"You can't go out and buy a style of play, a culture and an identity"- PSG, Ligue 1 and French football 2011-2012

Will Qatari millions make PSG an unstoppable team? Bernard Tapie doesn't think so (quote's his).
Will Lille keep their title?
Will Marseille make a player out of Gignac? Lol.
Will Lyon manage to end up in the top 3 spots like they have for the past 12 years?
Will the French team give us as many lols as they did last year?

Love love love that Bernard Tapie quote!!! Of all people!!!
Sad that ESPN/Setanta don't show this anymore. After really getting into the Bundesliga last year it would be nice to give Ligue 1 a go. Can't get on with Serie A so that's out, therefore I'm relying almost entirely on you Jibe, and baadronixx as well.

so PSG euphoria deflates after just one game, after losing against usual "beta noire" Lorient

Yup. they are also one of three teams who've failed to score tonight, with ajaccio (newly promoted) and valenciennes. then again the pressure on them must be insanely high seeing as every one from the media to the players to the fans expects so much from them and thinks they're going to win.

they'll do good anyways. can't wait to see pastore play for them (should start playing towards end of august, beginning of september)

yup, no doubt - although I am a bit skeptical concerning Pastore's ability to fit in PSG' style of play and in the Ligue 1 in general. Tbh, I've never seen the guy play and from all accounts the guy walks on water so maybe it won't matter too much in the end

walking on water will come in handy on the wet wednesdays at wherever the french equivalent of stoke is, i guess

Yay Jibe!

there were a couple of huge strikes from outside the box in today's matches. and lisandro's goal was really great too, just touching the ball while losing his balance. i'd try and youtube them but they're usually down a couple minutes after :(

ok so dijon, playing in ligue 1 for the first time in their history were thrashed 5-1 by rennes, a team known more for their huge defense than an impressive attack. there were also 2 missed penalty kicks, 1 for each side. and dijon's first 2 goals in ligue 1, when the score was still 0-0, were called off-side!

Jibe, I was wondering today about Jéremie Brechet. PSV's got defensive trouble, and I always liked him when he played for PSV. Very likable guy too, it seemed. He went back to Sochaux, does he still play there regularly?

what is jonathan wilson alluding to?

In 2002 there were scandalous reports of off-the-field activities (it's worth asking why, against Uruguay, the usually equitable Thierry Henry was so frustrated he was sent off for the only time in his international career)

I wondered that. Then again I would never have described Henry as "usually equitable" tbh.

i still like henry, he certainly leavens his charming moments with episodes of miserable shirking but it would be too much like hypocrisy to condemn that

and i can't help respect any foreigner whose english is better than the average domestic player

I hope Wilson didn't intend 'so frustrated' to be read sarcastically, that would really be an awful scandal.

and i can't help respect any foreigner whose english is better than the average domestic player

all of them bar tevez then?

tevez would like to let us know that he 'does his talking on the pitch'

slow start to the season as is often the case in the Ligue 1 - bigger teams under-performing while an underdog enjoys a brief spell at the top (Montpellier this year)

I didn't tune in until Lille's equalizer through Chedjou (around 70'?) but that was a great finish - was the whole match good?

Oh look, Gervinho's in the Lille dressing room. Are suspended players normally excused from attending away matches? Knew I wouldn't be able to escape the Arsenal result even in another league.

Back from a couple of weeks on holidays (where I learned, amongst other things, where the name nakhchivan came from), I see ligue 1 is up to its usual things, with unusual leaders, as baaderonixx has pointed out. Marseille is not looking good, their defence is not there at all (4 games played, they let in 2 goals twice and three more today). Alou Diarra was supposed to bring them defensive stability but right now, it's not working.
Lisandro Lopez suffered an injury against leaders Montpellier yesterday, at some point they said he might be out for a few months, but apparently it won't be that long. Which is good.
Pastore started for PSG today and ended up giving 2 decisive passes, good on him.

ha, where did you go on holiday?

armenia & georgia, so close to nakhchivan. i felt kind of silly knowing the name cos i damn well wasn't going to tell my friends "oh yeah nakhchivan, same name as this guy who knows a lot about football on this board i read"

armenia and georgia, my fearsome elder sisters

You go on the best holidays, Jibe

@nakh : your elder sisters may be fearsome, i just found them lovely.
@ ismael: i have to admit i've been lucky in the past 12 or so months in that i had quite a lot of free time and enough money left over to enjoy myself here and there. being a student is great for traveling :)

*jealous*

you don't have to be, the good times are over, i start working in a couple of weeks.

my condolences...

so back on topic, turns out Erding is finally staying at PSG - which I believe is a very good thing. The guy is just low on confidence and I'm sure he would have made wonders for whoever we would have sold him to. Hoarau is the one who needs to go imho.

