football-playing team to ever be in contention for the French league" while the Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud complained, after his side were spanked 3-0 a fortnight ago, that "Toulouse play with nine men behind the ball and one up front". But as long as that one is the 23-year-old Gignac the French Cup semi-finalists, four points back, remain unlikely title challengers. And given that they still have to play Marseille and Lyon, they will play an important role in this title race.

Gignac had been rejected by his local club when his grandmother collared Jacques Abardonado, a Valenciennes defender and a family cousin, on his wedding-day and was told that her son, then 16, needed to drink more milk if he wanted to become a pro. The only academy prepared to take him was at Lorient, over 1,000kms away. When he made his Ligue 2 debut for them in 2004, he scored within 30 seconds of coming on. "I thought I was Ronaldo," he said.

He then broke an ankle, broke it again, had a loan spell at Pau and scored a hat-trick on his Ligue 1 debut against Nantes in September 2006. That was when Raymond Domenech claims he first watched him. At the end of that season Gignac signed for Lille but a week later changed his mind and moved to Toulouse for €5m. But last season the coach, Elie Baup, played him out of position to accommodate Johan Elmander. "I became poor in training, I fought with a team-mate, and I knew people wondered if they made a big mistake with me," Gignac said.

His diet was also letting him down: too many pizzas, not enough milk. His team-mates bought him a job-lot of slimming pills. He also lost money in casinos and spent a fortune doing up his house, and on a new Bentley. "When things aren't going well in your football, you end up spending time and money elsewhere."

And that's where Megson comes in. Last summer the 'Ginger Mourinho' signed Elmander for Bolton, and Gignac was able to move into his preferred position of centre-forward. "The new coach, Alain Casanova, took hold of me before the season and said, 'You say you want to be our No1 striker, now prove it.' When people like that are good to me I will pay them back 100 times over." And he has.

Gignac now drives a SmartCar and spends his time off looking after his son, also André-Pierre . Gignac's mother, Corinne, capped a memorable year for the family by winning €100,000 on the French version of Deal or No Deal.

"We lacked mental and physical freshness," said the PSG coach, Paul Le Guen, after the game, which is not surprising given that they reached the Uefa Cup quarter-finals on Thursday (thanks to another goal from Guillaume Hoarau , also called up by Les Bleus to replace Nicolas Anelka) and have a pretty small squad. "Our squad size is a concern but we need to lift ourselves for the next few weeks."

Le Guen was front-page news earlier in the week, when L'Equipe reported that Marseille were so concerned that Eric Gerets might leave at the end of the season that they put out feelers to see if the former Rangers manager would be interested in taking over. "If that's true," said Gerets, "it proves we have a great boardroom team here as Paul is a fantastic coach. You have to stop asking me if I will be here next year, though: we will talk about it soon but not at the moment."

Gerets was close to walking out in January but he cuts a happier figure now, as well he might after his two substitutions helped Marseille beat Nantes 2-0 one of them, Bolo Zenden, crossing for Renato Civelli to head the first goal before another, Hatem Ben Arfa, combined with Zenden to set up Brandao for the second. The result puts Marseille top for the first time in the second half of the season since February 2003.

Bordeaux had been top for a few hours after a 3–0 win at Le Havre was kick-started by another beauty from Yoann Gourcuff . Laurent Blanc is still desperately down-playing their title chances and mindful that when his players last talked up their chances they went four games without a win, has told them to do the same.

"It's not worth talking about it as we haven't been good enough for it," said Blanc. "We're not a title candidate, Lyon are favourites, so we're not talking about the title," said Souleymane Diawara, before adding with a wink, "In my opinion Lyon will be champions." The striker Marouane Chamakh added: "You can see we've been well-programmed."

Lyon were poor in a 2-0 win over Sochaux and only a man-of-the-match performance from their goalkeeper Hugo Lloris kept them in it. The coach Claude Puel continued his bizarre treatment of Frédéric Piquionne by leaving him out and playing Ederson at centre-forward and Karim Benzema on the left. It was a gamble that worked, Ederson opening the scoring and dedicating it to the club president, Jean-Michel Aulas, on his 60th birthday.

Michel Bastos maintained Lille's challenge with a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win over Grenoble, while the St Etienne coach Alain Perrin was furious after a 3–1 loss at Lorient kept them in the bottom three. "We keep giving away gifts and it's not good enough," he said.

Caen's disastrous run continued as they conceded a last-minute equaliser for a 2–2 draw at Nice . They have not won since the week Steve Savidan was called into the France squad during November. Savidan was back in the side after being dropped last week, but denied he was behind Caen's dip in form. "I admit I have not been at my best lately," he said, "but this about the team, not an individual, and I am not the problem."

As attention switches to France's World Cup campaign and the latest Domenech saga, Savidan's fall from grace should act as the perfect warning to Gignac.

BB Bob

26-03-2009, 08:17 AM

A good site on the guardian here for goal highlights:-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/interactive/2009/jan/08/ligue-1-football-highlights-goals

kabbott

26-03-2009, 04:43 PM

Anelka, Briand and Gignac are all out, so in come Luyindula and Rémy.

Luyindula and Rémy answer France call

Jimmy Briand’s injury and doubts over Ligue 1 top scorer André-Pierre Gignac’s fitness have led to France call-ups for Paris Saint-Germain’s Peguy Luyindula and Nice’s Loïc Rémy.
France coach Raymond Domenech has had to cope with a mini-injury crisis to his forward line. Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka was the first to drop out, meaning a selection for Paris Saint-Germain's Guillaume Hoarau, who had been left out of the original party.

Hoarau's club-mate Luyindula gets his reward for his perseverance during a season in which he has rarely been a first-choice selection but has still managed to net 14 goals in all competitions.

The former Marseille and Lyon forward last played for his country in October 2004. His only France goal in four appearances came in a friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina in August of that year.

Rémy was called into the pre-Euro 2008 squad while on loan from Lyon to Lens but did not make the final cut. The 22-year-old has flourished since his club record move to Nice, scoring eight times in 23 games. Rémy's goal in Week 29's 2-2 draw at home to Caen was his first goal since Week 21.

BB Bob

26-03-2009, 08:02 PM

Loic Remy?!?!?!? I mean the kid has got potential, but......

Clapham Grand

26-03-2009, 11:37 PM

Lithuania 6-1 to beat France - good odds?

BB Bob

27-03-2009, 06:42 PM

France are struggling at the moment, but I'm not sure they'll get turned over by Lithuania

kabbott

27-03-2009, 08:15 PM

France are struggling at the moment, but I'm not sure they'll get turned over by Lithuania

Confidence is at an all-time low over here.
Henry is sparkling for club but can't do it for country.
Benzema is out of touch at the moment.
Mandanda is Domenech's choice but nobody else's.
Mexès is sparkling for club but can't do it for country.
Domenech can't motivate his troops, and they're all cream-crackered anyway
'cos most of them are playing for the big clubs.

Well the whole thing gives me a chance to have a little snigger!

kabbott

28-03-2009, 08:17 AM

Good news for Philsick at last with three points for Clermont. Unfortunately most of the other clubs near the bottom picked up points too, so it just means that other clubs are being dragged into the end-of-season relegation battle.

Friday, March 27, 2009

20:00 Angers SCO 0 - 1 AC Ajaccio
20:00 SC Bastia 1 - 2 FC Metz
20:00 Stade Brestois 0 - 0 Stade de Reims
20:00 LB Châteauroux 2 - 0 Dijon FCO
20:00 Clermont Foot 2 - 0 Amiens SC
20:00 Nîmes Olympique 1 - 0 EA Guingamp
20:30 CS Sedan 0 - 1 US Boulogne CO
20:30 ESTAC 1 - 2 RC Strasbourg
20:30 Vannes OC 1 - 0 Montpellier HSC

Monday, March 30, 2009

20:30 RC Lens - Tours FC

kabbott

28-03-2009, 08:19 AM

Ligue 2 table after yesterday's games:

1 RC Lens 28 16 5 7 37 27 +10 53
2 RC Strasbourg 29 14 10 5 45 31 +14 52
3 FC Metz 29 15 7 7 41 28 +13 52
4 Montpellier HSC 29 13 8 8 50 29 +21 47
5 Angers SCO 29 12 10 7 39 29 +10 46
6 US Boulogne CO 29 13 6 10 33 29 +4 45
7 Vannes OC 29 12 7 10 24 28 -4 43
8 Tours FC 28 12 6 10 39 37 +2 42
9 CS Sedan 29 11 9 9 31 31 0 42
10 EA Guingamp 29 8 13 8 30 26 +4 37
11 AC Ajaccio 29 9 9 11 38 44 -6 36
12 Dijon FCO 29 9 9 11 31 38 -7 36
13 SC Bastia 29 10 6 13 29 37 -8 36
14 Clermont Foot 29 8 10 11 33 40 -7 34
15 Amiens SC 29 7 11 11 26 29 -3 32
16 Stade Brestois 28 9 5 14 31 35 -4 32
17 ESTAC 29 8 8 13 32 37 -5 32
18 LB Châteauroux 29 7 9 13 26 34 -8 30
19 Nîmes Olympique 29 6 9 14 23 39 -16 27
20 Stade de Reims 28 5 11 12 33 43 -10 26

kabbott

28-03-2009, 08:24 AM

What do you make of this? This guy's tackle was totally unintentional but has serious consequences, and then there are players who intentionally mean to harm opponents, miss the tackle and maybe get away with a yellow card.

Mangane banned till June

Rennes have been dealt a second major blow in a week after defender Kader Mangane was banned until 1 June following his tackle on Jonathan Lacourt, which left the Valenciennes player with a broken ankle last weekend.

Mangane received a red card for the challenge just 25 minutes into the clubs' goalless draw in Brittany. The 26-year-old has publicly stated his distress over the injury caused to Lacourt, a close friend since their days as team-mates at Lens.

However, that has not spared him the same fate as Pierre-Alain Frau, who was suspended for two months while playing for Paris Saint-Germain following a mistimed tackle which left Sedan's Stéphane Noro badly injured, and means Guy Lacombe is now without a second key player following Jimmy Briand's season-ending injury while on international duty with France.

While Mangane refused to comment on his punishment, Rennes president Frédéric de Saint-Sernin defended his player.

'Terrible accident'

"Kader is a very honest man, who has been profoundly touched by what happened and who expressed himself with a lot of emotion at the commission hearing," said De Saint-Sernin. "This accident is terrible for Jonathan Lacourt and Valenciennes, but Kader Mangane is not a violent player."

Meanwhile, Valenciennes' Carlos Sanchez – sent off in the same game after a challenge on Rennes midfielder Stéphane Mbia – received a one-match ban, while Caen coach Franck Dumas, who was sent to the stands during his side's recent defeat against Grenoble, was banned from the dug-out for two matches.

BB Bob

28-03-2009, 08:56 AM

It's decisions like that that call the whole league process into question. In the end, football is a contact sport. The contact is limited, but it happens and you cannot take either that or the injuries out of it. A mistimed tackle, straight red and three match ban would seem to be sufficient punishment to me.

BB Bob

28-03-2009, 08:57 AM

Good news about Clermont Foot though, eh?

philsick

28-03-2009, 09:33 AM

3pts is welcome relief.I am down that way in a couple of weeks,they have boulogne at home,i might go.

kabbott

28-03-2009, 09:34 AM

Good news about Clermont Foot though, eh?

Philsick must be happy. MOM according to l'Equipe was a loaned out PSG player by the name of Ngoyi.
PSG have got a hopeless record with their youth set-up and their scouting network. They're the only team in Ligue 1 in the capital and they miss out on so much talent. The good youngsters they do manage to sign up never seem to make it or just aren't given their chance. Anelka is the obvious one that springs to mind. N'Gog (?) who only made a handful of sub appearances was highly thought of but signed for Liverpool and plays more for them than he did for PSG. There are one or two exceptions: Sakho is playing quite regularly this season and looks promising and Chantôme doesn't look too bad either. When you watch the other Ligue matches, you hear about all these young promising players from different teams and the majority seem to come from the Parisian area.

kabbott

29-03-2009, 03:21 PM

Ribéry to the rescue for France

Franck Ribéry scored the only goal of the game as France beat Lithuania on Saturday to reignite their hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In a frustrating 90 minutes on a poor pitch, Raymond Domenech's men created few chances, but Ribéry's crisp 67th-minute strike was enough to earn Les Bleus all three points and leave them handily placed in Qualifying Group Seven ahead of Wednesday's encounter with the Lithuanians at the Stade de France in Paris.

Paris Saint-Germain's Peguy Luyindula was a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up in Kaunas, but did enough in the opening quarter-of-an-hour to suggest that Domenech's thinking was correct.

Lined up in a three-man attacking midfield with Ribéry and Yoann Gourcuff, Luyindula could have opened the scoring with seven minutes on the clock only to shoot straight at Lithuanian keeper Zhidrunas Karchemarskas.

Luyindula was involved on the quarter-hour in a flowing move which cut the hosts apart. Gourcuff's neat turn and touch sent Ribéry racing down the right. The Bayern Munich man fed Luyindula, and he cleverly picked out Gourcuff's late run to the edge of the box, but the Bordeaux midfielder's first-time shot was straight at Karchemarskas.

Toulalan chance

With the pitch barely conducive to flowing football, Les Bleus struggled to capitalise on their possession, though did create the best opening of the half seconds before the interval.

A Gourcuff corner was headed on by Thierry Henry, and Jérémy Toulalan connected cleanly with a left-foot shot that appeared destined for the net only for Arunas Klimavici to block with a superb last-ditch lunge.

The hosts' rearguard should have been breached six minutes after the break when Luyindula escaped the attentions of the Lithuanian back four to seize onto an excellent through ball from Toulalan.

However, the PSG forward's first touch was too heavy, and Karchemarskas was quickly off his line to block.

Ribéry relief

Toulalan has often been a key figure in the midfield in a defensive role, but the Lyon man had clearly been encouraged to get forward as he - rather than Lassana Diarra - provided the impetus from the centre of the park.

However, it was from the more likely source of Ribéry that France finally moved in front with 23 minutes remaining.

The tigerish Diarra won the ball back inside the Lithuanian half before feeding Gourcuff, who advanced before slipping a pass across for Ribéry to slam a first-time shot past Karchemarskas from just outside the box and ease the French team's frustration.

Henry then produced a deft touch to give substitute Samir Nasri, who replaced Gourcuff with 12 minutes remaining, a clear sight of goal, but the Arsenal man found his way barred by Karchemarskas.

kabbott

30-03-2009, 08:27 PM

Mears: 'OM love saw me through'

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/moyenFormat/0809_l1_marseille_mears_art.jpg

Tyrone Mears has revealed his love of Marseille and its football club helped him through the lows of his early days as a Ligue 1 player.

A combination of injury and the excellent form of Laurent Bonnart meant Mears had to wait six months to make his OM debut following his move to France on a season-long loan from Derby County last summer.

However, it was not until Bonnart suffered a groin injury in OM's UEFA Cup last 16 first-leg tie against Ajax in March that Mears' fairytale took off as he scored the goal which took his club into the quarter-finals. Just desserts for the Jamaican international, who had battled to maintain his morale.

'I've always worked hard, and I know that things can change quickly in football," said Mears. "But I have to say that it helped me being at a club that I love, being in a place that I love, and being part of a squad in which there is an excellent spirit."

Bonnart praise

With Bonnart still sidelined, Mears will continue to deputise for the ex-Le Mans captain, who is not jealous of his replacement's success.

"I'm happy for Tyrone," said Bonnart, who was ever-present in Ligue 1 until his injury. "It can't have been easy for him because he hadn't played for eight months, but he'd never stopped working. After he was injured, he came back with even more desire."

