Ligue 1 2007/2008

Starts next weekend.

Forget Lyon - who's going to finish 2nd ?

I say Lens.

Guy Roux linking up with Akale and Kalou again as they did in 2004/2005 when they reached the QF's of UEFA and won the French Cup.

Kalou doesn't always seem interested but has taken a pay cut to join Lens so he should be well up for it.

The 3 Ivorian's (those 2 plus Dindane) should give them a real edge in attack and Julien Sable has been signed from St.Etienne to compensate for the loss of Keita in midfield.

Opening fixtures:

Saturday 04 August 2007
17:10 Strasbourg - Marseille
20:00 Bordeaux - Lens
20:00 Caen - Nice
20:00 Lille - Lorient
20:00 Monaco - Saint Etienne
20:00 Paris SG - Sochaux
20:00 Rennes - Nancy
20:00 Valenciennes - Toulouse

Sunday 05 August 2007

18:00 Le Mans - Metz
21:00 Lyon - Auxerre

Has Lille gone?
What about Marseille and PSG?

By they way where is Napolean.

Cool
A topic on the 4th or 5th best league in europe

My top 3 this year :

1) Lyon
2) Monaco
3) Marseille

Dark Savante wrote:
By they way where is Napolean.

I'm here, I'm back from holidays

Napoléon wrote:Cool
A topic on the 4th or 5th best league in europe

My top 3 this year :

1) Lyon
2) Monaco
3) Marseille

Who have ASM signed ???

1. Lyon
2. Lens
3. Marseilles

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Napoléon wrote:Cool
A topic on the 4th or 5th best league in europe

My top 3 this year :

1) Lyon
2) Monaco
3) Marseille

Who have ASM signed ???

1. Lyon
2. Lens
3. Marseilles

Noone, but I have a good feeling with Ricardo as coach.

Lyon - Sochaux at the moment (2-1 43')
Game between the french league champion and the french cup winner.

Beautiful game...

Dark Savante wrote:Has Lille gone?
What about Marseille and PSG?

Lille have been a bit raped in the transfer market. They lost Bodmer & Keita to Lyon and Odemwingie is gone as well.

Marseille are good, but CL participation probably won't help them in Ligue 1.

PSG are PSG.

FRANCE: SuperCup
Full Time Lyon 2 - 1 Sochaux
13' { 0 - 1 } Valter Birsa Goal
20' Sidney Govou Goal { 1 - 1 }
44' Marques Cris Goal { 2 - 1 }

Lille have lost most of all their best players, but have signed some promising ones. They are building a competitive team in the long term. Thanks god for them they kept the manager, who's one of the best in France. I think Lille will have a 50 000 stadium in two years time. This year, they should be in middle table.

With Marseille, you never know, same for Bordeaux, Lens, P.S.G and Monaco. Unfortunately, I don't think all these teams will compete for top place.

Toulouse with Gignac, Lens with Guy Roux, Monaco with Ricardo, and St Etienne with all their new quality signings will battle for the third place, and Lyon and Marseille will play in their own mini league. I think Bordeaux, Sochaux, P.S.G and will disappoint.

Napoléon wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Napoléon wrote:Cool
A topic on the 4th or 5th best league in europe

My top 3 this year :

1) Lyon
2) Monaco
3) Marseille

Who have ASM signed ???

1. Lyon
2. Lens
3. Marseilles

Noone, but I have a good feeling with Ricardo as coach.

me too

I don't know what to think about Ricardo, whether he's a good coach or not, because his team was super defensive and boring to watch. Having said that he managed to beat Lyon in the league cup, but again playing in an ugly style. I hope he does well though. The league 1 needs all its big teams to compete at the top. Lot's of very good player left it this summer and most of them haven't been replaced well. Thanks god the clubs have good youngsters.

This year should be interesting because:

* Lyon changed Houiller and have lots of new quality players
* Marseille have bought lots of quality players thanks to Ribery and they kept Nasri and Cisse.
* P.S.G have the same team as last year, and they finished very well at the end. They bought Kamara who a good defender.
* Bordeaux have L.Blanc, so who knows what can happened.
* Lens have the old Guy Roux, who is very experienced.
*Toulouse kept Emander and have bought some good players.

You'd like to think that Blanc would play attacking football wouldn't you as he was quite a flair player for a CB.

Monaco have a decent squad so a manager like Ricardo (who makes his teams solid and hard to beat) could turn them into a really competitive outfit.

Lens excite me, as I've said above, and Marseilles have finally realised that they need some CB's !

They should be better this season but will find it hard to compete in CL and Ligue 1.

Toulouse have lost Aubey in Defense but brought in Cetto from Nantes to replace him - they will have similar problems to Marseilles in juggling the 2 comps.

