THE LAST SIGNING AND END OF THE MERCATO

The Senegalese Savior Arrives, Just in the Knick of Time.
Sorry for the late post guys, I was pretty busy, and also waiting to see if we signed Laurent Bonnart as well to do a double post, but no such luck. Anyway, last Tuesday, we all breathed a giant sigh of relief as our president failed to let us down once again, and on the eve of the closing of the mercato window, solved a problem that would have definitely been the ruin of our season, had it been left unremedied. And big props to the reader who wished for a 5-0 defeat to Lorient last weekend, in order to force management to scramble and get us a defender, and move JT back to DM. Bravo.

Match Day 4: Bordeaux vs. Marseille Liveblog

A couple of new additions and a few departures from the team. I am still weeping for Cavenaghi's loan to Mallorca, but excited about the addition of Maazou and Ben Khalfallah (both who will feature today.)

The group that will be travelling:
Carrasso Olimpa - Chalme, Ciani, Henrique, Savic, Trémoulinas, Marange - ...

Ligue 1, Matchday 4: Bordeaux vs Marseille Liveblog

Can Marseille improve upon the the good result they picked up last week by beating Bordeaux? Will Remy & Gignac prove they are worth the stack of cash OM payed for them? We'll chat about that and more...

FC Lorient 2 - 0 Olympique Lyonnais : Curse in Brittany

After a hectic week that saw crowd-pleasing Yoann Gourcuff finally join Lyon, welcomed by 12.000 supporters, a fresh wind of hope seemed to blow on the club. From Aulas (presenting this transfer as one in a president's career) to Lisandro (with the morale at an all time low due to the persistance of his injury), everyone seemed revamped by this long expected arrival, hoping for a collective boost.
On the breton side, there also was a strong desire to reverse their fortunes, after 3 pretty disappointing displays.

Matchday: Lens-St. Etienne (Stade Geoffroy-Guichard )

A lengthy trip to the land of bicycles and Jules Massenet awaits Jean-Guy Wallemme's hardy troops this weekend. After a fine performance against Monaco last Saturday at the Stade Félix Bollaert, the Lensois must now turn their attention to the Loire and the resurgent les verts.

It is not for nothing ...

Toifilou Maoulida: "Realistically, I think this is my last season at Lens"

Translated from the interview with La Voix de Sports

Lens' top scorer for the past two seasons wants to leave it all on the pitch as his career winds down. At age 31, with only a year remaining in his contract with Lens the goal poacher from Mayotte wants to "give ...

Happy Birthday Azpi!

A very happy birthday to our new singing César Azpilicueta as he turns 21! In the last few posts I think that we've basically gone over how important a signing like Azpi was for OM. One of the most promising under 21 players of Spain, it will only be a ...

LORIENT vs. LYON

Ligue 1 - Week 4
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Stade du Moustoir, Lorient
19:00CET, 18:00GMT
Saturday, Lyon head up to Britanny in the north-west France to take on Les Merlus on what has been favorable ground for OL. After getting back on their feet following a rocky start by OL standards, Les Gonnes have righted the ship by winning last week at home against Brest, and now have four out of a possible nine points. With reinforcements in the form of Gourcuff hopefully making his debut against his father's squad, let's hope that Lyon will continue to put their house in order, in the face of the oncoming CL ties.

The Draw!

Group F! More importantly this time around we aren't in the feared group of death! This time our group will feature English giant and defending EPL champions Chelsea, Russian side Spartak Moscow and MŠK Žilina the defending Slovak champs.

TAFER to LE TEF

Just a tidbit to add to our mercato dealings this week, and if you didn't already now, our young U19 starlet Yannis Tafer is headed south in search of more playing time.
Tafer is officialy on loan to Toulouse, after Le Tefece's president Olivier Sadran has had to undertake a mad scramble to find a striker after the sale of Andre Pierre Gignac to Marseille and the injury of the promising young striker Xavier Pentecote, after he landed akwardly and ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a 2-1 win over Bordeaux in week two, an injury that will see him out, at least six months.
Pentecote scored a scorching twelve goals in fourteen appearences while on loan last year with Ligue 2 side Bastia. His injury has deprived TFC of their one and only true striker left on the roster and they've been making-do with winger Daniel Braaten in the meantime. Braaten has been paying massive dividens in his new role, and has scored three goals thus far and has played a huge role in Toulouse's current first place position, having taken a full nine points out of nine. Regardless, this is not seen as a long term solution and Le Tef are in need of, at least a back-up, even if head coach Alain Casanova is thinking about leaving the Norwegian international in the striking role.