Mears hopes to transform loan into a €1.5m permanent transfer come the end of the campaign. However, the 26-year-old remains uncertain over his future.

"We haven't talked about it yet, and I don't know whether or not I'll be here next season," said Mears, who has started the last two league games. "In the meantime, I'm focussing on our next match. I would love to stay at OM. I love the club, and I would like to play as many matches as possible here."

GodstoneEagle

30-03-2009, 08:35 PM

still utterly random

BB Bob

31-03-2009, 09:00 AM

If Mears keeps saying stuff like that, they'll love him at the Vélodrome!

kabbott

01-04-2009, 01:52 PM

What do you think BB Bob?

Boys from Brazil consider turning Bleu

Lyon's Brazilian-born midfielder Ederson has admitted he could be tempted to play for France, though compatriot Michel Bastos of Lille only has eyes for the Seleçao.

Though just 23, Ederson has already spent five seasons in France with Nice and OL, which means he is able to take French citizenship, opening the door to a potential call-up by Les Bleus.

"My main objective is to wear the shirt of Brazil again," said Ederson, who won the Under-17 World Cup with his native country. "But I could be in contention to play for France. Up till now, I've had no official demand, but anything can happen in football.

"If I'm faced with the question one day, I'll have to weigh up all the pros and cons."

While Ederson could join Deco and Roger Guerreiro, who have turned their backs on Brazil to represent Portugal and Poland respectively, Bastos will not be joining them.

Lille's very own samba import has reportedly been close to a call-up from Brazil coach Dunga this season as a consequence of his impressive form in Ligue 1. For Bastos, there is no question of swapping allegiance.

"It's been a dream to play for Brazil ever since I was a little boy," said the 25-year-old, who has scored 12 times this season. "Perhaps my performances mean I have a chance, but it's very tough."

kabbott

01-04-2009, 01:53 PM

Henry backs 'important' Benzema

France captain Thierry Henry has underlined Karim Benzema's importance to Les Bleus and believes the Lyon striker's exclusion from the starting line-up to face Lithuania last weekend has done nothing to harm his confidence.

Benzema was surprisingly left out by coach Raymond Domenech in Kaunas, with Paris Saint-Germain's Peguy Luyindula preferred to the OL forward, who only emerged from the bench to replace the PSG man in the second-half.

Whether Benzema starts Wednesday's Group Seven encounter with the Lithuanians in Paris remains a question only Domenech has the answer to, but Henry insisted the 21-year-old will be ready to respond should he play.

"I see him in training. He tries things, and he scores goals," said the Barcelona forward, who will again lead his country at the Stade de France. "He's more than an important member of this side. He can change a game at any moment. It's not easy to dispense with his talents."

BB Bob

01-04-2009, 06:14 PM

What do you think BB Bob?

Boys from Brazil consider turning Bleu

I don't think he is good enough to get in either team at the moment. It is always difficult for an Attacking central midfielder. These days, he needs much more to his game than just being an AM and a bit part striker. He's still young though, so maybe.....

Personally, I've never been a big fan of international football tarts (unless, of course, they are South African cricketers looking to play for England......)

BB Bob

01-04-2009, 06:19 PM

"I see him in training. He tries things, and he scores goals," said the Barcelona forward, who will again lead his country at the Stade de France. "He's more than an important member of this side. He can change a game at any moment. It's not easy to dispense with his talents."

I find it hard to see how the best palyer in the championnat and probably the best player of his generation does not play a major role for the national team. Everyone is being very diplomatic - Gourcuff expressed some surprise at the weekend - but reading between the lines it seems that Domenech is very rapidly losing what little respect he has left with the team.

Maybe Puel can take over, which will do Lyon a favour too....

kabbott

01-04-2009, 09:05 PM

Maybe Puel can take over, which will do Lyon a favour too....

Bitch ;)

kabbott

01-04-2009, 09:07 PM

France just got by again. Gignac and Benzema made the difference when they came on in the second half. Franck 'Scarface' Ribéry got the winner encore une fois.

kabbott

02-04-2009, 07:03 PM

Gignac: A happy risk-taker

Toulouse ace André-Pierre Gignac admitted he took a risk with his injured thigh to make his international debut at home to Lithuania. It paid off as the striker set up the only goal of the game for Franck Ribéry.
France moved second behind Serbia in World Cup qualifying Group 7 with the win, their second over the same opponents in the space of five days.

For the first time since September 2007 the France side that started the game contained no players from champions Lyon. The eleven that took to the Stade de France turf did not include Ligue 1 top scorer Gignac either.

Instant impact

The 23-year-old came on for Paris Saint-Germain forward Peguy Luyindula in the 69th minute and six minutes later controlled a Thierry Henry ball on the right side of the area before squaring perfectly for Bayern Munich midfielder Ribéry to score the only goal of the game, just as he had done in Kaunas last Saturday.

Gignac was unavailable for the game in Lithuania with a thigh problem that had recovered sufficiently for him to take a place on the bench ahead of Paris Saint-Germain's Guillaume Hoarau.

Gignac said: "I took a risk in playing and I'm very happy to have taken the risk. The national squad's medical team is excellent. It wasn't easy for me to get over the muscular problem to my thigh.

'Like a drug'

"I'm hugely satisfied and very emotional. It's such a pleasure to wear the blue shirt, even if I was a bit anxious before the game. I gave everything when I came on, despite being nervous. I tried to make sure I'd have no regrets.

"I've dreamed about this moment since I was little. When you get a taste of it, it's like a drug. Now I just have to play well for my club Toulouse to make sure I get called up to the France squad again."

Gignac made an impression on his team-mates and coach. Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra, the one change to the team from Kaunas with Lyon's Jérémy Toulalan suspended, said: "André-Pierre Gignac coming on did us some good. We need players like him if we're to qualify. He was decisive."

kabbott

02-04-2009, 07:04 PM

Ligue 1 stars strike in World cup quest

Ligue 1’s foreign legion were at the top of their game on Wednesday night. Toulouse’s Soren Larsen scored for Denmark, Auxerre’s Ireneusz Jelen managed one of Poland’s ten goals against San Marino and Nantes’ Ivan Klasnic netted for Croatia.
Soren Larsen, who has managed just 185 minutes of Ligue 1 football for Toulouse this season, just cannot stop scoring for his national team. His goal in the 3-0 win at home to Albania ensured the Danes remain top of Group 1. Larsen also scored twice in Malta last Saturday and has netted an incredible eight goals in seven World Cup qualifiers spread over two qualifying tournaments.

Larsen signed for three million euros from Bundesliga club Schalke last summer and has a contract with Toulouse which runs until 2012. André-Pierre Gignac's great form and coach Alain Casanova's preference for a system with a single striker have severely restricted his first-team opportunities.

The 27-year-old told Danish journalists he was considering his future. Larsen said: "There are interested clubs. I will see what will happen in the summer."

Ivan Klasnic fired a precise 15th minute opener in Croatia's 2-0 win in Andorra. The 29-year-old then set up the second for Arsenal forward Eduardo as Croatia stayed second in Group 6, five points behind England.

Ireneusz Jelen and his Poland team-mates went some way to making up for a disappointing 3-2 loss in Northern Ireland last weekend. The Auxerre striker followed up a goal in Belfast with another in the demolition of San Marino in Kielce. It was Poland's biggest ever win and Jelen took his international tally to four goals in 21 appearances. Club colleague Dariusz Dudka enjoyed an easy night at the heart of the Polish defence.

Among the other Ligue 1 players in action were Lyon left-back Fabio Grosso, who played the full 90 minutes as ten-man world champions Italy held Ireland to a 1-1 draw, and Rennes centre-half Carlos Bocanegra who captained the United States to a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago that took them top of North, Central America and Caribbean qualifying.

kabbott

03-04-2009, 04:27 PM

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/grandFormat/0809_ldc_fiorentina_lyon_makoun_mono.jpg

Return of the Makoun

Jean II Makoun is back from serving his country Cameroon and determined to fire Ligue 1 leaders Lyon towards their eighth consecutive title – starting with Saturday’s game at struggling Le Mans.
Makoun endured a frustrating time on national duty with the Indomitable Lions plummeting to a 1-0 Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifying defeat at an Emmanuel Adebayor-inspired Togo.

The former Lille man, like coach Claude Puel, is in his first season at Lyon and the midfielder says he's looking to those players with more experience of title run-ins to pass on their knowledge.

'Tightest championship battle'

Makoun said: "It's the tightest championship battle for a long time. The players who have been there for a while have the knowhow and know how to stay strong for the sprint to the line. We have the means and we're capable of winning the championship."

Lyon have won eight of their 14 games on the road. Makoun, however is convinced that Le Mans will not roll over easily.

"Le Mans are not in a comfortable position in the championship [14th] so they're not just going to watch us run rings round them. It will not be easy. The three points are important because clubs are bunched up behind us and any faux pas could mean us losing our position as leaders."

OM chasing hard

Lyon are a single point ahead of Marseille. In the ten matches since the winter break OM have made up five points on OL.

Puel's men indulged in a bout of introspection following the French Cup exit to Lille and crashing out of the Champions League to La Liga leaders Barcelona in March.

Makoun is convinced the powwow did the players good: "We spoke to each other a lot and we said to each other that we needed to find an extra gear. We also said that there would be difficulties along the way. We're not immune from playing another bad match but the important thing is to bounce back from any setbacks."

Toulalan and Källström doubts

Midfielders Jérémy Toulalan and Kim Källström are doubtful with foot and ankle injuries respectively. France defender Jean-Alain Boumsong is set to play for the first time since hurting his leg during the 2-0 home defeat to Auxerre in Week 28.

A win for Lyon on Saturday would put the pressure on Marseille to match the result. OM are at relegation-threatened Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

BB Bob

04-04-2009, 08:20 AM

So it is back to the pain et beurre of Ligue 1 and the tightest race in years.

Here are my guesses for this weekend:-

Grenoble v Lorient Draw @ 19/10
Le Mans v Lyon Lyon @ 10/11
Monaco v Le Havre Monaco @ 4/7
Bordeaux v Nancy Bordeaux @ 4/9
Nantes v Lille Draw @ 2/1
Valenciennes v Auxerre Draw @ 2/1
Caen v Toulouse Draw @ 21/10
Paris S.G. v Nice Draw @ 12/5
Sochaux v Rennes Draw @ 9/5
St Etienne v Marseille Marseille @ 13/10

£1 to £7675ish. Says it all!

I'll get ma petite singe for her shouts later!

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:01 AM

Oui, retour au nittie-grittie de la Ligue 1. Everyone is in fine fettle over here. No tonsil cancer. Well I had mine out, my tonsils, I mean, at the ripe old age of 19. (I kept falling ill during exam time at uni back in 1980, so emergency op was necesssary at Mayday hospital). Shame that, no more excuses not to turn up for exams.
Lots of speculation in the press this week over Claude Puel's declining influence over the team this season. Président Aulas has given him 100% backing, which is never a good sign. Enfin, here goes:

Grenoble v Lorient HOME
Le Mans v Lyon AWAY please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monaco v Le Havre HOME
Bordeaux v Nancy DRAW
Nantes v Lille DRAW
Valenciennes v Auxerre HOME
Caen v Toulouse HOME (your mates can do us a favour here BB Bob)
Paris S.G. v Nice DRAW (same here)
Sochaux v Rennes HOME
St Etienne v Marseille HOME (aide-nous, Reggie!)

We're actually going to Le Mans to see the in-laws on Thursday for a few days, otherwise I could have been part of Les Bad Gônes ( the Lyon 'crew') for an away game. L'essentiel, as they say (or rather as they don't say), c'est de mettre trois points dans le sac. Bon match!

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:04 AM

Poor old Philsick. Helter skelter rides on both sides of La Manche for him. 3 points one week and hope returns followed by a less convincing performance the week after.

Friday, April 03, 2009

20:00 SC Bastia 2 - 1 LB Châteauroux
20:00 US Boulogne CO 2 - 0 Nîmes Olympique
20:00 Dijon FCO 1 - 0 CS Sedan
20:00 EA Guingamp 0 - 0 ESTAC
20:30 Montpellier HSC 2 - 1 Clermont Foot
20:30 Stade de Reims 3 - 1 Vannes OC
20:30 Tours FC 3 - 1 Angers SCO

Sunday, April 05, 2009

17:00 FC Metz - Stade Brestois
17:00 RC Strasbourg - AC Ajaccio

Monday, April 06, 2009

20:30 Amiens SC - RC Lens

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:05 AM

Ligue 2 P W D L GD Pts

1 RC Lens 29 16 6 7 +10 54
2 RC Strasbourg 29 14 10 5 +14 52
3 FC Metz 29 15 7 7 +13 52
4 Montpellier HSC 30 14 8 8 +22 50
5 US Boulogne CO 30 14 6 10 +6 48
6 Angers SCO 30 12 10 8 +8 46
7 Tours FC 30 13 7 10 +4 46
8 Vannes OC 30 12 7 11 -6 43
9 CS Sedan 30 11 9 10 -1 42
10 Dijon FCO 30 10 9 11 -6 39
11 SC Bastia 30 11 6 13 -7 39
12 EA Guingamp 30 8 14 8 +4 38
13 AC Ajaccio 29 9 9 11 -6 36
14 Clermont Foot 30 8 10 12 -8 34
15 ESTAC 30 8 9 13 -5 33
16 Amiens SC 29 7 11 11 -3 32
17 Stade Brestois 28 9 5 14 -4 32
18 LB Châteauroux 30 7 9 14 -9 30
19 Stade de Reims 29 6 11 12 -8 29
20 Nîmes Olympique 30 6 9 15 -18 27

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:06 AM

Puel will keep power to recruit

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/grandFormat/0809_lyon_l1_stern_puel_mono.JPG

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas leapt to the defence of his coach Claude Puel, saying the former Lille boss will enjoy 100% control over player recruitment.
Aulas was responding to insinuations in the French press that Puel would see his enlarged responsibilities, more akin to an English-style manager rather than the traditional French coaching model, reduced ahead of the 2009/2010 campaign.

Aulas said: "No matter what happens this season he will enjoy 100% responsibility for player recruitment over the three seasons left on his contract.

Aulas defence

"How can people talk about placing him under 'surveillance' when apart from [Jean II] Makoun and [Frédéric] Piquionne he wasn't responsible for choosing players last summer.

"It's because he wasn't involved in recruiting that we don't have the quality in our play right now that everybody hoped for."

Leaders Lyon are at Le Mans on Saturday evening as they strive for their eighth successive title. Lyon lead by a point but Puel has injury problems, one of the unwanted recurring themes of the season.

Toulalan to miss two games

France midfielder Jérémy Toulalan has a metatarsal injury sustained against Lithuania last Saturday and is likely to miss not just Saturday's game but also the Week 31 clash with Monaco at the Stade Gerland.

Sidney Govou, John Mensah and Fabio Santos are all sidelined. But there is better news for Puel when it comes to centre-halves with Jean-Alain Boumsong back from a leg injury and Cris returns from suspension.

Sweden midfielder Kim Källström hurt his ankle playing for his country in the goalless draw in Portugal last Saturday but should be available for selection.

Puel power

Given Aulas' words, next season the Lyon squad is going to bear more of the Puel imprimatur.

Aulas added: "He stopped us taking [Julien] Faubert in the mercato. It would have been an easy solution but not the right one. As for [Hernan] Crespo, well he's 34 and has scored once for Inter this season."