Joe Cole to Lille! Usually it's the EPL that gets players from Ligue 1, not the other way around. I'm repeating something I read on another board, but Lille can thank PSG for getting Cole, as them buying Pastore has probably made the league more attractive. And well, obv i guess it's better for Cole to play for a team qualified for the CL and in title contention than to stay on the bench at Liverpool. Lille is also getting Jelen for free apparently (Auxerre striker, quite good but often injured. Could be very useful as he's used to playing with Pedretti, who now runs Lille's midfield).

Meanwhile, Lyon are on the verge of selling Pjanic to AS Roma, which saddens me to no end.

also, baaderonixx, do you dislike Hoarau or do you just think he's not a good fit for PSG? i agree with what you say about erding, a good player with low confidence, but hoarau is also quite good, the only problem being that he needs to be paired with another player upfront for maximum efficiency, which isn't the way Psg play.

xp

yeah, when was the last time an English player came to play in Ligue 1? Strange but exciting signing for them

Pjanic sale is indeed a perplexing transfer - really felt this was going to be a big season at Lyon. Is OL actually planning to sign someone with that money?

only memories i have of an english player in ligue 1 is chris waddle. oh, and tyrone mears more recently. i hope for lille cole is gonna be more like waddle than mears.

pjanic's sale is not good, i really like the player. the thing is, OL repeatedly said they needed to lower their wage bill and get some cash. pjanic is one of the only bankable players, so off he goes. especially since there are quite a few players who can play in the same position (gourcuff, ederson, grenier), even though they're all injured right now. i can only hope that now aulas isn't going to use that money to buy ndinga at an overinflated price though.

might maybe want get a back-up striker with Lisandro out?

re. Hoarau - a bit of both actually, the guy is clumsy and slow, and I never really felt he brought that much as a support striker. With Pastore in and guys like Nene and Menez on the wings, I think we need that kind of player even less

'irish' tony cascarino

wait i thought roma were skint? cracking signing tho, hopefully means totti can finally go to that big place in the sky reserved for annoying italian playmakers

they're def not gonna go for a back-up striker - briand can be used as a striker, and so can young players like belfoldil and lacazette. i'm really afraid that they're gonna go all out for ndinga. there are no back-up defensive midfielders in case gonalons is injured or gets a red card and they've been chasing ndinga for a while but auxerre is toying with lyon and asking for prohibitive prices.

as for hoarau, what you say makes sense. gameiro is far more suited to the players you have in midfield. as is erding. but i kinda like hoarau, that big lumbering player.

xp : tony cascarino!!!! i really liked him when marseille were in ligue 2, i had a football card of him that was like one of 8-yr old me's most prized possessions lol
roma may be skint but they're not paying that much for pjanic, about 11€ from what the rumours say. and yeah, great deal for them if it goes through

yeah, roma are skint but 11€ is a bit too cheap for pjanic, obv it's 11M€

still too cheap

Are Roma skint? What happened to their big American takeover?

xp to nakh: yes, that dude is gonna be worth a lot more in little to no time. the thing is, OL have said since the beginning of the transfer season that they'd be letting go of big salaries and stuff. seeing as how they couldn't get rid of the really big salaries (no one was likely to buy cris, lisandro and gourcuff weren't going anywhere, kallstrom is happy where he is and who wouldn't, big salary and low expectations etc), they got rid of pjanic. this is a big mistake on their part.

was Pjanic actually amongst the big salaries?

roma not skint, new owners have basically bought a new starting xi during the summer (half of them today basically). pjanic really surprised me, came out of nowhere. and ironically menez went to psg on the cheap (and borriello might too), only making lyon's competition stronger.

this is what it's come to

feating on everton and chelsea's backwash

oh yeah i forgot they got new owners. skele-burg, pjanic, bojan and kjaer -- no team has done much better this summer.

posted that on this shit thread

football thread posting conventions suck. always think the off-season thread is the youtube thread

xp: naah, pjanic was like 10th biggest salary at 1.8M€ or so a yr. I really liked this player who scored a few vvv important goals for Lyon (he equalized against madrid in the return leg to qualify OL for the qf of the CL for ex) but who was also cpable of disappearing for entire matches.
Anyways apparently Lyon bought a defensive midfielder, Fofana, who was one of France's U20 better players at the WC this yr. it seems they're going back to what they used to do so well, buying young players with promise for cheap.

