First, we have a couple of new blogs.

It was only a matter of time before Martha was drawn into a French club blog, and we are happy to have her. Welcome the Nice Offside:

The same is true for Jennifer, who will keep us updated on Bordeaux, as they put together a very strong team to challenge Lyon for the title this year (and she will keep us up to date on the life of Henri Saivet!). Welcome the Bordeuax Offside:

Next up is some great coverage of the offseason in Ligue 1.

Julien is celebrating France’s birthday with a post:

Magnusson has a look at the ‘Drogbathon’ that Marseille fans have cooked up in order to get Pape Diouf to listen to them, as well as the pain of loosing Samir Nasri (but gaining a Hatem Ben Arfa):

Inara and John have been dutefully putting up training picks and pre-season match recaps, while also exploring the empty void that is the lose of Hatem Ben Arfa:

It seems Richard of St. Etienne and Shazback of Rennes have taken a summer vacation to be with their WAGs, but they should be back soon enough. We need a PSG and Monaco blogger first and foremost, if you are interested, email me, or skip the middle man and email Daryl@theoffside.com and tell him your interested. Enjoy the week!

Benzema/Ben Arfa vs. Toulouse:

I believe “exceptional” was said when Ben Arfa scored, while “Merci!” was repeated several times when Benzema did. I know the difference between a Ben Arfa and a Benzema, but these both were great so I will lump them together as 1 vote.

Diane vs. Lens:

The goal was cool for two reasons. 1. Rothens ball and 2. Watch Dianes body movement when he hits the ball, its remarkable he doesnt fluff that into the streets Paris. Diane pretty much got PSG their first home win, which makes his contributions even more important.

Ederson vs. Strasbourg:

Late, late game winner from that kinda strike is always gonna be in contention from the supremely talented Brazilian.

And because I love you, here is the rest of the weekends goals. Vote away! I especially enjoyed the luck of Djibril Cisse/calmness of Mickeal Pagis. Enjoy!

Rennes 3-1 Marseille:

Bordeaux 4-1 Auxerre:

Cavenaghi’s second was a runner up for selection.

Valenciennes 2-0 St Etienne:

Lille 1-1 Metz:

Kevin Mirallas got another shot on target but no But! Cabaye’s was pretty, but Metz’s keeper gave it to him.

Monaco 1-0 Lorient:

Sochaux 2-0 Le Mans:

Also, never trust my predictions, I was dead wrong this week. Later.

Auxerre: AJA were saddened by the passing away of Marcel Vilain, a club volunteer of 45 years who left us at the age of 82. It’s been said that he hadn’t missed a home game in that entire span. RIP.

Bordeaux: Get this: Arturo Alvarez of FC Dallas is training with les Girondins. He’ll be working with the reserve squad until November 30, at which point a decision will be taken as to if he’ll stay on board. Don’t count on it.

Caen: Bad news from the medical quarters for les Malherbistes: Going into a tough stretch in which they’ll play Bordeaux, Paris and Lyon, they’ll be without Leca, Samson and Compan, all injured for at least three weeks.

Lille: Similar news for the Dogs. Maric, Franquart, Cabaye, Plestan and Tavarel are all definitely out for the match against Nancy this weekend. Kluivert, Touré and Makoun are also doubtful.

Lyon: Great news for OL Féminines, who took the giant down in London, beating Arsenal Ladies 3-2 to reach the semi-finals of the European Championship. They had drawn 0-0 in the first leg. (Come on you Spurs!)

Marseille: Lorik Cana isn’t ready for the Saturday match against Metz. His knee still needs healing after suffering an injury serving for Albania in the last two matches of the EURO 2008 qualifying. Maybe he shouldn’t have bothered. His boys lost 4-2 and 6-1.

Nice: Everyone loves seeing new kits, right? Well, OGC Nice are going to show us what they came up with on Sunday when they release their brand new alternate shirt. I can’t wait! I like Nice’s shirts this year.

Paris-SG: You don’t hear about this everyday. Michel Kollar, reporter for PSG, has released a club-appropriate dictionary, with over 1000 definitions pertaining to PSG and everything surrounding it. Everything from players to firms to stats.

+ Still in Marseille, where the club wasn’t stunned to hear of Albert Emon’s sacking, the mood was good between the former coach and the new one, former Belgian great Eric Gerets. Emon, who’s been assigned an as-of-yet undisclosed position within the club, told his replacement that he was behind him all the way, and to rely on him if he ever needed anything. Even though they’re just words, it’s something the staff wants to hear.

+ Dijon FCO, a very decent Ligue 2 club who can never get the big break, have announced plans to upgrade their stadium, Stade Gaston Gérard, from 10,000 seats to a considerable 22,000. Planned starting date: After next season, probably.