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:09 AM

Saturday’s probable teams

The Ligue 1 title race enters the home stretch with champions Lyon leading the pack by a slender one point margin. Lyon are at Le Mans on Saturday and Bordeaux host Nancy. These are the probable teams for Saturday’s Week 30 clashes...

Samedi 4 avril 2009

19:00 - FC Girondins de Bordeaux / AS Nancy Lorraine

Bordeaux: Valverde - Chalmé, Planus, Diawara, Trémoulinas - Jussiê, Diarra, Gourcuff, Wendel - Chamakh, Bellion

Nancy: Bracigliano - Chrétien, Macaluso, Sami, Ouaddou, Biancalani - Féret or Zerka, Berenguer, Gavanon, Brison - Hadji.

19:00 - Grenoble Foot 38 / FC Lorient

Grenoble: Wimbée - Jemmali, Paillot, Cesar or Flachez, NGanga - Grandin, Batlles, Romao, Courtois - Boya, Moreira.

Lorient: Audard - Jallet, Marchal, Genton, Le Lan - Obertan, Amalfitano, Mansouri, Morel - Gameiro, Saïfi.

19:00 - Le Mans UC 72 / Olympique Lyonnais

Le Mans: Pelé - Geder, Paulo André, Cerdan - Corchia, Goulon, Lamah - Coutadeur, F. Thomas - Gervinho, Maïga.

Lyon: Lloris - Clerc, Cris, Boumsong, Grosso - Bodmer, Makoun, Juninho - Mounier, Ederson, Benzema.

19:00 - AS Monaco FC / Havre AC

Monaco: Ruffier - Lolo, Simic, Mongongu, Modesto - Park, Leko (ou Perez), Pokrivac, Mollo - Pino, Nimani.

Le Havre: Revault - Baca, Sambou, Franquart, Tixier - Anin, Dieuze, Alla, Davidas - Alassane, Diallo.

19:00 - FC Nantes / LOSC

Nantes: Alonzo - Tall, Pierre, Poulard, Maréval - N'Daw, Vainqueur - Abdoun, De Freitas, Bagayoko - Békamenga.

Lille: Malicki - Béria, Rami, Plestan, Emerson - Balmont, Mavuba, Tafforeau - Hazard, Bastos - Frau.

19:00 - Valenciennes FC / AJ Auxerre

Valenciennes: Penneteau - Ducourtioux, Bisevac, Rafael, Tiéné - Mater, Jeovânio, Pujol, Danic - Audel, Darcheville.

Auxerre: Sorin - Hengbart, Coulibaly, Grichting, Dudka - Pedretti, Narry - Oliech, Kahlenberg, Chafni - Jelen.

21:00 - SM Caen / Toulouse FC

Caen: Planté - Barzola, Seube, Sorbon, Lemaître - Ben Khalfallah, Nivet, Gomis, Eluchans - Yatabaré, Savidan.

Toulouse: Carrasso - Congré, Cetto, Fofana, MBengué - Berson - Braaten, Didot, Sissoko, Bergougnoux - Gignac.

BB Bob

04-04-2009, 09:21 AM

Madame is out of the shower, so here are here expert predictions. I shouldn't laugh, really, as she has been as accurate as we have!

Accumulator (9)04 Apr 2009 -

Grenoble v Lorient - Grenoble @ 11/8
Le Mans v Lyon - Draw @ 11/5
Monaco v Le Havre - Le Havre @ 6/1
Bordeaux v Nancy - Nancy @ 7/1
Nantes v Lille - Lille @ 6/4
Caen v Toulouse - Draw @ 21/10
Paris S.G. v Nice - Draw @ 12/5
Sochaux v Rennes - Sochaux @ 9/5
St Etienne v Marseille - St Etienne @ 9/4

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £102052.50

That's a record, even by her standards!

BB Bob

04-04-2009, 09:22 AM

kabbott

04-04-2009, 09:53 AM

It's good to see Reims giving it a go. Have they ever played in the National?

Yes, they certainly have. They only came up from the National in 2004.

BB Bob

04-04-2009, 09:55 AM

kabbott

04-04-2009, 10:52 AM

kabbott

04-04-2009, 07:22 PM

I don't care what the other teams do as long as Lyon win, so it's so far so good:

Week 30 - Saturday, April 04, 2009

19:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1 - 0 AS Nancy Lorraine
19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 1 - 3 FC Lorient
19:00 Le Mans UC 72 1 - 3 Olympique Lyonnais
19:00 AS Monaco FC 0 - 1 Havre AC
19:00 FC Nantes 0 - 2 LOSC
19:00 Valenciennes FC 2 - 0 AJ Auxerre

21:00 SM Caen Toulouse FC

Week 30 - Sunday, April 05, 2009

17:00 Paris Saint-Germain OGC Nice
17:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Stade Rennais FC

21:00 AS Saint-Etienne Olympique de Marseille

BB Bob

04-04-2009, 10:32 PM

Caen 0 Toulouse 0

Good result for Caen, but probably not good enough.

Does that make it 3 - 2 - 3?

Must be a relief for Lyons too. A potential banana skin avoided at Le Mans, but Bordeaux keep the pressure on. Let's hope for a bon dimanche pour les gones, hein?

BB Bob

05-04-2009, 06:34 PM

17:00 Paris Saint-Germain 2 - 1 OGC Nice
17:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 3 - 0 Stade Rennais FC

My boys let you down, I'm afraid....

BB Bob

05-04-2009, 06:35 PM

Ligue 1 P W D L GD Pts
1 Olympique Lyonnais 30 17 8 5 +19 59
2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 30 16 8 6 +19 56
3 Olympique de Marseille 29 15 10 4 +19 55
4 LOSC 30 15 10 5 +14 55
5 Paris Saint-Germain 30 17 4 9 +10 55
6 Toulouse FC 30 14 11 5 +16 53
7 Stade Rennais FC 30 11 15 4 +10 48
8 OGC Nice 30 11 8 11 +1 41
9 FC Lorient 30 9 11 10 +3 38
10 AJ Auxerre 30 10 7 13 -4 37
11 Valenciennes FC 30 8 12 10 -1 36
12 AS Monaco FC 30 9 9 12 -2 36
13 Grenoble Foot 38 30 8 11 11 -9 35
14 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 30 7 11 12 -5 32
15 Le Mans UC 72 30 8 8 14 -10 32
16 AS Nancy Lorraine 30 7 9 14 -12 30
17 FC Nantes 30 7 9 14 -16 30
18 AS Saint-Etienne 29 8 5 16 -16 29
19 SM Caen 30 5 13 12 -6 28
20 Havre AC 30 6 3 21 -30 21

Just ASSE v OM to play tonight now...

BB Bob

05-04-2009, 06:37 PM

2 little pieces in the papers here today.

Portsmouth are looking to offload John Utaka who they signed from Rennes. Bordeaux are being touted as buyers.

Man Utd have lined up a £20m agreed bid for Frank "Don't call me scarface" Ribéry from Bayern with Ronaldo off to Real Madrid in the summer.

BB Bob

06-04-2009, 07:15 AM

Marseille put pressure on Lyon

Marseille closed back to within a point of leaders Lyon with a convincing 3-0 win at troubled Saint-Etienne. All OM's goals came in the second half, two from Mamadou Niang and one from Brandao.

AS Saint-Etienne / Olympique de Marseille : 0 - 3

The pressure was well on truly on Marseille following wins earlier in the weekend for title rivals Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille and Paris Saint-Germain. Saint-Etienne were hoping to follow Sochaux's example and lift themselves a step towards safety.

The first half was cagey with so much riding on the game for both teams. The home side started the stronger in the opening 15 minutes before fading although they did manage to by and large restrict the supply lines to OM's Brazilian striker Brandao, passed fit to play after suffering minor knee and ankle injuries in training in midweek.

Niang chance

Senegalese forward Mamadou Niang has been switched to the left to accommodate Brandao. He had failed to score in four games since returning from a broken foot and his barren run continued as he missed OM's best opportunity of the opening period. Niang found space in the box for a free header but sent his effort over the bar. Earlier in the game Brandao had had a close-range shot saved by Jérémie Janot.

In OM's last game before the international break Hatem Ben Arfa came on at home to Nantes with the score goalless at half-time and made a real difference as Marseille won 2-0. Coach Erik Gerets attempted to repeat the trick as he brought on Ben Arfa for the ineffectual Bakari Koné.

There was an action packed opening to the second half as Brandao, Taye Taiwo and Mathieu Valbuena all went close.

Saint-Etienne striker Bafetimbi Gomis then latched on to a Janot punt downfield with the Marseille defence caught out. However his lob with the goal at his mercy was well over as the man who played for France in Euro 2008 continues to struggle in front of goal this term.

Goal glut

Marseille were awarded a penalty as Niang was held back by Kevin Mirallas in the box. Niang himself stepped up to take the kick and could not have placed it any better as the ball hit the side netting with Janot sent the wrong way.

The game opened up and Saint-Etienne missed a great chance to equalise when Ilan's shot was parried by Steve Mandanda into Mirallas' path but the Belgian international blazed wide.

A surging Ben Arfa run resulted in a shot which Janot did well to save with his feet.

On 73 minutes an unmarked Brandao stooped to head into an empty net, connecting with a precise Benoit Cheyrou to score his third goal in Marseille colours. It sealed OM's third league win in a row and continues to make them Lyon's closest challengers.

A third goal for the visitors followed three minutes later as Saint-Etienne disintegrated. Renato Civelli's header from a Ben Arfa free kick was half-blocked by a defender and Niang reacted fastest to head in from close range. It was the 16th headed goal Les Verts have conceded this season. Alain Perrin's side remain third from bottom of the table.

BB Bob

06-04-2009, 07:15 AM

Ligue 1 P W D L GD Pts
1 Olympique Lyonnais 30 17 8 5 +19 59

2 Olympique de Marseille 30 16 10 4 +22 58
3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 30 16 8 6 +19 56

4 LOSC 30 15 10 5 +14 55

5 Paris Saint-Germain 30 17 4 9 +10 55
6 Toulouse FC 30 14 11 5 +16 53
7 Stade Rennais FC 30 11 15 4 +10 48
8 OGC Nice 30 11 8 11 +1 41
9 FC Lorient 30 9 11 10 +3 38
10 AJ Auxerre 30 10 7 13 -4 37
11 Valenciennes FC 30 8 12 10 -1 36
12 AS Monaco FC 30 9 9 12 -2 36
13 Grenoble Foot 38 30 8 11 11 -9 35
14 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 30 7 11 12 -5 32
15 Le Mans UC 72 30 8 8 14 -10 32
16 AS Nancy Lorraine 30 7 9 14 -12 30
17 FC Nantes 30 7 9 14 -16 30

18 AS Saint-Etienne 30 8 5 17 -19 29
19 SM Caen 30 5 13 12 -6 28
20 Havre AC 30 6 3 21 -30 21

kabbott

06-04-2009, 07:53 AM

St. Etienne were absolutely awful last night. I was hoping they'd do us a favour (just like Nice didn't!). Don't know how Reggie's going to get them out of this gros caca.

BB Bob

07-04-2009, 11:50 AM

Karim Benzema finally finds some form
After being dropped by France, and with questions about his attitude, the Lyon striker bounced back with a double

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/4/7/1239091401525/Karim-Benzema-001.jpg
Lyon's Karim Benzema celebrates one of his two goals in the 3-1 victory over Le Mans. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP

The top five sides may have won but this was far from a run-of-the-mill week in French football. There were some last-minute heroics to keep the title race bubbling, domestic bother for a former Spurs player, a surprise candidate for the Marseille coaching job (which isn't even available – yet), a triple-disaster for Rennes, your usual refereeing scandal and an impressive response from France's golden boy facing the first backlash of his career.

And so we begin at Le Mans, where all eyes were on the Lyon forward Karim Benzema, not only dropped from France's two World Cup qualifying wins over Lithuania, but replaced by the PSG reserve Péguy Luyindula, himself only called up after three other strikers dropped out injured. 'What's the problem with Benzema?' read L'Equipe's front-page.

He still has progress to make and is lacking in confidence, the paper said, but with this the first major dip in his career, and questions asked about his attitude as much as his ability, how would he react?

Pretty well, in fact. He scored twice in the 3–1 win at Le Mans, his first double since Week One. "Karim played really well, rediscovered his composure and got his reward," said the coach Claude Puel, who conceded that once again his goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had kept them in the game. Not that the home side agreed: they were furious that the referee Philippe Malige did not award a penalty and dismiss Lloris for a foul on Roland Lamah early in the second half. "I'm disgusted. I saw tonight something I never thought I'd see in my career as a president, and I do fear for the teams chasing OL," said the Le Mans president Henri Lagarda.

It's not the first time the team have been hard done by, said the coach Daniel Jeandupeux, pointing to a disallowed goal against PSG (Week 17) and another penalty appeal rejected against Bordeaux (Week 18. "I understand referees can make mistakes but when they are always to the detriment of the same team, it's no longer a coincidence," he said.

At the moment, Lyon's biggest threat comes from Marseille, who won 3-0 at Saint-Etienne to stay one point behind the leaders. Once again their challenge is dominated by talk about the future of the coach Eric Gerets, who told RMC radio, "I can't say right now" when asked whether he will be staying beyond the end of the season. "I am a wanderer and I love to discover new things," a Belgian newspaper quoted him as saying.

What happens next may come down to simple business: the owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus has asked the president Pape Diouf to reduce the wage bill, which is up 20% on last season, while Gerets – linked to the Sevilla job – is said to have demanded a monthly salary of €200,000 (£181,000), more than any other Ligue 1 coach. Jean-Pierre Papin, four-time title winner, five-time Ligue 1 top-scorer with Marseille and 1991 Ballon D'Or winner, last seen taking Lens into Ligue 2, told Fabulous Sport that he is following the situation with interest. "I haven't been put off taking on a big club and it would be a dream come true to manage OM one day," he said. Mamadou Niang scored his first goals of the year either side of a Brandao effort to maintain OM's momentum. "We could have scored three more," said Gerets. "We have eight more finals to play and if we win them all, we won't be far away." Significantly, those 'finals' appear much easier than those of Lyon, who still have to go to Bordeaux, Marseille and Toulouse.

Saint-Etienne, missing the influential midfielder Blaise Matuidi through injury, have won once in seven games and are still scrabbling in the bottom three. Alain Perrin said they deserved to lose while Bafe Gomis, last season's hero, was again jeered by his own supporters. "It's not easy for me, but it's been going on all season," he said. "It's part of life but it's not the most important thing. What's more important is to start picking up points."

Sainté can only look on with envy at the resurgence of Sochaux, who are two points ahead after beating Rennes 3–0, their fourth win in six games. It was no surprise that Mevlut Erding and Vaclav Sverkos both scored, though it was a surprise to see Stéphane Dalmat on the pitch. The Sochaux captain had been arrested at 5.30am the previous Monday and charged with being violent to a police officer, resisting arrest, and voluntary violence towards his wife (which he has denied). "When you're a top sportsman being out on the streets at 5am isn't compatible with your job, unless he had just got up," said the coach Francis Gillot. "Then again, he hasn't killed anyone." Dalmat was stripped of the captaincy, which has gone to the long-serving No1 Teddy Richert.

Rennes could be forgiven for the defeat after a catastrophic week in which their top scorer Jimmy Briand was ruled out for nine months with smashed knee ligaments after a clash with the Toulouse No1 Cédric Carasso during a France training-session. The next day, the centre-back Kader Mangane, one of their stars of the season, was handed a two-month ban for a tackle which broke the Valenciennes defender Jonathan Lacourt's leg. "The decision is totally out of proportion to what happened," said the coach Guy Lacombe. "No one has blamed Carasso for injuring Jimmy, because that's all part of the job. So why should this happen to Kader, who has apologised to Lacourt for the tackle? It saddens me that we're in such a system." As if his week could not get worse, Lacombe was then linked to the coaching job at Benfica.