Lille beat St Etienne 3-1, two goals from Hazard, including one with a nice dribble between 2 defenders. And I'm sure you'll want to know how Joe Cole did: came on as a sub and set up the third goal, so I guess he's adapting nicely.

Lyon is on top of Ligue 1!!! It's been a while since that had happened. Meanwhile, OM is dead last. It seems that winning Ligue 1 is kind of a curse on teams, cos ever since Bordeaux won in 09, they've been playing like shit. And Marseille seems to be suffering the same fate. Lille should maybe take some time to think about that.

In other news, Pastore is not only in Paris cos he likes partying and shopping and seems to adapt quite well to his new team. last week he scored the only goal in their match against Brest, this week he scored the first of two against Evian Thonon Gaillard who were up 2-0 after 30 mins.

joe cole scored the winner v. lorient (presuming it doesn't change in the next two minutes).

FT Lille [1 - 1] Lorient
34' [1 - 0] J. Cole
90' [1 - 1] K. Monnet-Paquet

thanks

Valenciennes-PSG: PSG doing their best to fuck things up, going two-down within twelve minutes. There was so much attacking by Valenciennes in those first twelve minutes, it was quite unreal - I couldn't believe it when I looked at the clock and so little time had elapsed. Currently 2-1, PSG playing alright now.

2-2, really nice overlapping goal by maxwell. PSG should win this now, they're a pretty classy-looking outfit moving forward and they've got a whole half-and-a-bit to find the winner.

3-2 to PSG, this is slick but rather disheartening

Montpellier hold their nerve to beat Rennes 2-0. Lille won earlier too. Those two play at the weekend in the biggest game left in Europe this season.

The biggest game left in Europe this season is on just now. 0-0 midway through the first half. It's good stuff so far, Montpellier having slightly the better of it but Lille looking up for it too.

Still 0-0 at halftime. Montpellier are faster, stronger and more direct, but a couple of times they've had excellent positions only to mess up with inexplicable final balls. They've missed at least one sitter, but Lille have had a couple of chances too.

Also 0-0 in PSG - Rennes, which is what we want.

Err that's not what I want!

You're in luck, Nene scores 1-0

Montpellier winner in 4th minute of injury time!

It was almost exactly like Torres v Barca, except Giroud squared it. He did so well. Lille were pushing up, they needed a winner themselves to keep their title.

I really enjoyed that, cracking game. Tense as anything - you can't beat high-stakes footy basically.

Montpellier now need a draw away to Auxerre to win the title. If they lose and PSG win at Lorient, PSG will be champions.

Auxerre got relegated tonight so I think Montpellier can pop the champagne tonight

ILF lived up to its name so much today.

really glad for montpellier i have to say. i feel like everyone except psg fans is rooting for montpellier to win it. psg will win the league in the years to come and part of me feels they didn't deserve to finish at the top after kicking out kombouaré (a somewhat legendary psg player) in december even though he had brought psg to 1st spot.

yeah well people always love an underdog.
Anyway, it's true that for most of the season PSG did not impress as a team, mostly snatching points thanks to solo raids from its "star" players (ironic that their best player this season by far, Nene, was a relic of teh old regime).
However, for the last month or so, Ancelotti seems to have made the team gel. Shame about the title this year, but as Jibé said, it's pretty clear that PSG will dominate the league for the years to come. The Pastore-Menez-Nene trio is only finally starting to find their marks, so I'm really looking forward to see them next year (assuming they all stay).

yup montpellier as underdog + the fact that it's paris and with it the old paris/province divide + the qatari money + firing kombouaré makes it hard for lots of ppl to root for them. but they def seem to be gelling - correct me if i'm wrong but right now they've started playing without a true forward (meaning no gameiro/hoarau on the field at the start) with ménez and nene just going wherever they want with pastore right behind them? i'd be curious to see who they get during the summer. especially since there's been the usual amount of crazy talk (for ex, negotiations with real madrid for a kaka+higuain package comes to mind). and yeah, nene is having a great season, joint top scorer with giroud and in the top 5 passers, or something like that? i'd say only hazard is havng a better season than him this year?

this is based on having seen the game against sochaux and from looking at the team sheet before the game yesterday, not from any extensive viewing. i really hope they do well in the champions league next year.

yes, it seems that the team started clicking once Ancelotti made them play w/o a CF with those three mostly playing in free positions. Yes, I'm also very curious to see who they'll buy this summer since I feel they should mainly try to leave the current squad develop as a team. Not sure either Kaka or Higuain would bring that much, although they do need a bigger bench since they do't really have any subs for Pastore/Menez/Nene.