+ Some of you may have heard about the little feud going on between Caen’s coach Franck Dumas and referee Éric Poulat. Dumas, fuming after Poulat’s non-call on an obvious enough penalty in Caen’s weekend match against Metz, criticized the man in black and advised him to retire right away to avoid any future mistake of the sort. Poulat responded quite casually, saying that if Dumas took his place, there’d be riots for everyone, but if he took Dumas’, nothing would change, seeing as Caen is already in last place of the table. Today, Dumas struck back in less convincing fashion, saying that, oh yeah, well, yeah, at least I know when I made mistakes. I say Poulat wins.

+ Lens had to fight to come up with a draw against the feisty FC Købenvahn at Bollaert today, equalizing in the second half with Aruna Dindane (more on this tomorrow). Tomorrow, the four others (!) will try to muster a better result than the Sang et Or. Bordeaux goes north to see what Tampere United of Finland are made of, while Sochaux will host Panionios of the Greek Super League. Rennes and Toulouse, in a comic coincidence, will battle out with two teams from the same city, CSKA and Lokomotiv. No, not Moscow, but rather Sofia, with the Bretons heading over and the Occitans welcoming.

+ Nantes are still on top of the second division. The Canaris beat Sedan in the late game, 2-1, to reclaim their throne with 16 points from seven matches. Behind them on goal differential are Le Havre, 3-2 victors at Dijon. Third place belongs to Grenoble for the moment, spurred by their 3-1 triumph over Brest on the weekend.

+ Raymond Domenech, hardly one to beat around the bush about his views on domestic football, gave his opinion about OM’s chances in the Champions League this year. Concerned with the power of Liverpool and Porto, he affirmed that “it’ll be very hard to finish in the top two of the group, because it’s a real tough one. Their situation is worrying me.”

+ Good news if you’re a guy like me who loves free and legal internet feeds of any kind of soccer: For the Round of 32 of the Coupe de la Ligue, France Televisions is streaming eight of the sixteen matches live on their websites. Not sure which yet, but I’ll definitely let you know more when the issue progresses.

+ Take a pinch of disappointment, a teaspoon of regret and a whole lot of angry fans, and what do you get? Bonaventure Kalou signing a contract with Al-Jazira of the United Arab Emirates. After spending five dismal matches at Lens, this after two dismal years at PSG, the 29-year old Ivoirian international kills his career. Shame, shame.

+ As Newcastle’s official site has it, ex-Marseille skipper Habib Beye just loves it at St. James’ Park. The fans made him feel all fuzzy inside before his first match with the Toon against Wigan, embarking on a three-year adventure.

+ After much speculation about Hatem Trabelsi’s next club after leaving Manchester City, it appears as if the Tunisian could be heading to Le Mans. Considered as Beye’s replacement, some tabloids have apparently reported that he’s in training with the Sarthe club. We’ll see how that works out.

+ Wigan Athletic made it official today, Marseille midfielder Salomon Olembé is now one of theirs. After a few very uneventful years spent mostly with the reserves, the Camerounian international continues the Ligue 1 exodus towards the Premiership.

+ Ligue 2 update: Nantes are back on top of the league with 13 pointsafter narrowly beating Bastia 1-0 in the late game of Week 6. Behind them are Le Havre, 4-1 winners over Gueugnon, and Dijon, who triumphed away to Reims.

+ Man, Le Mans are fast. Bad news first: Backheel-master Grafite has signed with Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg! For a cool eight million euros, thanks very much. The final tally for the Brazilian in Ligue 1 is 17 goals in 51 matches.

+ No sweat, however. Hours after that deal was done, MUC 72 greeted Anthony Le Tallec, youth international who’ll be joining them on a loan deal from Liverpool. After playing with Sunderland, Sochaux, Saint-Étienne and Le Havre, he’ll try to fill Graffy’s boots. Tall order!

+ France 98 nostalgia trip! Remember Patrick Kluivert? No, he’s not dead, he’s alive and well and donning a Lille shirt this season! After spending one season in Eindhoven, the 31-year old will join LOSC for two years.

+ Adriano? Adriano? No Inter, no Portsmouth, no nothing but Monaco, that’s what’s up. Of course, it’s too good to be true, it’s not that Adriano, but rather a right-back who struggled with Palermo and Atalanta. Monetary terms have not been disclosed yet.

+ So, you like the UEFA Cup? If you like Ligue 1, you probably do. Good news for the five clubs participating in this year’s edition: Easy-ass draws! For the most part, that is. Bordeaux have drawn Tampere of Finland, Sochaux are pitted against Panonios of Greece, Rennes and Toulouse will both travel to Sofia, to play Lokomotiv and CSKA respectively, whereas Lens have it trickier with a date with Kobenvahn of Denmark.