The chasing pack also won: Bordeaux needed Marouane Chamakh's excellent last-minute volley to beat Nancy 1–0. It took the Moroccan's total for the season to 10 goals, equalling his best-ever, although after the game he reiterated his desire to leave the club.

A patched-up PSG side beat Nice 2-1 to stay in contention, although they weren't helped by a terrible Luyindula back-pass that allowed Loïc Remy to cancel out Guillaume Hoarau's opener. At least when he was taken off after Sammy Traoré's first league goal, Luyindula had the good grace to acknowledge, and apologise for, his error to the home fans. Lille are level with PSG after Michel Bastos scored again in their 2-0 win at struggling Nantes. A Chelsea scout, Guy Hillion, was said to be at La Beaujoire-Louis-Fonteneau, watching Lille's Belgian teenage winger Eden Hazard.

Elswehere, Monaco's captain François-Joseph Modesto labelled his side "ridiculous, worse than zero" for losing 1-0 at home to the bottom club Le Havre, while Valenciennes's Jean-Claude Darcheville surprised everyone by not only making it to the opposition area only 26 seconds after kick-off, but scoring once he got there. It was the fastest goal of the season and set up their 2–0 win over Auxerre. VA are unbeaten in 2009 and JCD's four goals in seven games have pushed them into 11th place. In that kind of form, the former Forest and Rangers striker, now 33, could be following the likes of Steve Savidan and Luyindula into the France squad. No wonder Benzema has found his form again.

Results, Week 30: Le Mans 1-3 Lyon, Bordeaux 1-0 Nancy, Nantes 0-2 Lille, Valenciennes 2-0 Auxerre, Monaco 0-1 Le Havre, Grenoble 1-3 Lorient (featuring goal of the weekend, a 40-yarder from Morgan Amalfitano), Caen 0-0 Toulouse, PSG 2-1 Nice, Sochaux 3-0 Rennes, Saint-Etienne 0-3 Marseille.

BB Bob

07-04-2009, 07:08 PM

Nice goal from Chamakh

y_C3S3Ve_uk

GodstoneEagle

07-04-2009, 11:09 PM

I thought that they were one of the grand old dames of French Football! Still, I suppose over here, we have had Man City and Newcastle play in L1 (Division 3 in old money) not that long ago and Leeds are still there (ha ha)I saw a piece about them on transworld sport a while ago and I think that they nearly went under and had to start again from a very low level IIRC.

St. Etienne will be fine, playing shit but only a point adrift of two teams and a win away from another.

How are you chaps doing?

kabbott

08-04-2009, 07:41 AM

I saw a piece about them on transworld sport a while ago and I think that they nearly went under and had to start again from a very low level IIRC.

St. Etienne will be fine, playing shit but only a point adrift of two teams and a win away from another.

How are you chaps doing?

Reims won't need to play any champagne football to get out of the relegation places.:) Luis Fernandez might be able to save them.

Everyone in Lyon is fine. 2 weeks' holidays help. We're heading off to the Le Mans region for a long weekend to see brother-in-law, his wife and their nipper. We'll be stuffing our faces with ''rilettes'' amongst other goodies. On the down side, I'm taking loads of marking with me. Pupils sat their mock 'Bac' exams last week.

And it's back to Blighty for a school trip at the end of April. One week in sunny Worthing. The schedule is always so tight I can never even make it up for a match and even that beer you owe me!

Hope your stay in Spain is/was OK.

A bientôt.

kabbott

08-04-2009, 09:07 AM

As I've said before, this is one to look out for:

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/moyenFormat/0809_lille_sochaux_L1_hazard_art.jpg

Hazard finds his Eden

Lille wonderkid Eden Hazard says there is no way that he will quit the northern French club this summer. The 18-year-old Belgian international is determined to become a regular first-teamer.
With Ludovic Obraniak suspended, Hazard has started the last two league games for Lille and along with top scorer Michel Bastos added the flair to an impressive team who have won their last four in Ligue 1 to propel themselves into the thick of the title race.

Attacking midfielder Hazard made his international debut for Belgium late last year, has already been watched by scouts from a number of leading European clubs, and does not lack self-confidence.

'I'm going nowhere'

"It makes me happy to know the big clubs are watching but I'm going nowhere, that's impossible. I'll be disappointed next season if I'm not a regular first-teamer."

Hazard, whose contract runs until 2012, says he expects to return to the bench this Sunday when Lille host Paris Saint-Germain as Obraniak is back from suspension.

"Whether I'm in the starting eleven or a sub it doesn't change my playing style. I always give everything. Playing alongside good players I've learned fast. The road is still long for me, and I'm aware of that, and I've still got things in my game to improve."

Lille: surprisingly successful

Hazard admits that nobody at Lille expected such as successful season: "If at the start of the season somebody had said that we'd be near the top come the end of the season we wouldn't have believed them. That said the fact that we've managed to hang on to the leaders owes nothing to chance."

This Sunday Lille are determined to make up for losing 1-0 at the Parc des Princes earlier this season.

"We didn't play our usual football there and we'll be out for revenge. We want to prove that what happened in Paris was an accident. We need our fans to help us and get behind us."

BB Bob

10-04-2009, 07:49 PM

Here are my shouts for this week:-

Le Havre v Caen - Draw @ 19/10
Le Mans v Sochaux - Draw @ 7/4
Nancy v Valenciennes - Draw @ 15/8
Auxerre v Bordeaux - Bordeaux @ 6/5
Nice v Lorient - Nice @ 6/5
Toulouse v Nantes - Toulouse @ 8/13
Rennes v St Etienne - Rennes @ 4/6
Lille v Paris S.G. - Draw @ 2/1
Marseille v Grenoble - Marseille @ 3/10
Lyon v Monaco - Draw @ 3/1

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £4660.83

BB Bob

10-04-2009, 07:53 PM

...and here are those for Madame:-

Le Havre v Caen - Le Havre @ 7/5
Le Mans v Sochaux - Draw @ 7/4
Nancy v Valenciennes - Nancy @ 6/5
Auxerre v Bordeaux - Auxerre @ 21/10
Nice v Lorient - Lorient @ 21/10
Toulouse v Nantes - Draw @ 23/10
Rennes v St Etienne - St Etienne @ 7/2
Lille v Paris S.G. - Paris S.G. @ 23/10
Marseille v Grenoble - Marseille @ 3/10
Lyon v Monaco - Draw @ 3/1

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £35557.71

Enjoy the games!

PS You'll have to let me know when you are going to be in Worthing. I am down that way often enough for meetings and I might be able to tie something up!

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 01:23 PM

Week 31 - Saturday, April 11, 2009

19:00 AJ Auxerre 0 - 2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
19:00 Havre AC 1 - 2 SM Caen
19:00 Le Mans UC 72 2 - 0 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
19:00 AS Nancy Lorraine 2 - 0 Valenciennes FC
19:00 OGC Nice 2 - 0 FC Lorient
19:00 Toulouse FC 1 - 0 FC Nantes
21:00 Stade Rennais FC 1 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 01:26 PM

No room for error at the Gerland tonight!

Ligue 1 P W D L GD Pts
1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 31 17 8 6 +21 59

2 Olympique Lyonnais 30 17 8 5 +19 59
3 Olympique de Marseille 30 16 10 4 +22 58

4 Toulouse FC 31 15 11 5 +17 56

5 LOSC 30 15 10 5 +14 55
6 Paris Saint-Germain 30 17 4 9 +10 55
7 Stade Rennais FC 31 12 15 4 +11 51
8 OGC Nice 31 12 8 11 +3 44
9 FC Lorient 31 9 11 11 +1 38
10 AJ Auxerre 31 10 7 14 -6 37
11 AS Monaco FC 30 9 9 12 -2 36
12 Valenciennes FC 31 8 12 11 -3 36
13 Le Mans UC 72 31 9 8 14 -8 35
14 Grenoble Foot 38 30 8 11 11 -9 35
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 31 8 9 14 -10 33
16 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 31 7 11 13 -7 32
17 SM Caen 31 6 13 12 -5 31

18 FC Nantes 31 7 9 15 -17 30
19 AS Saint-Etienne 31 8 5 18 -20 29
20 Havre AC 31 6 3 22 -31 21

Clapham Grand

12-04-2009, 01:26 PM

2399

Do Toulouse still have a chance?

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 06:56 PM

Oh là là.

One match to play tonight and the pressure is really on...

17:00 Olympique de Marseille 4 - 1 Grenoble Foot 38
18:45 LOSC 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
21:00 Olympique Lyonnais AS Monaco FC

1 Olympique de Marseille 31 17 10 4 +25 61
2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 31 17 8 6 +21 59
3 Olympique Lyonnais 30 17 8 5 +19 59

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 06:58 PM

Do Toulouse still have a chance?

A distant one, but a good chance of getting a euro place. They are a tough team to beat and in Gignac they have the top scorer in le Championnat. I quite like the purple kit and they are my son's favourite team. Now if they can only sort out that dodgy pink kit.....

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 07:24 PM

This is what it looks like:-

http://www.tfcbootic.info/boutique/images_produits/maillotthierdml_1.jpg

BB Bob

12-04-2009, 09:16 PM

Merde alors!

21:00 Olympique Lyonnais 2 - 2 AS Monaco FC

1 Olympique de Marseille 31 17 10 4 +25 61
2 Olympique Lyonnais 31 17 9 5 +19 60
3 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 31 17 8 6 +21 59
4 Toulouse FC 31 15 11 5 +17 56
5 LOSC 31 15 11 5 +14 56
6 Paris Saint-Germain 31 17 5 9 +10 56
7 Stade Rennais FC 31 12 15 4 +11 51
8 OGC Nice 31 12 8 11 +3 44
9 FC Lorient 31 9 11 11 +1 38
10 AS Monaco FC 31 9 10 12 -2 37
11 AJ Auxerre 31 10 7 14 -6 37
12 Valenciennes FC 31 8 12 11 -3 36
13 Le Mans UC 72 31 9 8 14 -8 35
14 Grenoble Foot 38 31 8 11 12 -12 35
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 31 8 9 14 -10 33
16 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 31 7 11 13 -7 32
17 SM Caen 31 6 13 12 -5 31
18 FC Nantes 31 7 9 15 -17 30
19 AS Saint-Etienne 31 8 5 18 -20 29
20 Havre AC 31 6 3 22 -31 21

BB Bob

13-04-2009, 08:33 AM

Game on: Lyon leaders no longer

A fantastic late strike from Frédéric Piquionne earned Lyon a 2-2 draw against an impressive Monaco at Gerland on Sunday night but couldn’t prevent Lyon from losing top spot to Marseille, who now hold a one-point lead over the reigning champions. The title race is now wide open…
Sunday, April 12, 2009

Olympique Lyonnais / AS Monaco FC : 2 - 2

Struggling for consistency in the last month and facing increasing pressure from the likes of Marseille and Bordeaux, Lyon went into the match against mid-table Monaco looking to steady the ship and maintain their slender lead atop the Ligue 1 standings.

Monaco however had other things in mind, looking to bounce back from the shock 1-0 loss to bottom club Le Havre in Week 30 that had put an end to an unbeaten run of four league matches.

And Ricardo's men played the role of dark horse to perfection, not in the least intimidated by the prospect of taking on the seven-time champions on their home turf, turning in a spirited and coherent display.

Monaco started strongly and slowly took a stranglehold on the first half, the speed and width of their play causing problems for Lyon first on the counter and then more consistently as they pushed higher up the pitch, winning the ball in forward positions and eventually camping out in Lyon's half for long stretches.

Park pressure

Their pressure paid off in the 34th minute when Korean superstar Chu Young Park, involved all of Monaco's best attacking play, broke wide on the left and deftly delivered a cut-back cross for Jerko Leko. The Croatian international made no mistake, almost casually pushing his first-time angled shot from near the edge of the area past Hugo Lloris to open the scoring.

Lyon pushed hard to react, minutes later France international Karim Benzema came within inches of levelling the scores as he saw his first-time shot from Kader Keita's cross smash into the upright.

In the ensuing action, following a foul on Keita, Lyon's Cris was shown a yellow card for remonstrating with the referee and will miss next weekend's crucial clash against Bordeaux through suspension.

Lyon continued to push for the equaliser but found the Monaco defence resolutely in their way each time, notably captain François-Joseph Modesto, who stamped his authority at the back with several crucial tackles.

Champions react

Monaco, unable to keep up the breakneck pace of the first half, slowed somewhat in the second and Lyon found their way into the match, with Cris putting the hosts back on level terms in the 65th minute with a powerful header from a Juninho corner.

But before Lyon were even done celebrating, Monaco had struck back through Colombian international Juan Pablo Pino, who collected a neat pass from Jean-Jacques Gosso before rounding Lloris and handing his side the lead once more.

Despite an uncharacteristic level of imprecision and waste in their play, Lyon gradually took the upper hand again and drew level once more in the 81st minute – again from a set piece.

Stunning equailser

Juninho's corner found Cris in the middle of the area and the Brazilian defender muscled his way in front of former teammate Patrick Muller to lift the ball over the Monaco defence to Piquionne, whose magnificent overhead shot caught Stéphane Ruffier by surprise as it flashed across him and into the side netting to take the score to 2-2.

Lyon threw absolutely everything at Monaco in the remaining minutes to snatch the win that would see them maintain their narrow one-point lead atop the Ligue 1 table, but the unease that has plagued them in recent weeks was once again in evidence as they rushed chances and failed to capitalise on their late domination of the match.

The draw sees Lyon lose the lead in the league for the first time in seven months as they drop one place to second, a point behind Marseille. Monaco on the other hand turned in one of their best performances of the season, climbing two places to 10th.

BB Bob

13-04-2009, 08:36 AM

And just for you Clapham....

Toulouse keep their feet on the ground

The TFC’s 1-0 win at home to Nantes on Saturday night sent them into provisional fourth place, just three points behind Bordeaux and Lyon, but coach Alain Casanova knows that with the table packed as tightly as it is, it’s too early to draw any conclusions.
Casanova is adamant that despite Toulouse strong recent form and current ranking of fourth, it is too early to make any adjustments to the club's objectives for the season.
"I repeat, we'll take stock of our situation at the end of April. But the players have a strong desire to stay near the top of the table and fight it out in the final sprint."

While Casanova is keen to avoid the pressure that comes with a declaration of intention of taking the title, he is very pleased with the character and desire to win his team displayed against Les Canaris.

"Nantes are in serious need of points and play with a packed defence. In the first half we didn't have what it took to make the break, and we were lacking a bit of commitment and aggression. But [Guinea international] Fodé Mansaré's entry into the game in the second half did us a lot of good, and in the end I think it was a deserved win."

Captain Mauro Cetto was less guarded in his comments concerning the rest of Toulouse's season, but also fell short of making a claim on the title.

"We've always said we want to stay near the top of the table as long as we can. If we continue to win at home, it's entirely possible that we'll have an excellent finish to the season. With our excellent morale, if we can continue to have the league's best defence and top scorer until the end of the season, we could even finish extremely well, even though there are better-equipped teams ahead of us."

BB Bob

16-04-2009, 08:29 AM

One crumb of comfort for Lyon this week might be the involvement of Marseille and PSG in UEFA cup gamnes tonight. I can't think it is a priority for either of them, but it might be a useful distraction.