After Chelsea and West Ham yesterday Montpellier really better win this fucking thing. Just sayin'.

I know. Their game is enough about strength & movement that they should be fine, but they came damn close to losing to Evian a couple of weeks back, so.

You've got to love the optimism of the French authorities, scheduling the Ligue 1 climax for this weekend.

haha, yes. And the Coppa Italia Final is tonight as well.

Montpellier are doing enough, 1-1 at halftime (they need a point) while PSG are losing 1-0 at Lorient (they need a win while Montpellier lose).

Meanwhile Lille are 4-1 up against Nancy - it doesn't matter now, but if they and not Montpellier had got the injury-time goal last week it'd be Lille's title right now (that's not as 'if my auntie had balls' as it sounds btw, it could easily have happened).

Oh, and PSG fans threw flares onto the pitch after they'd gone behind, holding up play for five minutes. I don't know what that's about as I didn't see it, but I'm sure the players will be reinforced by that show of support.

Hold up at Auxerre now to clear debris that had been thrown on, I had assumed to allow the two games to get back in sync, but the ref has hauled the players off the field now. This is a bit of a shambles.

I'm assuming this is a coördinated protest by Auxerre ultras about their relegation, some fine extended radio gaga clapping displays going on.

PSG hit the post. There's a goal coming.

PSG do score, this is still up for grabs.

The Montpellier game restarts, now about ten minutes behind. They'll play the last ten minutes either as a celebration or in a frantic Man City need-to-score style.

PSG score and lead 2-1. An Auxerre goal now and it's PSG's title.

Auxerre doing all the attacking, this is terrifying

Anthony Le Tallec close for Auxerre with the sort of piledriver we became so accustomed to at Anfield.

Jeez, a flare right into the Montpellier defence there - this might yet be a win by default.

PSG game needlessly descending into an injury-time brawl.

PSG have won, no idea what's going to happen in the Montpellier game.

Restarting again now in the Montpellier game, about thirteen minutes left. It's 1-1, which'd give Montpellier the title, but a goal for Auxerre and it's PSG's.

This is a desperate way to end though.

Oh, I don't know if they are restarting, some kind of consultations going on right now. There's a riot police cordon a yard from the goal line at one end.

They're clearing the stand at that end now so they can play the last thirteen minutes 1/4 closed doors. Never seen this before.

Yes! Utaka gives Montpellier the lead!

There's now fifteen minutes to go apparently.

wuh my stream just went to an ad.

I lost everything too but firstrow #11 has just come back

Hurrah! Jeez though, what a way to win a title.

CONGRATS MONTPELLIER.

i've watched hardly any ligue 1 this season - have montpellier been good in a way that means everyone's going to buy all of their players over the summer, or is it more like if swansea had won the premier league this year?

They've got maybe two or three excellent players who'll be snapped up - Giroud, Belhanda, Camara maybe. The rest are very competent, strong players and excellent teamwork. I'd say it's probably as if Newcastle had won the EPL this year.

if swansea won the league, all their good players would be bought. but for montpelier i think the biggest stars have been Giroud, Belhanda, and Yanga-Mbiwa, they seem the ones most likely to be bought by a bigger club.
xp

In terms of history, it's probably something akin to Southampton winning the league next year.

Thierry Roland died last night. To most of you that name means absolutely nothing but to any French fotball fan he's extremely famous. He was a football commentator, who'd been commenting for about 50 years, including 13 world cups and 9 euros, countless matches from ligue 1 to European cups, French national team matches etc. His duo with Jean-Michel Larqué as a commentating team was really famous, his laugh even more so (he seriously had one of the weirdest and entertaining laughs i've ever heard). He was also susceptible to a few racist comments at times tbh but still he was somewhat of a lovable old grouch. This guy really was as much a celebrity as most football players.

RIP Thierry Roland.

yeah he was very fun (on the other hand I hate larqué... it was so awful to have to listen to him during the game yesterday !).

i haven't heard larqué comment a game for maybe 2-3 years but general consensus does seem to be that he's getting even more annoying as he ages. is he really that terrible now? and it's true that out of the two roland seemed the nicest&most fun. though ya, capable of some very misplaced statements.