+ In other knockout-format news, the Round of 32 for the Coupe de la Ligue (equivalent of the Carling Cup) have been set. Among the big matches, there’s a complimentary Derby du Nord with Lens playing host to Lille, another helping of the snowballing rivalry between Lorient and PSG, and two CdL-savvy sides in Saint-Étienne and Auxerre.

+ According to several English tabloids and footmercato.net, the bitchy little bugger that is Fred could be leaving Lyon for a Premiership side within the next ten days. It’s no secret that he’s not the best of buds with Jean-Michel Aulas anymore, and that a departure is imminent. The names of Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Newcastle were evoked.

+ Sucky news for Marseille fans: Starting keeper Cédric Carrasso ruptured his Achilles tendon, and will be out for no less than six months. Probably bad karma from making fun of Greg Coupet. Nonetheless, youth international Steve Mandanda will take this chance to prove himself in Ligue 1 and in the Champions League.

+ If Foot Transferts says it, it must be right. That’s a joke, by the way. But this week they’ve reported the plausible link of Spanish defender Asier Del Horno with Saint-Étienne. Les Verts, looking for a versatile left-back, could be a good spot for the man who only played six Liga games with Valencia last year.

+ Sylvain Wiltord to Rennes: It’s official. Finally. The final stats are as follows: 1,5 million euros, he’ll be payed 150,000 euros per month for two years. After that, he plans to get a job in the coaching staff. Speaking of Rennes: It’s my pleasure to announce that we have yet another addition to our French Offside family, with Shazback reporting on all things Rouge et Noir. Check his blog out, it’s gonna rock.

+ Jérome Rothen will not be part of the double squad heading to Slovakia next week, due to a hip injury. How bad can your luck get? His last cap was in 2003 against Malta (6-0).

+ One Parisien vacates, another fills. A surprise call-up from Raymond Domenech, after Jérémy Mathieu, is that of PSG’s new defender Zoumana Camara. This is the first time he’ll don a bleu jersey since way back in 2001, where he won the Confederations Cup.

+ Lyon’s got who they “need” to replace Greg Coupet temporarily. Frédéric fucking Roux. A 34-year old never-was who spent last season in Ajaccio of Ligue 2 in which the Corsican club finished twelvth. You can only imagine he’ll be watching from the sidelines while Rémy Vercoutre continues his un-Coupet-like actions.

+ At least Lyon also have someone halfway decent heading their way, and that someone is Juventus’ Jean-Alain Boumsong. According to his agent, he’s ready to leave, and he wants a solid transfer, none of this loan business. Lyon could use a good defender right now.

+ Sylvain Wiltord to Rennes is more or less a done deal right now. I don’t feel about writing about it.

+God, man. Sylvain Wiltord again. What’s more, this time it’s sure to be finalized (editor’s note: yeah right). Sources “very close” to Stade Rennais leaked the Breton newspaper Ouest-France that the deal could be done in the next 24 hours, that an agreement had nearly been found with Lyon.

+ This one’s a bit old, but here it is anyway: With their variety of African players heading to the Cup of Nations later this year, and Mamadou Niang injured, Marseille went ahead and gambled on Matt Moussilou, renowned around the league for not being the best in the league. Having played with Lille, Saint-Étienne and Nice in the past two years, he’s on loan to OM for one year. Three cheers for stability!

+ Kimmy Kallström’s unhappy outburst against the refereeing crew during Lyon’s match against Toulouse last weekend has earned him a one-game suspension. For those who aren’t familiar with the incident, the Swede was elbowed in the face, and despite the fact that blood was drawn, no foul was called. A tad beside himself, he began to yell passionately at the fourth official and spat in his direction. That’s when he was sent off.

+ Luigi Pieroni hates Nantes! After a fairly unsuccesful spell of fourteen games with the then-Ligue 1 club, the Belgian international wants out. His potential landing spots: Lens, or his first one, Standard de Liège.

+A door closes, a window opens. Nantes are very close to signing the Brazilio-Tunisian Francileudo Santos, relegated to Toulouse’s bench in favour of Johan Elmander.

+ Lyon still hasn’t decided who they want to replace Greg Coupet while he’s injured. Apparently, they’ve been looking at Frédéric Roux, Bordeaux’s 33-year old moocher who is training with them until someone calls. Bernard Lacombe himself said that he may be the one they’re looking for. If you ask me, the answer will be “What the hell? Roux was hardly ever a dominant goalkeeper in the league, and spent last season with Ajaccio. Just throw him in there in the Champions League, why don’t you.