[J_746]

[Corker]

Worrying for Saint-Etienne, they should have been looking for a Uefa cup or a Champions league place last year, but instead very nearly got relegated. If they would of gone down it would of been the equivilent of Newcastle going down last year, big club, good enough squad to stay up, but I think the manager (managers in Newcastles case) let the teams down and also the passion of the players.

[mass debates]

Great starts for the two promoted teams, especially Boulogne. Bordeaux looking pretty handy as well.

[J_746]

Boulogne have surprised me slightly, I didn't think they'd get this many points so early on. I still think they'll go down, but it looks like they'll go down fighting or dragging some other teams with them through their results! Lens doing the best out of the three promoted teams so far, they should stay up as they still have the basic needs of a Ligue 1 side.

[J_746]

Another week gone in Ligue 1 and the table is as shown above. No sides are left with a 100% record in the league following the draw with Marseille and Bordeaux. Promoted side Montpellier are hitting the heights having yet to lose a game and on a higher goal difference than Marseille as things stand. At the bottom, Valenciennes and Saint Etienne get their first wins of the season to drag them out of the relegation zone whereas Lille and Auxerre registered their first point of the campaign. Lille are dumped rather unceremoniously into the bottom 3 following their resounding 3-0 defeat in Paris and Grenoble are the only side left to gain a point with four games played so far.

[Fiddy Pence]

Lille down so low :( they are my French team, anymore of that Lille and i'll be switching to Marseille :roll:

[J_746]

FiddyPence 09, on 30 August 2009 - 11:02 PM, said:

Lille down so low :( they are my French team, anymore of that Lille and i'll be switching to Marseille :roll:

Don't bring that shit to this section :lol: .

Lille have had a tough start to the season. I think they'll start to settle into their usual rhythm after this week as they have Sochaux at home next week.

[Fiddy Pence]

J_746, on 30 August 2009 - 11:17 PM, said:

Don't bring that shit to this section :lol: .

Lille have had a tough start to the season. I think they'll start to settle into their usual rhythm after this week as they have Sochaux at home next week.

Ok :lol:

Lille lost a few of their good players too i believe, i know they lost Bastos to Lyon which was obviously the biggest name, thats a huge loss alone....do you know if they bought much J with the funds they recieved? just trying to establish why they got off to a bad start, saying that its still very early days, sometimes it just happens i guess....they'll be back, well they best be,

don't know why but i've always been fascinated by the football shirts from the clubs in Ligue 1, they normally have wild sponsers splattered across their tops, some really cool one's... sorry but had to get that off my chest :lol:

[J_746]

FiddyPence 09, on 30 August 2009 - 11:30 PM, said:

Ok :lol:

Lille lost a few of their good players too i believe, i know they lost Bastos to Lyon which was obviously the biggest name, thats a huge loss alone....do you know if they bought much J with the funds they recieved? just trying to establish why they got off to a bad start, saying that its still very early days, sometimes it just happens i guess....they'll be back, well they best be,

don't know why but i've always been fascinated by the football shirts from the clubs in Ligue 1, they normally have wild sponsers splattered across their tops, some really cool one's... sorry but had to get that off my chest :lol:

Only some have had weird sponsors really, most are a simple orthodox logo. Last year Le Mans had a rooster splattered across their chests due to the sponsor. French companies do have some fairly weird logos though, so that might explain things. The bigger teams don't have too much in the way of weird sponsors though. Also, unlike in England, when the cup is sponsored by one or two companies which means the teams must have the logo of one of the two teams as their sponsor for that game. So for example, Lyon had Novotel the landline phone company as their sponsor, but when they played in the cup they had to wear SFR (the French partner of Vodafone) for the match. Think of it as if Chelsea played with Samsung during the season, but then had to play with the Carling logo for their domestic cup games. When two teams face against one another, one team wears the sponsor of one of the official sponsors, and the other team wears the second sponsor. Complicated but it's a good idea from the sponsor perspectives.