Otherwise, bottoms are getting twitchy before sunday's clash in Bordeaux....

kabbott

16-04-2009, 08:59 AM

Hi folks!
Got back yesterday afternoon. Twitchy bottoms indeed, firstly due to an increased intake of apéritifs, wine and digéstifs and the local speciality ''rillettes'', lovely but slightly fattening, and also, of course, due to Lyon's inability to win a home game. Sunday's game is going to ''énorme''. L'Equipe are building this one up nicely. The game could hinge on Toulalan's involvement or not.
It's true that Marseille and PSG may pay for their European pursuits. But, for me, Bordeaux are the danger team. They've also had their dodgy spell earlier on in the season. Lyon's fate is in their own hands, however. If they win all their remaining games, they'll be champions, the only problem is that they've still got to play Marseille and Toulouse after Bordeaux.
BB Bob, I'll PM you with details of my stay to see if a ''réunion'' is possible. A plus!

kabbott

16-04-2009, 11:51 AM

This is also good news. Even if Sydney doesn't play his presence around the training ground is enough to boost the other players. I also reckon he's been missed more than some of the other injured players.

http://www.ligue1.com/photo/moyenFormat/0708_cdf_lyon_psg_govou_art.jpg

Bionic Govou

Lyon forward Sidney Govou was told he’d be sidelined until next season after rupturing his Achilles tendon in training last December, but now the France international has astounded the club’s medical staff and could be back to help the champions defend their crown before season’s end...
On Tuesday, four months to the days after he snapped his tendon in training, Govou completed a 25 minute training run in the leading bunch and showed no signs of any discomfort in the ankle.

"At first, they said I wouldn't be back until July," revealed the 29-year-old. "But since I've been walking, haven't felt any pain, everything's going well and that's why I'm ahead of schedule. The next step is to start stepping off the ankle – stop and go and sideways work.

'Lyon will be crowned'

"If I can play before the end of the season then that will be great. I've always come back early from injuries."

Govou was equally confident for his club's title hopes as he was for his own rehabilitation: "Even if Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille have impressed me recently, I still think Lyon will be crowned champion for an eighth consecutive season."

GodstoneEagle

16-04-2009, 10:39 PM

Landreau :eek:

BB Bob

17-04-2009, 07:08 AM

Ukrainians too good for French pair
A disastrous display by Mickaël Landreau saw Paris Saint-Germain tumble out of the UEFA Cup as they suffered a 3-0 defeat at Dynamo Kiev on Thursday. Ligue 1 leaders Marseille also missed out as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Stade Vélodrome.

After a goalless first leg in France, PSG travelled to Ukraine with hope, but were on the back foot throughout after ex-Le Mans striker Ismaël Bangoura had given Dynamo a fourth-minute lead.

Peguy Luyindula struck a post with a header soon after, but it was Dynamo's slick passing and some poor goalkeeping from Landreau that put an end to PSG's European ambitions this season.

The French international literally handed Dynamo a second 16 minutes in when he inadvertently punched a high ball into his own goal, and the ex-Nantes star then fumbled an Olexandr Aliev free-kick on the hour mark, allowing Ognjen Vukojevic to score a third and leave Paul Le Guen's side with no way back.

MARSEILLE 1-2 SHAKHTAR DONETSK (agg. 1-4)

Dynamo will face Shakhtar Donetsk in the last four as the reigning Ukrainian champions, who are currently second in the domestic table behind Dynamo, put an end to Marseille's ambitions.

With a healthy 2-0 first-leg lead, Mircea Lucescu's side knew a goal at the Stade Vélodrome would leave the hosts with a mountain to climb, and though Marseille had the better of the opening exchanges, it was Shakhtar who went in front with half-an-hour on the clock.

Fernandinho was played in down the left-hand channel, and the Brazilian saw his attempted cross ricochet off Charles Kaboré's outstretched leg and zip past Steve Mandanda at his near post.

That left Erik Gerets' men needing four goals to qualify, and they attempted to get them as they put the Shakhtar goal under pressure.

Taye Taiwo, who was forced off at half-time with a thigh injury, went close, as did Bakari Koné, but it was Hatem ben Arfa who reignited his side's hopes two minutes before the break.

The French international started the move as he cut in from the left before picking out Kaboré on the opposite flank. The midfielder's deep cross found Ben Arfa leaping high at the back post, and when Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov parried his header, the Marseille man slammed home the rebound.

Despite pressing in the second half, Marseille were unable to break down the visitors, who clinched a place in the last four in added time, Luiz Adriano slotting coolly past Mandanda to complete a 4-1 aggregate triumph.

T

kabbott

17-04-2009, 09:37 PM

If you're still in France, I hope you're celebrating this victory big time, Philsick.

Friday, April 17, 2009

20:00 Amiens SC 1 - 1 Angers SCO
20:00 SC Bastia 0 - 2 Stade Brestois
20:00 US Boulogne CO 1 - 0 ESTAC
20:00 Dijon FCO 3 - 0 Vannes OC
20:00 EA Guingamp 0 - 0 AC Ajaccio
20:00 CS Sedan 3 - 4 LB Châteauroux
20:30 FC Metz 1 - 3 Clermont Foot
20:30 Stade de Reims 2 - 1 Nîmes Olympique
20:30 Tours FC 2 - 0 RC Strasbourg

Monday, April 20, 2009

20:30 Montpellier HSC - RC Lens

kabbott

17-04-2009, 09:40 PM

Oops, I didn't look at the other scores down at the bottom. Nearly everyone picked up points, so it's not over yet.

Pl W D L F A GD Pts
1 RC Lens 31 17 7 7 41 28 +13 58
2 FC Metz 32 16 8 8 44 32 +12 56
3 RC Strasbourg 32 15 10 7 49 38 +11 55
4 US Boulogne CO 32 16 6 10 39 31 +8 54
5 Tours FC 32 15 7 10 46 38 +8 52
6 Montpellier HSC 31 14 8 9 53 32 +21 50
7 Angers SCO 32 12 11 9 41 34 +7 47
8 Dijon FCO 32 12 9 11 37 39 -2 45
9 Vannes OC 32 12 8 12 26 35 -9 44
10 CS Sedan 32 11 10 11 35 37 -2 43
11 EA Guingamp 32 9 15 8 31 26 +5 42
12 SC Bastia 32 11 7 14 32 41 -9 40
13 Amiens SC 32 8 13 11 28 30 -2 37
14 Clermont Foot 32 9 10 13 39 46 -7 37
15 AC Ajaccio 32 9 10 13 39 49 -10 37
16 Stade Brestois 31 10 5 16 34 38 -4 35
17 LB Châteauroux 32 8 10 14 31 39 -8 34
18 Stade de Reims 31 7 12 12 38 45 -7 33
19 ESTAC 32 8 9 15 32 39 -7 33
20 Nîmes Olympique 32 7 9 16 26 44 -18 30

kabbott

18-04-2009, 09:40 AM

Twitchy bottom time come tomorrow evening 9 o'clock. In the meantime, loto sportif time:

Week 32 - Saturday, April 18, 2009

19:00 SM Caen AS Nancy Lorraine HOME
19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 Toulouse FC HOME
19:00 AS Monaco FC Stade Rennais FC DRAW
19:00 FC Nantes OGC Nice DRAW
19:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard AJ Auxerre HOME
19:00 Valenciennes FC Le Mans UC 72 AWAY

21:00 AS Saint-Etienne LOSC HOME

Week 32 - Sunday, April 19, 2009

17:00 FC Lorient Olympique de Marseille HOME (please)
17:00 Paris Saint-Germain Havre AC AWAY (please)

21:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux Olympique Lyonnais (AWAY)

kabbott

18-04-2009, 09:49 AM

Hope he doesn't regret these words.

Benzema ready to 'walk all over' Bordeaux

Karim Benzema has called on Lyon to show no mercy to Bordeaux when the title rivals meet in Sunday's championship six-pointer.

While Bordeaux have forced their way back into the championship reckoning with four successive league victories, Lyon's 2-2 draw at home to Monaco last weekend saw them slip out of top spot for the first time since Week 5.

It is the first time in six seasons that OL have not been leading the table at this stage of the campaign, and Benzema is looking for the champions to rediscover the killer instinct which has often been lacking this season at the Stade Chaban-Delmas this weekend.

"We have to play, and have the desire to walk all over our opponents," said the French international striker, who has scored in his last three games against Bordeaux. "It'll be like a Champions League game. I think it all hangs on how we start the match.

"We have to begin well so we don't get put under pressure. We mustn't wait for things to happen. It's up to us to settle the match quickly, just as we did last season."

Monaco dismay

Benzema put Lyon 2-0 up after just 23 minutes in the south-west last season as OL went on to secure a 3-1 victory. The match marked Bordeaux's last home defeat in Ligue 1, but Benzema is determined that, after a poor showing last weekend, Lyon will put on a much-improved display to bring Les Girondins' proud 29-match unbeaten run on home turf to an end.

"We were disappointed after the Monaco game. We've dropped too many points at home this season," said the 21-year-old, whose side boast the second-best away record in the league.

"Each of us is aware of the need to take all three points. It won't be easy. The league is very tight. You can quickly go from first to fifth or sixth. But we're ready to take on the challenge. We have to show more than we did against Monaco. We have no choice if we want to win an eighth title."

'Catastrophe'

Firm favourites at the start of the season, OL now look in danger of missing out on an eighth successive Ligue 1 crown after dropping a point behind Marseille.

With third-placed Bordeaux a point behind OL, and three more teams – Toulouse, Lille and Paris Saint-Germain – lurking only three points further back, Benzema is wary that OL ensure a place in next season's Champions League at the very least.

"We want to win the title, but it would be a catastrophe if we didn't qualify for the Champions League next season," said the sought-after forward, who has confirmed he will play at least another season at his hometown club. "We don't even want to think about that."

kabbott

18-04-2009, 09:50 AM

Blanc wary of wounded Lyon

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc insists Lyon remain "the team to beat" ahead of his side's crucial showdown with the champions on Sunday.

The third-placed Girondins will kick off the title-chasing duo's match at the Stade Chaban-Delmas just a point and a place behind Lyon, who lost their stranglehold on top spot to Marseille last weekend.

However, you won't catch Blanc writing off Lyon's chances of picking up an eighth successive title.

"As I've said before - and I haven't changed my mind - Lyon are still the team to beat," said the former French international defender, who recently signed a two-year contract extension. "They're the defending champions, and they've dominated Ligue 1 for the last seven years. They're going to fight tooth and nail to do that again.

"But I also think that Lyon are dominating less this season, and - in a one-off match - they can be taken. We have to go into the game in that spirit and be conscious of it."

'Take inspiration'

While Lyon have been in mediocre form in recent weeks, Bordeaux have forced themselves back into contention to pick up a first title in a decade with a run of four consecutive wins.

A fifth on Sunday would take them ahead of Lyon and could see them leapfrog current leaders Marseille, depending on their result at Lorient earlier in the day.

Blanc, however, is aware Claude Puel's side will be determined to keep up the pressure on OM, and put some distance between themselves and one of their main title rivals.

"Lyon won't want to give up their title. Having been knocked off top spot by Marseille, they're going to come to Bordeaux looking to win," he said. "When you play Lyon, you often feel you can win, but then they turn the game in their favour. That's perhaps less the case this season. Some teams, such as Auxerre, have proved that. We're going to have to take inspiration from them.

"Whatever happens, it'll be a tough match. We have to bear in mind that we're taking on the team whose example everyone should be following. We're going to have to put in a really good display."

philsick

18-04-2009, 10:02 AM

If you're still in France, I hope you're celebrating this victory big time, Philsick.

:lux: Wot a result.

Did you see the st etienne fans having a go at their own players from behind a cage like thing as they were leaving the ground last week.They're in trouble big time and the fans aren't happy with their attitude..

kabbott

18-04-2009, 10:12 AM

:lux: Wot a result.

Did you see the st etienne fans having a go at their own players from behind a cage like thing as they were leaving the ground last week.They're in trouble big time and the fans aren't happy with their attitude..

No, I missed that. I, too, was on holiday so not too much telly. It looks like at least one of two ''big'' clubs, ASSE and Nantes, will take the plunge.

BB Bob

18-04-2009, 01:23 PM

Here are my guesses!

Caen v Nancy - Caen @ 5/4
Grenoble v Toulouse - Toulouse @ 7/5
Monaco v Rennes - Draw @ 19/10
Nantes v Nice - Draw @ 2/1
Sochaux v Auxerre - Sochaux @ 19/20
Valenciennes v Le Mans - Valenciennes @ 21/20
St Etienne v Lille - Draw @ 2/1
Lorient v Marseille - Marseille @ EVS
Paris S.G. v Le Havre - Paris S.G. @ 2/7
Bordeaux v Lyon - Draw @ 2/1 (desolé!)

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £4346.29

BB Bob

18-04-2009, 01:27 PM

and here are the shouts from ma petite singe:-

Caen v Nancy - Caen @ 5/4
Grenoble v Toulouse - Grenoble @ 23/10
Monaco v Rennes - Rennes @ 19/10
Nantes v Nice - Draw @ 2/1
Sochaux v Auxerre - Draw @ 2/1
Valenciennes v Le Mans - Le Mans @ 31/10
St Etienne v Lille - St Etienne @ 19/10
Lorient v Marseille - Lorient @ 3/1
Paris S.G. v Le Havre - Paris S.G. @ 2/7
Bordeaux v Lyon - Draw @ 2/1

Stake : £1.00
Estimated Returns : £35550.40

Bonne chance demain!

jookbeard

18-04-2009, 01:42 PM

BB Bob

18-04-2009, 01:46 PM

Yep. I don't know if they are the best odds, though!

I wouldn't follow her suggestions either - she just says home, draw or away and doesn't even ask who is playing! Worryingly, she is as not wildly less accurate than the rest of us, on the whole!

GodstoneEagle

18-04-2009, 02:26 PM

Hope you win. You can send me £100 if you do :)

Looks like Itandje will be returning to France from Liverpool. If you havent heard...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1171359/Liverpool-fans-rage-keeper-dancing-joking-Hillsborough-service.html

kabbott

18-04-2009, 04:30 PM

BB Bob

18-04-2009, 08:56 PM

Terminé Grenoble (14) 1 - 0 Toulouse (4)
Courtois (40e sp)

- Terminé Monaco (10) 3 - 1 Rennes (7)
Leko (77e sp)
Pino (82e, 90e+3)
Cheyrou (86e)

- Terminé Nantes (18) 2 - 0 Nice (8)
Bekamenga (19e)
Bagayoko (90e)

- Terminé Sochaux (16) 0 - 1 Auxerre (11)
Kahlenberg (85e)

- Terminé Valenciennes (12) 0 - 2 Le Mans (13)
Cerdan (48e)
Le Tallec (66e)

- Terminé Caen (17) 1 - 2 Nancy (15)
Yatabaré (45e)
Hadji (1e)
Adjet (85e)

I think that makes me 0-7!

kabbott

18-04-2009, 09:08 PM

Good news for Reggie.

Week 32 - Saturday, April 18, 2009

19:00 SM Caen 1 - 2 AS Nancy Lorraine
19:00 Grenoble Foot 38 1 - 0 Toulouse FC
19:00 AS Monaco FC 3 - 1 Stade Rennais FC
19:00 FC Nantes 2 - 0 OGC Nice
19:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 0 - 1 AJ Auxerre
19:00 Valenciennes FC 0 - 2 Le Mans UC 72
21:00 AS Saint-Etienne 2 - 1 LOSC

Week 32 - Sunday, April 19, 2009

17:00 FC Lorient Olympique de Marseille
17:00 Paris Saint-Germain Havre AC
21:00 FC Girondins de Bordeaux Olympique Lyonnais

kabbott

18-04-2009, 09:11 PM

3/7 for me so far. Et Madame BB Bob?