Le Guen is good but I still think PSG are lightweight upfront.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:You'd like to think that Blanc would play attacking football wouldn't you as he was quite a flair player for a CB.

Monaco have a decent squad so a manager like Ricardo (who makes his teams solid and hard to beat) could turn them into a really competitive outfit.

Lens excite me, as I've said above, and Marseilles have finally realised that they need some CB's !

They should be better this season but will find it hard to compete in CL and Ligue 1.

The problem with Lens is that their three 3 Ivory Coast players, playing upfront will go to the African Cup (Akale, Kalou, and Dindane) and will be missed for a few months. Same for Keita.

It's a shame Dindane will be missing because i could see him being one of the top scorers this year.

Le Guen is good but I still think PSG are lightweight upfront.

They have shown they have very good youngsters (N'gog, Sakho, and Sankharé) during the Emirat cup. Pauleta will score 15+ goals if he stays injury free, and Luyindula have already showed some good scoring potential during friendly games. Finally Gallardo played greatly against Valencia so hopefully he'll do well this year.

Bostjan Cesar of Marseille is apparently on his way to The Hawthorns, any info on his style of play and is he suited to the second tier of English football?

I looked promising at first but didn't any chance to show his capabilities. I think he should be a good signing for W.B

Alive and Kicking wrote:I looked promising at first but didn't any chance to show his capabilities. I think he should be a good signing for W.B

I agree

Thanks!

FT

Stade de la Meinau

Strasbourg 0 - 0 Marseille



Same old Ligue 1

Strasbourg 0 - 0 Marseille


Bordeaux 1 - 0 Lens
31' D Bellion 1 - 0


Caen 1 - 0 Nice
81' L Compan 1 - 0


Lille 0 - 0 Lorient


Monaco 1 - 1 St Etienne
45' F Piquionne 1 - 0
48' 1 - 1 P Feindouno (pen)


PSG 0 - 0 Sochaux


Rennes 0 - 2 AS Nancy Lorraine
37' 0 - 1 M Fortune
43' 0 - 2 Y Hadji


Valenciennes 3 - 1 Toulouse
4' J Audel 1 - 0
10' 1 - 1 N Dieuze
29' J Audel 2 - 1
54' J Audel 3 - 1

FT

Le Mans 1 - 0 Metz
27' M Basa 1 - 0


Lyon v Auxerre now - hopefully Bodmer and Keita both play.

Lyon:
* Cris
* Réveillère
* Müller
* Grosso
* Källström
* Toulalan
* Benzema
* Keita
* Baros
* Govou

Subs:
* Hartock
* Clerc
* Belhadj
* Santos
* Juninho
* Bodmer
* Ben Arfa

Auxerre:
* O.Sorin
* J.Jaures
* J.Mignot
* B.Martin
* Marcos Antonio
* J.Lesage
* F.Thomas
* B.Pedretti (c.)
* T.Kahlenberg
* T.Maoulida
* I.Jelen

Subs:
* R.Riou
* G.Tamas
* M.Jasse
* L.Genest
* K.Lejeune
* D.Niculae

Baros makes it 1-0

Keita has been outstanding - can't think of a more entertaining player when he's in this sort of form!

A bit of a dull start to Ligue 1 by the looks of it. How do you guys expect PSG to do this season? After the explosive performance against Valencia in the Emirates they were brought a bit back down to earth with the goalless draw at home. But with Le Guen at the helm, is European qualification a good forecast?

NCFC wrote:A bit of a dull start to Ligue 1 by the looks of it. How do you guys expect PSG to do this season? After the explosive performance against Valencia in the Emirates they were brought a bit back down to earth with the goalless draw at home. But with Le Guen at the helm, is European qualification a good forecast?

I would have to say no.

They would have been closer to peak fitness than any other team in that pre-season tournament which is probably why they look good.

Pauleta is a good finisher but he has no physical qualities or aggression so it will be hard for him to get those chances - he got 15 last season but I still think he is really on the decline - Diane should play more.

They will miss Rozehnal too.


FT

Lyon 2 - 0 Auxerre
33' M Baros 1 - 0
70' K Benzema 2 -0

im going to go for a top 3 of

1. Lyon
2. PSG
3. Lille

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=473358&in_page_id=1779

El-Hadji Diouf may hit Bolton boss Sammy Lee's plans for the season by pushing for a move to Lyon.

Diouf, a £4m buy from Liverpool two years ago, has been weighing up his future since former manager Sam Allardyce left in May. Diouf's agent, Alexandre Krstic, said: "We are on standby. He has to study the options."

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Very good player, but is he Lyon quality?

hmmmm just about a fringe player i think

SteGavin - where did you get your Valencia pic from the City game ?