Michel Bastos was always going to be leaving Lille. He stated midway through the season that he would leave unless they reached the Champions League spots, which was a tough ask but they almost did it. A few clubs in Europe wanted him but eventually he left for Lyon as they were quickest off the mark and the only team who wanted to pay the blatantly outrageous price of €18m. They did bring in former French international goalkeeper Mickael Landreau with the money, though he got injured not long after and has yet to be brought back since. As well as that they bought Gervinho, who is a decent prospect. French football risked losing him with the amount of clubs interested, but Lille seemingly stole him from Le Mans for a simple fee of €6m. Those were the only two big transfers aside from a loan for striker Aubameyang from AC Milan. A couple of freebies here and there but nothing really to note apart from that. Michel Bastos was arguably the only big loss. They still have a great young team though with arguably one of the better prospects in European football with the 18 year old Belgian; Eden Hazard. If they had lost him AND Bastos, things would have looked very dark for them with regards to this season.

Many would say a lack of decent goalkeeper has hindered their chances thusfar. They are playing with their second choice keeper now, and his positioning wasn't up to scratch against PSG with a terrible blunder for one of the goals. Bastos' delivery on the flanks is missed also from what I've seen of their opening matches but as I said it has been a tough set of matches for them. They will recover and I still think they'll do well this season. They'll have to perform against the teams like Toulouse (which they didn't last week) and Rennes as these are the other teams who are all capable of taking a spot in Europe with them.

Hopefully Ligue 1 is as open and entertaining as it was last year. Things are hotting up already in the league with the promoted sides doing very well and some other more established sides falling at the first hurdle.

[Fiddy Pence]

J_746, on 30 August 2009 - 11:50 PM, said:

FiddyPence 09, on 30 August 2009 - 11:30 PM, said:

Ok :lol:

Lille lost a few of their good players too i believe, i know they lost Bastos to Lyon which was obviously the biggest name, thats a huge loss alone....do you know if they bought much J with the funds they recieved? just trying to establish why they got off to a bad start, saying that its still very early days, sometimes it just happens i guess....they'll be back, well they best be,

don't know why but i've always been fascinated by the football shirts from the clubs in Ligue 1, they normally have wild sponsers splattered across their tops, some really cool one's... sorry but had to get that off my chest :lol:

Only some have had weird sponsors really, most are a simple orthodox logo. Last year Le Mans had a rooster splattered across their chests due to the sponsor. French companies do have some fairly weird logos though, so that might explain things. The bigger teams don't have too much in the way of weird sponsors though. Also, unlike in England, when the cup is sponsored by one or two companies which means the teams must have the logo of one of the two teams as their sponsor for that game. So for example, Lyon had Novotel the landline phone company as their sponsor, but when they played in the cup they had to wear SFR (the French partner of Vodafone) for the match. Think of it as if Chelsea played with Samsung during the season, but then had to play with the Carling logo for their domestic cup games. When two teams face against one another, one team wears the sponsor of one of the official sponsors, and the other team wears the second sponsor. Complicated but it's a good idea from the sponsor perspectives.

Michel Bastos was always going to be leaving Lille. He stated midway through the season that he would leave unless they reached the Champions League spots, which was a tough ask but they almost did it. A few clubs in Europe wanted him but eventually he left for Lyon as they were quickest off the mark and the only team who wanted to pay the blatantly outrageous price of €18m. They did bring in former French international goalkeeper Mickael Landreau with the money, though he got injured not long after and has yet to be brought back since. As well as that they bought Gervinho, who is a decent prospect. French football risked losing him with the amount of clubs interested, but Lille seemingly stole him from Le Mans for a simple fee of €6m. Those were the only two big transfers aside from a loan for striker Aubameyang from AC Milan. A couple of freebies here and there but nothing really to note apart from that. Michel Bastos was arguably the only big loss. They still have a great young team though with arguably one of the better prospects in European football with the 18 year old Belgian; Eden Hazard. If they had lost him AND Bastos, things would have looked very dark for them with regards to this season.

Many would say a lack of decent goalkeeper has hindered their chances thusfar. They are playing with their second choice keeper now, and his positioning wasn't up to scratch against PSG with a terrible blunder for one of the goals. Bastos' delivery on the flanks is missed also from what I've seen of their opening matches but as I said it has been a tough set of matches for them. They will recover and I still think they'll do well this season. They'll have to perform against the teams like Toulouse (which they didn't last week) and Rennes as these are the other teams who are all capable of taking a spot in Europe with them.

Hopefully Ligue 1 is as open and entertaining as it was last year. Things are hotting up already in the league with the promoted sides doing very well and some other more established sides falling at the first hurdle.