BB Bob

18-04-2009, 11:30 PM

Yadda yadda. I know who wears the trousers in my house tonight....

BB Bob

19-04-2009, 09:29 AM

Toulouse lose, Lille slip, Nantes win
Toulouse missed out on the chance to move into third place on Saturday as Alain Casanova's men were beaten 1-0 at Grenoble. Lille failed to take advantage as they were beaten 2-1 by Saint-Etienne, while Nantes moved out of the bottom three as they defeated Nice 2-0.
Saturday 18 April 2009

SM Caen / AS Nancy Lorraine : 1 - 2

Caen slipped back into the bottom three as they succumbed to a Nancy side who put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

Youssouf Hadji's tenth goal of the season put Nancy ahead after just two minutes, but highly-rated midfielder Sambou Yatabare pulled the Norman hosts level in first-half stoppage time.

Franck Dumas' men appeared poised to extend their unbeaten run to four matches when Geoffrey Adjet struck four minutes from time to give Pablo Correa's men a second successive win.

>> Team Sheet

Grenoble Foot 38 / Toulouse FC : 1 - 0

Toulouse travelled across to the east of France knowing three points - and a handful of goals - would take them into third place ahead of Bordeaux prior to Les Girondins' showdown with Lyon on Sunday.

Laurent Blanc's men can breathe a little easier after Casanova's side were beaten for the second time in five matches.

Etienne Capoue was punished for a handball in the box seven minutes before the interval - Laurent Courtois made no mistake from the spot to ease the hosts closer to ensuring top-flight survival.

>> Team Sheet

AS Monaco FC / Stade Rennais FC : 3 - 1

A once promising season is fizzling out worryingly for Rennes as they succumbed to their second defeat in three games.

Guy Lacombe's men had started brightly in the principality with Jérôme Leroy looking sprightly, and Petter Hansson testing the Stade Louis II woodwork with an early header.

However, the visitors were unable to find a way past Stéphane Ruffier and paid the price when they fell behind 12 minutes from time - Jerko Leko scoring from the penalty spot after Lucien Aubey had brought down Juan Pablo Pino, a challenge that earned the Rennes defender a red card.

Pino then doubled the hosts' advantage six minutes later, before Bruno Cheyrou reduced Rennes' deficit with four minutes left.

It was Pino, though, who would have the final say, the young Colombian shooting into an empty net after Rennes keeper Nicolas Douchez was caught upfield following a corner to give Ricardo's side a first win in three matches.

>> Team Sheet

FC Nantes / OGC Nice : 2 - 0

Nantes eased out of the relegation zone with their first win in ten matches.

Elie Baup's side went in front on 19 minutes through Christian Bekamenga's fourth goal of the season, but had to wait until 90th minute before clinching victory - Mamadou Bagayoko on target to breathe life into his club's survival hopes, lifting them into 16th place, two points above the relegation zone.

Nice, who had Gerald Cid sent off on 56 minutes, have won just once in their last eight league matches.

>> Team Sheet

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard / AJ Auxerre : 0 - 1

Sochaux suffered a second successive defeat to slip closer to the relegation zone as Auxerre struck late at the Stade Bonal.

Francis Gillot's men were on course for a precious point when Auxerre midfielder Thomas Kahlenberg struck four minutes from time, pouncing on the loose ball after Teddy Richert had parried Dennis Oliech's shot.

The Sochaux keeper then twice denied Daniel Niculae a first goal of the season in the dying seconds as Auxerre recorded a first win in three to climb to tenth.

>> Team Sheet

Valenciennes FC / Le Mans UC 72 : 0 - 2

Le Mans moved seven points clear of the relegation zone as they inflicted a second straight 2-0 defeat on Valenciennes.

Antoine Kombouaré's men have been France's in-form side since the turn of the year - they would be seventh based on their 2009 results - but have lost their way in the last two matches, and were well-beaten at the Stade Nungesser.

After a goalless first-half, Grégory Cerdan broke the deadlock four minutes after the interval with his second goal of the season.

Anthony Le Tallec then scored his third of the campaign with a delicate lob over Valenciennes keeper Nicolas Penneteau on 67 minutes to make it back-to-back wins for Daniel Jeandupeux's men.

>> Team Sheet

AS Saint-Etienne / LOSC : 2 - 1

Saint-Etienne climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since Week 27 and dented Lille's ambitions of a top-three finish.

Rudi Garcia's men would have gone level on points with third-placed Bordeaux with victory at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, but were always on the back foot after Paulo Machado struck the woodwork early on.

The Portuguese midfielder then rattled the bar before the hosts deservedly went in front six minutes after the break - Ilan taking Bafétimbi Gomis' pass in his stride before comprehensively beating Grégory Malicki.

Gomis grabbed his seventh league strike of the campaign on 66 minutes, and though Nicolas Fauvergue pulled one back 18 minutes from time, Les Verts hung on to end a run of four successive defeats.

>> Team Sheet

BB Bob

19-04-2009, 06:57 PM

No surprises so far today:-

- Terminé Lorient (9) 1 - 2 Marseille (1)
Gameiro (8e)
Civelli (59e)
Brandao (79e)

- Terminé Paris-SG (6) 3 - 0 Le Havre (20)
Giuly (41e)
Rothen (55e)
Hoarau (90e)

So, after the apéros it's time for the main course...

kabbott

19-04-2009, 07:56 PM

Slight half-time indigestion.

1:0 to Bordeaux.
Lyon had a blatant penalty appeal turned down after a couple of minutes. It was then pretty even until the goal just before HT.
Lloris is looking shaky between the sticks, and Juni is nervous too. He may not make it until FT.
This looks like the beginning of the end.

kabbott

19-04-2009, 09:03 PM

And it's goodnight from him.
Lyon hopeless, deserved to lose. Hoofball to a certain extent. Hoof it to Benzema and see what he can do with the ball. The way things are going, Lyon might not even be European next season!!!!!!!!

Bonne nuit!

BB Bob

20-04-2009, 07:14 AM

http://www.frenchleague.com/photo/grandFormat/0809_l1_bdx_ol_duel_mono.jpg

Diarra downs Lyon as Bordeaux go second

Bordeaux are well and truly part of the Ligue 1 title race after Alou Diarra's goal beat Lyon on Sunday to lift Les Girondins into second place ahead of the reigning champions.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

FC Girondins de Bordeaux / Olympique Lyonnais : 1 - 0

Both Laurent Blanc and Bordeaux club president Jean-Louis Triaud had said they would only talk about their side as being potential title winners after the match against Lyon, though whatever they say cannot be as resounding as the statement of intent they made on the Stade Chaban-Delmas pitch.

The home side bristled with determination, even if Ulrich Ramé was twice called upon to deny Karim Benzema in the first half.

It was Blanc's men who enjoyed the best of the opening 45 minutes, and deservedly took the lead shortly before the interval.

Wendel's inswinging corner found its way back out to the right flank where the Brazilian caught everyone by surprise by shooting from a tight angle. His ingenious effort struck Hugo Lloris' left-hand post, but ex-Lyon midfielder Alou Diarra reacted sharply to fire the loose ball home.

Precedent

Benzema enjoyed Lyon's best chance of the second half when he bustled through 15 minutes from time. The French international, who had scored in his three previous games against Bordeaux, was destined to finish goalless as his lob over the onrushing Ramé ended on top of the net.

Instead, it was Bordeaux who came closest to striking again.

Marouane Chamakh struck the bar with a firm header before being thwarted by a brave block by Lloris after the Moroccan international had outpaced the Lyon defence.

Despite a late rally by Lyon, Bordeaux held on to pick up their first win in 10 meetings with OL in the south west. Their last victory dated back to the 1998/99 season - the last time Les Girondins got their hands on the Ligue 1 title.

BB Bob

20-04-2009, 07:15 AM

There is still a long way to go yet, kabbott!

Ligue 1 P W D L GD Pts
1 Olympique de Marseille 32 18 10 4 +26 64

2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 32 18 8 6 +22 62
3 Olympique Lyonnais 32 17 9 6 +18 60

4 Paris Saint-Germain 32 18 5 9 +13 59

5 Toulouse FC 32 15 11 6 +16 56
6 LOSC 32 15 11 6 +13 56
7 Stade Rennais FC 32 12 15 5 +9 51
8 OGC Nice 32 12 8 12 +1 44
9 AS Monaco FC 32 10 10 12 0 40
10 AJ Auxerre 32 11 7 14 -5 40
11 FC Lorient 32 9 11 12 0 38
12 Le Mans UC 72 32 10 8 14 -6 38
13 Grenoble Foot 38 32 9 11 12 -11 38
14 Valenciennes FC 32 8 12 12 -5 36
15 AS Nancy Lorraine 32 9 9 14 -9 36
16 FC Nantes 32 8 9 15 -15 33
17 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 32 7 11 14 -8 32

18 AS Saint-Etienne 32 9 5 18 -19 32
19 SM Caen 32 6 13 13 -6 31
20 Havre AC 32 6 3 23 -34 21

BB Bob

20-04-2009, 05:59 PM

There could be a lot of managerial changes in the off season this year. OM look set to part company with Gerets as the existing management team want to slash the wages bill. He - understandably - is not keen and is refusing to commit himself beyond the seasons end.

Meanwhile in Rennes, François Pinault is losing patience with Guy Lacombe. After a good first half, Rennes have faded badly since thee break and Lacombe has gone public saying that he was vetoed from making two signings in the window.

In Nice, Antonetti is fed up having to work miracles with not much. I'll be sad to see him go. Mad as a fruit bat he might be, but he knows how to organise a team and make them hard to beat.

And in Lyon? Aulas has publicly backed Puel - never a good sign!

BB Bob

21-04-2009, 08:11 AM

Bordeaux dent Lyon's title hopes and put Champions League in doubt
Lyon's hope of securing an eighth successive Ligue 1 title in France was dealt a severe blow as Bordeaux beat them 1–0

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/4/20/1240234748539/Sidney-Govou-001.jpg

Lyon striker Sidney Govou admits that the Ligue 1 title may be beyond them following the defeat to Bordeux Photograph: Choi Jae-Ku/AFP

Bordeaux's game against Lyon on Sunday night was never going to decide who wins the French title this year, but it may just have told us who won't win it. Bordeaux's 1–0 win, courtesy of a close-range shot from the ex-Lyon midfielder Alou Diarra, has left the reigning champions down in third place, four points behind the leaders, Marseille, and two behind Bordeaux.

"It won't be dramatic if we don't win the title this year," the Lyon striker Sidney Govou told Fabulous Sport before the game, "as the most important thing is to qualify for the Champions League." Aside from the obvious shift in ambition his comment reveals, even that might now be tricky for Lyon given that they still have to play PSG (who are one point back), Marseille and Toulouse. "Lyon could now implode completely and might not even make the top three," warned pundit Christophe Dugarry.

Lyon were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Mathieu Chalmé's sixth-minute trip on Ederson went unnoticed, but aside from that, the visitors had few chances. Bordeaux were on top when, just before half-time, Diarra reacted quickest after Wendel's shot hit the post and he stabbed in the rebound.

Bordeaux controlled the second half, Diarra and Fernando were brilliant in holding midfield while Karim Benzema was kept isolated and had only one half-chance in the second period. The expected surge of Lyon pressure in the final ten minutes never came and it was Bordeaux who could have doubled their lead, Hugo Lloris saving from Yoann Gourcuff and Marouane Chamakh, who also headed against the crossbar.

"Is this the end of the reign?" ran the L'Equipe headline on Vincent Duluc's article: "Lyon are slipping inexorably towards a mediocrity which should lead to the loss of their title. They have gone from fighting for the title to fighting for a place in the Champions League."

Lyon's president, Jean-Michel Aulas, complained about the penalty decision after the game, though the fact that he said anything at all was highly significant. In among the reasons for Lyon's troubled season – rotten luck with injuries (Cris, Govou, Grosso, Réveillère and Clerc have all been out long-term), a coach trying to adapt a new system to his players (rather than the other way round), squad disharmony, overreliance on Benzema and individual mistakes at the back – the role of Aulas this term has come under scrutiny.

His decision to offload Fred in January left Benzema having to carry the attack on his own without a partner, while the pressure he put on the team to reach the Champions League semi-finals, when Lyon clearly didn't have the squad for it, undoubtedly affected their league focus.

On a day-to-day level, Aulas has shied away from the spotlight, and has been conspicuous by his absence. This is almost certainly at the request of Claude Puel, who unlike his predecessors, was not prepared to play second fiddle to his boss. "This is the first time I have seen Aulas leave the coach alone like this," said Lyon's mayor, Gérard Collomb. "Puel asked for carte blanche and he got it."

Aulas's energies have been focused on the project to build Lyon's new stadium at Décines, while he is also trying to bring in new revenue and look for sponsors to replace Accor, who are unlikely to renew their contract. According to Le Journal du Dimanche, it would appear that Aulas's decision to take a step back from the club has had an effect on the team as well. "He watches as much as he used to, but he speaks to us less often and doesn't come into the dressing room as much," admitted Cris.

There is no such fear factor in play at Bordeaux, where Laurent Blanc's team have remained united all season. They are solid at the back and have now won five games in a row without ever playing brilliantly. "We feel good physically and psychologically," said Diarra, whose time at Lyon ended after one season following a row with Gérard Houllier. "Beating the champions is an important sign and it sets up an exciting end to the season."

Not that you would hear them talk up their title chances: how the top two clubs have approached this title race perfectly reflects their personalities as cities. Bordeaux have been reserved, modest and spent most of the season pretending they are not in the race (and when they did say they were, in February, they went five games without a win). "Can you now say that you are heading for the title?" Blanc was asked after the game. "Ask me in two weeks," he replied.

Over at Marseille, they have not been shy to admit they are going for the title and OM's coach, Eric Gerets, knew that his patched-up side, with Charles Kaboré and Bolo Zenden as stand-in full-backs, had pulled off a great result in coming from behind to beat Lorient 2–1. Once again, Gerets's substitutions were decisive: Sylvain Wiltord, after replacing Hatem Ben Arfa, set up Renato Civelli for the equaliser, while another sub, Karim Ziani, crossed for Brandao's winner, his fourth goal in as many games.

Brandao also had an effort ruled out in the first half and his battering style forced Lorient to replace their injured goalkeeper Fabien Audard and centre-back Benjamin Genton. "After what he did to us, you have to say Brandao was their man of the match," grumbled the Lorient manager, Christian Gourcuff.

On-loan Wiltord, who also saw a shot hit both posts after running through from the halfway line, had a major impact. He is expected to leave Marseille this summer, but his presence and experience has definitely boosted morale at the club. There was still time for the captain, Lorik Cana, to get a late red card for a comical scuffle with his friend Arnaud Le Lan. "We watched the end of the game together in the changing room and if there had been a bar there, we would have shared a beer," said Le Lan.

There was also drama at the bottom of the table, where Nantes jumped out of the drop zone thanks to their 2–0 win over Nice and Nancy beat Caen 2–1. "I don't know whether to laugh or cry," said the Caen coach, Franck Dumas. "My boys showed so much heart, but they let in two bloody stupid goals."

Saint-Etienne are still in the bottom three, but only on goal difference after they ended a difficult week by beating Lille 2–1. The coach, Alain Perrin, admitted his players were tense after Ilan and Yohan Benalouane had to be separated during a training-ground punch-up, while the sporting director, Damien Comolli, admitted next season's recruitment policy was being drawn up with an eye on playing in L2.

"When you fall into the sea, if you panic, you're certain to drown, so we have to keep cool," said the co-president Bernard Caïazzo. "We can still get out of this."

Elsewhere, Valenciennes are not out of the woods after losing 2–0 at home to Le Mans, while Monaco continued their good form with a 3–1 win over Rennes, whose coach, Guy Lacombe, looks to be on his way out this summer. L2 leaders Lens are favourites to snap him up, while Rennes's owner François-Henri Pinault, has Frédéric Antonetti (Nice) and Antoine Kombouaré (Valenciennes) top of his list.

Jérôme Rothen was the star man as PSG eased past Le Havre 3–0 to stay in fourth and close in on Lyon for that third and final Champions League qualifying place. The ex-Lyon contingent at Paris, headed by Paul Le Guen and featuring Jérémy Clément, Ludo Giuly, and Peguy Luyindula, will need little motivation for their next game, on Friday night at Stade Gerland, where Lyon have won only eight of 16 games and have dropped 17 points.

"You can't expect Lyon to win the title for 100 years in a row," said their midfielder Kim Kallstrom. It now looks like eight will be beyond them.

Results: Grenoble 1–0 Toulouse, Monaco 3–1 Rennes, Nantes 2–0 Nice, Sochaux 0–1 Auxerre, Valenciennes 0–2 Le Mans, Caen 1–2 Nancy, Saint-Etienne 2–1 Lille, Lorient 1–2 Marseille, PSG 3–0 Le Havre, Bordeaux 1–0 Lyon Current Ligue 1 table

With my usual thanks to Ben Lyttleton's excellent pieces on the Guardian's website

kabbott

21-04-2009, 09:02 PM

I gave up watching this humdinger for the Liverpool v Arsenal game. I think I did the right thing.

French Coupe semi-final:

Grenoble 0 - 1 Rennes

BB Bob

23-04-2009, 11:36 AM

Gutsy Guingamp grab final place
Guingamp’s players have spoken at their immense pride after setting up a 100% Breton French Cup final by knocking out highly-fancied Toulouse in the semis.
Ligue 2 club Guingamp, whose entire population would fill only about 10% of the 80,000 capacity at the Stade de France, now have a trip to the Paris suburbs to look forward to with Rennes their opponents on May 9.

The 2-1 win at Toulouse, fifth in Ligue 1, was all the more incredible given that Guingamp played almost the entire second half with ten men after midfielder Richard Soumah was sent off, his second yellow card awarded for delaying a Toulouse free-kick.

Guingamp coach Victor Zvunka was sent to the stands for contesting the decision. Zvunka coached Toulouse from 1991-1993. He said: "There's immense pride. My players gave so much physically and proved they can play a bit too. We played 10 v 11 and Toulouse had equalised but still we went forward."

Shake of the hips

Eduardo had given the Bretons the lead in the first-half. Ligue 1 top scorer André-Pierre Gignac equalised with just over 15 minutes to play. Eduardo then hit the bar and extra-time looked in the offing until Badara Sene scored a last-minute winner within 60 seconds of coming on as a sub. Sene got his body to a free-kick sent in by Nigerian midfielder Wilson Oruma.

Sene said: "I scored in a similar way to the way I scored against Brest in the French Cup. I just wanted to get to the ball and it went in off my hip! I thought it was hitting the post and going to stay out after what happened to Eduardo. But it hit the post and went in!"

Toulouse coach Alain Casanova conceded his side did not deserve to reach the final. "They were the better team, as simple as that. They were very determined and showed more quality on the ball."

kabbott

23-04-2009, 07:55 PM

Lyon task is Cris-tal clear

Lyon defender Cris describes Friday’s home game with Paris Saint-Germain as a match of capital importance. The Brazilian refuses to concede that Lyon have no chance of an eighth title in a row.
Lyon have won just two of their last 10 games in all competitions. With six games to go in Ligue 1 they are now four points behind leaders Marseille and two behind second placed Bordeaux, to whom they lost 1-0 in Week 33.

Now Paris Saint-Germain come to a Stade Gerland where Lyon have already dropped 17 points in what Cris admits has been an 'average' season.

"We have put in some very average performances and we're paying for them. We have to show a different side to our character because we can still win the title. We're not dead yet.

'Win or lose we do it together'

"Paris Saint-Germain is a capital game because they are a direct title rival. We have to give everything. It's like a new season is starting. We have to do things differently on the field. If we're where we are now it's everyone's responsibility. Whether we win or lose we do it together."

Lose to Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon would slip out of the Champions League places. Asked whether the players have talked among themselves about the possibility of missing out on a place in Europe's premier club competition, Cris responds categorically: "We're not even thinking about it."

Boumsong defiance

His fellow centre-half Jean-Alain Boumsong is equally defiant. The France international knows all about overcoming adversity given that he started the season as the club's fourth-choice central defender.

Boumsong said: "Missing out on the Champions League is a possibility. But I'm still talking about the title. One day, maybe, the title will be beyond us and then the Champions League will become the objective. Not yet. Marseille say that it all depends on them and that if they win all their games then they'll be champions. But I still think that if we win all of our games then we'll be champions."

Makelele muses

Claude Makelele, captain of Friday's opponents PSG, is keen to place the capital club's achievements in the context of pre-season hopes and fears.

Makelele said: "They [Lyon] will be rivals for a Champions League place if we win on Friday at the Gerland. At the start of the season the number one aim for PSG was to stay up and finish in the top half of the table. Now we're talking about qualifying for Europe. PSG is a club reconstructing itself little by little. We've found a style of playing, and are starting to create a good image for ourselves."

GodstoneEagle

23-04-2009, 08:32 PM

big weekend.

kabbott, whilst you are online, how would you say "he believes in it"?

il l'en croit?

GodstoneEagle

23-04-2009, 08:33 PM

and what type of thing is that to say from govou :rolleyes:

kabbott

23-04-2009, 09:37 PM

big weekend.

kabbott, whilst you are online, how would you say "he believes in it"?

il l'en croit?

It depends on what ''it'' actually is, since you've got ''croire en Dieu'' for example, but also ''croire au Père Noël'', in which case you could have ''il croit en lui ou en elle'' or ''il y croit''. So if someone were to ask me if I believed in Lyon's chance of still winning the title, I would answer, ''J'y crois'', so someone would say, ''il y croit''.

HTH

kabbott

23-04-2009, 09:41 PM

and what type of thing is that to say from govou :rolleyes:

It would seem down here that everyone at the club is now expecting not to win the title. So the objective is now securing a place in The Champions' League (2nd or even 3rd!) thus not missing out on an estimated 40,000,000 Euros.

kabbott

24-04-2009, 08:31 PM

Check PMs BB Bob

philsick

24-04-2009, 10:43 PM

Another victory for clermont 1-0.Safe now:p

palacemaniac

25-04-2009, 11:39 AM

big weekend.

kabbott, whilst you are online, how would you say "he believes in it"?

il l'en croit?

Il y croit

BB Bob

27-04-2009, 07:38 AM

28c8

A weekend without internet chez moi means a belated set of results. Most of the games took place yesterday because of the cup Final:-

20:30 Olympique Lyonnais 0 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain

Week 33 - Sunday, April 26, 2009

17:00 AJ Auxerre 2 - 1 SM Caen
17:00 Havre AC 0 - 1 Grenoble Foot 38
17:00 Le Mans UC 72 0 - 1 AS Monaco FC
17:00 AS Nancy Lorraine 2 - 0 FC Nantes
17:00 OGC Nice 3 - 1 AS Saint-Etienne
17:00 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 - 1 Valenciennes FC
17:00 Toulouse FC 1 - 1 FC Lorient
21:00 LOSC 1 - 2 Olympique de Marseille

Rennes play at home to Bordeaux on Wednesday, but here is the table in the meantime:-

1 Olympique de Marseille 33 19 10 4 +27 67

2 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 32 18 8 6 +22 62
3 Olympique Lyonnais 33 17 10 6 +18 61

4 Paris Saint-Germain 33 18 6 9 +13 60

5 Toulouse FC 33 15 12 6 +16 57
6 LOSC 33 15 11 7 +12 56
7 Stade Rennais FC 32 12 15 5 +9 51
8 OGC Nice 33 13 8 12 +3 47
9 AS Monaco FC 33 11 10 12 +1 43
10 AJ Auxerre 33 12 7 14 -4 43
11 Grenoble Foot 38 33 10 11 12 -10 41
12 FC Lorient 33 9 12 12 0 39
13 AS Nancy Lorraine 33 10 9 14 -7 39
14 Le Mans UC 72 33 10 8 15 -7 38
15 Valenciennes FC 33 8 13 12 -5 37
16 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 33 7 12 14 -8 33
17 FC Nantes 33 8 9 16 -17 33

18 AS Saint-Etienne 33 9 5 19 -21 32
19 SM Caen 33 6 13 14 -7 31
20 Havre AC 33 6 3 24 -35 21

BB Bob

27-04-2009, 07:41 AM

Toulouse drop back, Sverkos saves Sochaux

Toulouse passed up the chance to close on the top four and needed a last-gasp strike from captain Mauro Cetto just to salvage a point at home to Lorient on Sunday. Vaclav Sverkos was Sochaux's hero with an injury-time leveller against Valenciennes, while Nice dropped Saint-Etienne further into the relegation mire with a 3-1 win.

Sunday 26 April 2009

Toulouse FC / FC Lorient : 1 - 1

Three points at Le Stadium would have taken Alain Casanova's men into fourth place, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain on goal difference, and provided the ideal remedy to their surprise French Cup defeat to second division side Guingamp in midweek.

However, it appeared their ambitions of European football next season would be thwarted by another side from Brittany as Christian Gourcuff's men more than held their own in the south west.

With Fabrice Abriel and Kévin Gameiro lively, Les Merlus created the best opportunities with the hosts relying on the talents of André-Pierre Gignac to pose the visitors problems.

Ligue 1's leading scorer, however, was unable to add to his tally of 19 strikes this season, and Lorient appeared set to make Toulouse pay for their over-reliance on their prolific forward as they broke the deadlock four minutes from time.

Abriel and Gameiro linked up to release Yazid Mansouri on the flank, and the midfielder's cross was met sweetly by Andre Ayew at the near post to give the on-loan Marseille striker his third goal of the season.

After back-to-back defeats, three points would have all but ensured top-flight football next season for Gourcuff's men, but their lead would last all of two minutes.

Keeper Lionel Cappone, making only his ninth league appearance of the season in place of the injured Fabien Audard, badly misjudged a long through ball, slipping outside of his area on the rain-sodden turf.

Obliged to release the ball from his grasp, he allowed Etienne Didot to find Cetto, who slotted into the empty net to halt a run of successive defeats in the last week.

Gignac could even have given his team all three points, but inexplicably fired wide in the dying seconds with the goal and Lorient at his mercy.

OGC Nice / AS Saint-Etienne : 3 - 1

Saint-Etienne are in real danger of returning to Ligue 2 after slipping to a fifth defeat in six matches.

Alain Perrin's men arrived on the south coast at a low ebb despite last weekend's surprise win over Lille, and will have left the Stade Municipal du Ray wondering just how they will save themselves following a poor display.

Loïc Rémy had already gone close and Onyekachi Apam had seen Paulo Machado clear an effort off the line before Frédéric Antonetti's side finally made the breakthrough their endeavours deserved.

Rémy has already been compared to Thierry Henry, and the former Lyon youngster's searing pace was akin to that shown by the Barcelona star in his younger days as he broke clear of the lumbering Saint-Etienne rearguard before squaring for Chaouki Ben Saada to give the hosts a 23rd-minute lead with a crisp strike.

The Tunisian international then struck a post before Nice went further ahead in the final minute of the half with Rémy again the architect of the move. The French international's cross was headed back across goal by Vincent Hognon before the ball was turned into his own net by Efstathios Tavlaridis.

Bafétimbi Gomis could have brought the visitors back into the game early in the second half, but the French international forward passed up the opportunity and it was the hosts who would strike again on 73 minutes - Eric Mouloungui rounding off a swift counter-attack.

Ilan struck a fine consolation goal in added time, but time and matches are running out for Les Verts.

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard / Valenciennes FC : 1 - 1

Sochaux edged a little closer to safety as Sverkos gave them a first point in three matches with a nerveless late penalty.

Both sides came into the game having lost their last two matches and had failed to score in 180 minutes of football, and the early injury-enforced withdrawal of Jean-Claude Darcheville further reduced the chances of seeing the deadlock broken.

In Darcheville's absence, his strike partner, Grégory Pujol, brought a fine first-half save from Teddy Richert, while Mevlut Erding forced Richert's opposite number, Nicolas Penneteau, into action.

Sochaux suffered a major blow just eight minutes into the second period when Richert clipped the ankles of Johan Audel as the young striker hared towards goal. Though the foul was outside the area, referee Philippe Malige had no option other than to send Richert for an early bath.

Richert's replacement, Jérémy Gavanon, was called upon to deny Audel before things got worse for the hosts when they fell behind just nine minutes later - Amara Karba Bangoura putting the simplest of finishing touches to a flowing move which had split the Sochaux rearguard.

With time and hope running out, Francis Gillot's men were - literally - handed a lifeline when Mody Traoré was adjudged to have handled in the box. Sverkos confidently swept home the spot-kick for his seventh goal in 14 matches to edge his side a point clear of the drop zone.

BB Bob

27-04-2009, 07:43 AM

Second-half show does it again for Marseille

Two goals in the space of three second-half minutes from Benoît Cheyrou and Mamadou Niang saw Marseille come from behind to beat Lille 2-1 on Sunday and move five points clear at the top of Ligue 1.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

LOSC / Olympique de Marseille : 1 - 2

Whatever Erik Gerets does to his team at half-time, he should bottle it, market it and make a fortune, because the Belgian again worked his magic in the cosy confines of the dressing-room at the interval.

Prior to kick-off, just one of Marseille's last 14 goals had come in the opening 45 minutes, and they reinforced that extraordinary statistic with an improved display after the break to clinch a sixth successive win and take a big step towards a first title since 1991/92.

In a tense first half, chances were few and far between with Niang forcing a fine save from Grégory Malicki before Lille were given the ideal opportunity to boost their own ambitions of a top-four finish and dent OM's title push five minutes before the break.

Hazard strike

Ronald Zubar, a centre-half employed as an emergency left-back, blocked Florent Balmont's cross with his hand, but Michel Bastos saw his poorly directed spot-kick parried by Steve Mandanda as the sides went in level at half-time.

Just four minutes after the restart, though, Rudi Garcia's men did go in front with Eden Hazard adding greater credence to claims that he is one of the league's hottest up-and-coming properties.

The young Belgian exchanged passes with Yohan Cabaye before finding Robert Vittek. The Slovak forward spied Hazard's penetrating burst into the Marseille box, finding the youngster with a neat reverse pass - Hazard left Mandanda with no chance with a low finish.

Going behind, however, infused Marseille with new determination, and the leaders quickly turned the match on its head.

Clinical strike

Cheyrou's low drive beat Malicki to level on 54 minutes, and with the visitors full of confidence, they then eased ahead three minutes later - Niang with a clinical strike after he had been released by Mathieu Valbuena.

The Senegal forward could have given his side breathing space with 15 minutes remaining only to fire disappointingly wide, and Marseille could have paid in the closing minutes - Bastos flashing a sweetly-struck free-kick just wide of Mandanda's right-hand post.

Marseille, though, can now look forward to Bordeaux's match in hand at Rennes on Wednesday knowing they will remain top of the table for yet another week.