Ah thats explains the Sponsers/Logo's, always wondered why they was like that. And yeah that Hazard is very highly rated, i did think he was Swedish actually, but i take your word for it.... But fantastic post that J, really wasn't expecting you to post that much for me man, cheers :thumbsup:

[J_746]

FiddyPence 09, on 31 August 2009 - 12:01 AM, said:

Ah thats explains the Sponsers/Logo's, always wondered why they was like that. And yeah that Hazard is very highly rated, i did think he was Swedish actually, but i take your word for it.... But fantastic post that J, really wasn't expecting you to post that much for me man, cheers :thumbsup:

You're welcome. It's always good for me to see others take an interest in French football whether it be a passing interest or a more developed one as I love talking about it. Hopefully we'll see more of you in this section as the weeks go by :thumbsup: .

Also, Hazard is most definitely Belgian :P .

[J_746]

Montpellier are going to start getting nosebleeds up there! Saint Etienne still looking bad with only one win in 5 games.

[mass debates]

Rennes still unbeaten, need to win a few more though. Montpellier really are doing well, probably won't stay there for long and lets hope they don't do a Hull and completely collapse in the New Year. Bordeaux and Lyon are looking very good as well. If Grenoble go down will Feghouli move?

[J_746]

I think Feghouli would move. He said in an interview last year that he wants to be at a level his ability will allow and where he'll play regularly. He attracted some attention over the summer but opted to stay with Grenoble following their good year last year...not the same this time around though! There will be big clubs knocking for him if he does go.

Montpellier signed some decent players in the summer, Emir Spahic (formerly of Lokomotiv Moscow) being a great addition for them so far. I can't see them doing a Hull, but you never know!

[Vidic15]

mass debates, on 14 September 2009 - 07:41 AM, said:

Rennes still unbeaten, need to win a few more though. Montpellier really are doing well, probably won't stay there for long and lets hope they don't do a Hull and completely collapse in the New Year. Bordeaux and Lyon are looking very good as well. If Grenoble go down will Feghouli move?

Always seem to get a few surprises each season and Montpellier are pulling off a few shocks so far. Doubt they'll maintain the run, but still adds some early spice to the new season.

Get the feeling it will still be the usual suspects- PSG will be there or thereabouts, but it will be consistency that will cost them at the end of the day.

[J_746]

Vidic15, on 14 September 2009 - 12:19 AM, said:

Get the feeling it will still be the usual suspects- PSG will be there or thereabouts, but it will be consistency that will cost them at the end of the day.

PSG haven't been there or there abouts for a while though.
2002/03 - 11th
2003/04 - 2nd
2004/05 - 9th
2005/06 - 9th
2006/07 - 15th
2007/08 - 16th
2008/09 - 6th

They are very inconsistent but they're still going through a stage of rebuilding. For all the money they have/have had, they can't seem to build a team which gels. It's only been in the last couple of seasons that there's been something which resembles the strong, fiery unit that had decent European runs in the past. They are still seen as a big team in France, but their performances in the league over the past 7 years (as an example) show that they haven't been amongst the top dogs for a while, despite still being named in the French version of the 'big 4' due to their financial muscle. I think they have a decent chance this year, but they'll have to translate their good performances against the top teams into good performances against the smaller ones also.

[J_746]

Grenoble yet to register a point after 7 games and looking very very bad at the moment. Other than that, Montpellier are still managing to keep up with Marseille (who are ahead of them on goal difference)!!!

[mass debates]

Aye they beat Boulogne this week didn't they? Hopefully Rennes can get an equaliser against Bordeaux otherwise they're going to be quite a way off the top spot.

[J_746]

Lyon go top. Grenoble lose again and now have a 7 point gap between themselves and the side in 19th...not looking good for them at the moment! Montpellier up to third, Monaco up to fourth.

[Bosko]

AS Monaco have under-achieved for a number of years, but may challenge for the top six this season. Winning at Stade Vélodrome shows that Guy Lacombe's side have some substance and are not necessarily just in a good run of form. Park Chu-Young is a player that I rate highly and he could have an important role to play if AS Monaco are to qualifying for European competition.

It is frustrating that I cannot rely follow French football this season. Last year I really got into the league, through Setanta Sports, but have been unable to watch anything more than highlights so far from the current season.