BB Bob

27-04-2009, 07:46 AM

And let's not forget Ligue 2, Philsick

Friday, April 24, 2009
20:00 AC Ajaccio 0 - 2 Amiens SC
20:00 Stade Brestois 2 - 2 CS Sedan
20:00 Clermont Foot 1 - 0 Stade de Reims
20:00 Nîmes Olympique 2 - 1 Dijon FCO
20:30 Angers SCO 1 - 5 US Boulogne CO
20:30 RC Lens 1 - 0 SC Bastia
20:30 ESTAC 1 - 2 Montpellier HSC
Saturday, April 25, 2009
17:00 Tours FC 1 - 0 EA Guingamp
Monday, April 27, 2009
20:30 RC Strasbourg - FC Metz
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
20:00 Vannes OC - LB Châteauroux

Ligue 2 P W D L GD Pts
1 RC Lens 33 19 7 7 +15 64
2 US Boulogne CO 33 17 6 10 +12 57
3 FC Metz 32 16 8 8 +12 56

4 RC Strasbourg 32 15 10 7 +11 55
5 Tours FC 33 16 7 10 +9 55
6 Montpellier HSC 33 15 8 10 +21 53
7 Angers SCO 33 12 11 10 +3 47
8 Dijon FCO 33 12 9 12 -3 45
9 CS Sedan 33 11 11 11 -2 44
10 Vannes OC 32 12 8 12 -9 44
11 EA Guingamp 33 9 15 9 +4 42
12 Amiens SC 33 9 13 11 0 40
13 Clermont Foot 33 10 10 13 -6 40
14 SC Bastia 33 11 7 15 -10 40
15 AC Ajaccio 33 9 10 14 -12 37
16 Stade Brestois 33 10 6 17 -5 36
17 Stade de Reims 33 8 12 13 -7 36

18 LB Châteauroux 32 8 10 14 -8 34
19 ESTAC 33 8 9 16 -8 33
20 Nîmes Olympique 33 8 9 16 -17 33

Great recovery from Reims, but look where Troyes have ended up. ESTAC were a L1 club two years ago and now look like they are hading for the National

BB Bob

27-04-2009, 07:48 AM

Oh, and here is the Cup final score. Very one sided affair.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 4 - 0 Vannes OC

I'll shut up and get on with some work now.....

BB Bob

28-04-2009, 12:15 PM

Marseille extend Ligue 1 lead but Bordeaux remain in championship hunt

Return of controversial Bernard Tapie fails to knock gloss off spirited Marseille's pursuit of Ligue 1 title
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/4/28/1240914580572/OSC-Lille-vs-Olympique-Ma-001.jpg
Lille's Franck Beria tussles with Marseille's Mamadou Niang. Photograph: Mikael Libert/Asa Pictures/EPA

It was always going to take something special to reduce the impact of Bernard Tapie's return to the public eye but Marseille provided it after coming from behind for the second game running to beat Lille 2-1 and extend their lead at the top of the table to five points. Bordeaux, League Cup winners after smashing Vannes 4-0, will cut the gap if they win their game in hand, at Rennes on Wednesday, but Lyon are as good as out of the race after their 0-0 draw with Paris Saint-Germain at Stade Gerland.

Tapie, meanwhile, marked the news that he is trying to buy Club Med by insisting he wanted to get back into football, and that he had his eye on Cannes or Nice. "It's just a pity that OM is not for sale," Tapie said, although their fans may disagree, especially after he added that he would by now have sacked coach Eric Gerets, currently the city's most popular man. "He still hasn't committed to a new deal and if he was staying, they would surely have agreed something by now."

Gerets can now add Bayern Munich to the Belgian FA, Standard Liège and Saudi club Al-Hilal (who are prepared to offer him a monthly €250,000 salary) among those desperate to employ him next season, although some of the city of Marseille's great and good, including Zinedine Zidane and, er, rapper/film-maker Akhenaton, have all publicly begged him to stay.

There are some echoes of Paul Le Guen's departure from Lyon in 2005; without wanting to disrupt his team's title challenge, Le Guen refused to announce his future plans until the season was over, and then left. "He wants to protect the players but I'm sure he's leaving," said Tapie, who was in charge when OM won their last title in 1992 (discounting the title they were stripped of in 1993), of Gerets. "It's clear that if Tapie had been there, I would not have come to Marseille," the manager responded. Gerets was pushing for a contract extension only a few weeks ago but it now looks like his mind is made up to leave.

OM have won their past six games, four of which have been away, but the match at Lille, who were unbeaten at home since August, was their biggest test yet. "If they can beat them, they will go on to be champions," declared Jean-Pierre Papin before the game, while L'Equipe calculated that OM's tally of 67 points from 33 games is the exact average of Lyon's total at this stage of the season over their last seven, title-winning, years.

The first half was a tale of two penalties: one, early on, not given for a foul on Marseille's Mamadou Niang and then, just before half-time, a handball awarded against Charles Kaboré gave Lille the chance to take the lead. Michel Bastos looked right three times before shooting to the left, but Steve Mandanda was not fooled, and he saved the spot-kick. Three minutes into the second half, Eden Hazard, just 18 and Lille's best player (and already on Arsène Wenger's radar), put Lille ahead. Within five minutes Benoît Cheyrou had equalised and three minutes later Niang scored the winner. "Our individual class and collective spirit made the difference," Gerets said. "Every player was prepared to die for his team-mates out there and now it all depends on us. It's in our own hands."

Gerets was once again missing three of his first-choice back four – Taye Taiwo, Julien Rodriguez and Laurent Bonnart – and their imminent return will boost his options for the run-in, which is far from easy: next week they play Toulouse, who were lucky to draw 1-1 with Lorient, and must welcome Lyon and Rennes in the last three rounds.

Bordeaux go into Wednesday's match at Rennes with the season's first trophy after an emphatic League Cup victory over Ligue 2 side Vannes. Three goals against the Bretons in the opening 12 minutes secured the result, although some gloss was removed by the knee injury that will rule out Wendel, who had been in good form, for the rest of the season.

Club president Jean-Louis Triaud was heard telling Laurent Blanc in the dressing room after the game: "Congratulations on your first trophy here, it won't be your last," and he told the players: "Enjoy this victory but don't forget, we want more." The Rennes game is huge for Bordeaux, who had 1,500 fans watch them train on Sunday; if they don't win it, Marseille might feel they have one hand on the league trophy.

Lyon finally seem resigned to missing out, even if normal service was resumed when president Jean-Michel Aulas hit out at the referee for the second week running. "There was a clear handball that did not go our way, but what can you do?" he said after the 0-0 draw with PSG. Both teams had chances: Guillaume Hoarau missed a one-on-one with Hugo Lloris while Karim Benzema hit the woodwork late on.

More bizarrely, Aulas denied responsibility for Lyon's poor season and instead attacked the club's new signings – insisting he was right to sack Alain Perrin last summer, after Lyon's first league and French Cup double. "We paid a bit too much for Ederson, Makoun is not having a great season while Mensah's season was ruined by an incident [nasty racial abuse in Week 23] and injuries," he told regional daily Le Progrès. "But I thank heavens I brought Claude Puel here: if Perrin had stayed, the squad would have fallen apart."

Elsewhere, the bottom four clubs all lost, most painfully Caen, who were a goal up on Auxerre and on their way out of the bottom three until, with four minutes left, Rémi Gomis's needless backpass was intercepted by Ireneusz Jelen to score; Jelen then netted again, brilliantly, three minutes later to leave Caen coach Franck Dumas spitting mad. "Victory was there for the taking, but apparently we didn't want it," he said in his 30-second press conference. Given Auxerre were the only team in France to have lost every game after conceding first, his mood was justified.

One team who now look safe are Monaco, 1-0 winners at Le Mans. Their coach, Ricardo, is out of contract this summer and looks set to leave. The Brazilian was unpopular with his players and mocked as "ultra-defensive" in his two years at Bordeaux, but So Foot magazine this week pointed out that "the bulk of the [Bordeaux] squad that Laurent Blanc inherited was shaped by Ricardo, even if Blanc's style is more 'champagne football'".

Monaco have the youngest squad and the second-lowest budget in the division, and for all Ricardo's defensive reputation they are Ligue 1's sixth-highest scorers. Yet the Monaco board are thinking of replacing him with their former player John Collins or Valencienne's Antoine Kombouaré, despite Monaco's long-serving assistant coach Jean Petit begging them to extend Ricardo's contract. "I have worked with a lot of coaches: Ricardo is one of the best and the baby-boom of this team is down to him," said Petit, who has worked under Stefan Kovacs, Arsène Wenger, Jean Tigana, Claude Puel and Didier Deschamps in his 40 years at the club. "We just hope that French football is not turning its back on a great coach of the future," added So Foot.

With attention focused on whether Gerets will now replace Jürgen Klinsmann at Bayern Munich, and Ricardo and also Le Guen running down their contracts, the French game could be bidding farewell to more than one decent coach this summer.

Results, Week 33: Lyon 0-0 PSG, Toulouse 1-1 Lorient, Nice 3-1 Saint-Etienne, Le Mans 0-1 Monaco, Auxerre 2-1 Caen, Le Havre 0-1 Grenoble, Sochaux 1-1 Valenciennes, Nancy 2-0 Nantes, Lille 1-2 Marseille, Rennes P-P Bordeaux

BB Bob

30-04-2009, 09:02 AM

Blanc: 'We are still here'
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc says the incredible 3-2 win at Rennes proves to Marseille that Les Girondins are very much a force to be reckoned with.
Bordeaux pulled off their sixth straight win in Ligue 1, matching leaders Marseille's current run, to move back to within two points of the pace setters.

Just 19 seconds into the game Romain Danzé fired Rennes in front with the fastest goal of the Ligue 1 season. Bordeaux went 2-1 ahead with goals from Yoan Gouffran and Yoann Gourcuff. Moussa Sow equalised in the 89th minute before Gourcuff came up with the winner in the third minute of added time at the end of the game.

Blanc said: "The win means we can say to Marseille that we're still there and fighting. It also sends a message to the teams crowded behind us that we have no intention of giving up second place.

"The physical work we put in in January is starting to pay off. We were more than poor in the first half. In the first few minutes it was obvious the players still had the Stade de France confetti on their minds."

Blanc praises 10-man Bordeaux

Bordeaux clinched a trophy last Saturday with a 4-0 win over Ligue 2 club Vannes in the Paris suburbs.

Blanc also felt his team did well to battle back from seeing defender Marc Planus sent off midway through the opening period.

"At 10 versus 11 we said in the dressing room at half-time that we wanted a point at the very least. We did better than that. Our players forgot we were playing with a player less. I saw some moves of the highest class."

Gourcuff praise

Much of that class came from France playmaker Gourcuff whose two goals took his tally to nine Ligue 1 strikes for the season. Gourcuff was up against the club where he came through the ranks, making 65 appearances between 2004 and 2006 before moving to AC Milan.

"He's a good player. I hope that he will become a great player," said Blanc of his loan star. "The fact that we gave him a bit of rest has helped him come back to his best. It augurs well for the close of the season."

Like his coach, Gourcuff is publicly more concerned with holding on to the second place which would guarantee Champions League group football next season than playing up Bordeaux's chances of winning the league.

Gourcuff: Lyon are still in it

"We're fine where we are. First of all we have to increase the gap over our pursuers. If that works, well then we can start to look upwards. It's not a straight duel between Bordeaux and Marseille.

"Lyon have plenty of experience and a lot of quality. They haven't had as much success just recently, but of course they're capable of coming back because the gap is not that big."

Bordeaux are four points ahead of the seven-time champions heading into Week 34's fixtures.

>> Rennes 2-3 Bordeaux: match report

BB Bob

30-04-2009, 09:02 AM

Bordeaux win out in Rennes thriller
Two-goal hero Yoann Gourcuff inspired ten-man Bordeaux to a vital 3-2 win at his former club Rennes which kept Les Girondins firmly in the Ligue 1 title hunt.
Stade Rennais FC / FC Girondins de Bordeaux : 2 - 3

>> Team Sheet

Bordeaux's task at the club where Gourcuff made his Ligue 1 debut in 2004, going on to make 65 Ligue 1 appearances for the Breton club, looked complicated enough before kick-off given that Rennes were unbeaten at home prior to this Week 33 fixture, delayed a few days because Bordeaux were in the League Cup final, which they won 4-0 against Vannes last Saturday.

The task looked even more complicated 19 seconds into the game when Romain Danzé fired Rennes in front with the fastest goal of the Ligue 1 season.

Planus sees red

Things looked even worse for Laurent Blanc's injury-hit side when defender Marc Planus received a red card for a foul on Moussa Sow in the 27th minute.

Bordeaux had won five Ligue 1 games in a row coming into this fixture and were determined to keep pace with leaders Marseille who recorded their sixth straight league win at Lille last Sunday.

The visitors got back on terms in the 62nd minute when Yoan Gouffran equalised with a sumptuous volley which was too good for Rennes goalkeeper Cheikh N'Diaye, making his first Ligue 1 start in place of the injured Nicolas Douchez. It was Gouffran's first Ligue 1 goal in his 28th appearance of his debut season at the club after the forward joined from Caen last summer.

Gourcuff saves the day

Then Gourcuff gave Bordeaux an improbable lead with a free kick in the 70th minute. The France playmaker had also scored in the 1-1 draw between the two sides at the Stade Chaban-Delmas in November.

Rennes felt they should have had a penalty ten minutes later when Bordeaux keeper Ulrich Ramé tangled with substitute Asamoah Gyan.

Moussa Sow made it 2-2 in the 89th minute only for Gourcuff to score a winner for Bordeaux in the third minute of added time at the end of the game. The shot which went in off the post was his ninth Ligue 1 strike of the season.

Like Marseille Bordeaux have now won six in a row. They are two points behind OM with five games to play. On Saturday Marseille host Toulouse, the first game for OM since coach Erik Gerets confirmed he is to leave at the end of the season, while Bordeaux host Sochaux the following day.

RDSdaEAGLE

30-04-2009, 10:06 PM

Has Erik Gerets really quit Marseille? Why would he do that, with his team at the top of the league?

BB Bob

01-05-2009, 07:13 AM

Here is one story:-

Gerets: Reaction and fallout
As Marseille’s players come to terms with the impending departure of coach Erik Gerets, the Belgian has further elaborated on the circumstances surrounding his departure, aiming a sideswipe at owner Robert-Louis Dreyfus.
An interview given by Dreyfus to L'Equipe newspaper in January rankled with Gerets. In it Dreyfus was critical of some of the signings made by the club last summer and said he expected the club's management would 'take the consequences' of any failure to finish in the top two in Ligue 1.

Gerets gave his side of the story in an interview with French radio channel RTL on Wednesday.

"That certain people forgot at the start of this season that last time round we progressed from 18th to finish third, that I can well imagine. After December when we oscillated between third and fifth in the table there was this interview with Robert-Louis Dreyfus.

Gerets: 'I felt under attack'

"After the Robert-Louis Dreyfus article I felt under attack. He had forgotten how far we'd come. He had his doubts. I was never offered a contract even though the team proved that we were on the right road throughout January, February and March.

"The time came when I said to myself I just can't wait any longer. So at the end of March I took my decision. It's a pity. I think this could have been sorted out in five minutes. I swear on the lives of my children that if I had been offered a contract lasting two years or more before the end of March then I would have signed it."

Dreyfus responded in a communiqué. "More than ever we have to focus on winning the championship, that is our primary objective. We have faith and confidence in [club president] Pape Diouf and Erik Gerets to take on this important challenge.

"As for the declarations made in recent days, now is not the time to comment on them. There will be the time to shed light on these comments, and that is necessary, come the end of the season."

The other is that he was told the salary budget had to be cut next year and didn't like it. Typical bloody Marseille cock up - how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in one lesson!