This weekend brings us a a mix of World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers, World Cup Playoffs and friendlies.  Ligue 1 was represented across the globe– some in key matches that determine if their country to will be going to South Africa and/or Angola next year, others in less important (but, at times, still exciting) friendlies.

As always, I may miss some players and games– please feel free to include additional information in the comments section– it is rather difficult (and time consuming) to create a completely exhaustive list so for this post to be really good, I will need the help of you!

I usually start with Europe…but there has been so much hype on those play-off matches already so let’s mix things up…

AFRICA WORLD CUP AND CAN QUALIFIERS

Morocco vs. Cameroon

Morocco continues its terrible form by losing 2-0 at home to Cameroon.  With this win, Cameroon was able to qualify for the World Cup, in spite of their dismal start.  This WC will be their 6th straight appearance for the country in the competition finals– which is a record for an African team.  The two goal scorers were Real Mallorca’s Pierre Webo (’17) and Inter’s Samuel Eto‘o (’52).  The papers are focusing on Eto’s goals, which was his ninth goal in 11 starts in the 2010 qualifiers, but I want to focus on the fantastic assist Jean Makoun (Lyon) made to create the goal!  Cameroon’s recent winning form was a result of the work of former Ligue 1 coach and Frenchman Paul Le Guen (formerly managed Rennes, Lyon and PSG).  Congrats to the other Ligue 1 players– Mbia (OM), Nkoulou (Monaco) and Alo’o Efoulou (Nancy).

Morocco’s squad was certainly weakened by the loss of Chamakh (Bordeaux, suspension) as well as several other players who were forced to pull out of the squad through injury.  Unfortunately, Ligue 1’s reprensentatives– Hermach (Lens), Chretien (Nancy) and Hadji (Nancy) were not able to pull off an upset.  Morocco sit in last place with only 3 points in 6 games– and won’t be in South Africa or Angola next year!

Togo vs. Gabon

Togo secured its’ place in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments with its 1-0 win over Cameroon (a game where Adebayor promised to double his teammates winning bonus if they won).  Though they are not able to qualify for South Africa, their third place finish will allow them to compete in Angola in January.  Despite already qualifying they were able to grind out a 1-0 win over Gabon.  Congratulations to Romao (Grenoble), Gakpe (Monaco) and Ayite (Nancy) on the win– South Africa won’t be same without Togo, but hopefully they will get to shine in Angola!

Gabon, who finished second in the group despite the loss, have also qualified for the African Cup– meaning Nice and Le Mans will lose the services of Mouloungui and Ovono next year!

Kenya vs. Nigeria

Nigeria managed to come from behind and win 3-2 thanks to two Obamefi Martin (Wolfsburg) strikes. Martin was helped by Ligue 1’s Echiejile (Rennes) who was given a starting 11 spot.  OM’s Taiwo was called into the squad but never made it off the bench.  This win allowed Nigeria to leapfrog Tunisia, win the group and qualify for South Africa (for the 4th straight tournament).

Mozambique vs. Tunisia

Tunisia lost their two point lead in the group and failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup by losing 1-0 to Mozambique.  While this is a huge disappointment for Ligue 1’s Carthage Eagles Ben Khalfallah (Valenciennes), Jemaa (Lens), Kasraoui (Lens), Mikari (Sochaux), Saihi (Montpellier), Ben Saada (Nice), but their second place finish automatically qualifies them for the Africa Cup of Nations.  Hopefully they will be able to avenge themselves for this loss by beating Mozambique (who qualified as third in the group) in the African Cup in January.

Egypt vs. Algeria

The anticipation and drama before this match was high.  First, Algeria’s bus was attacked when they arrived in Cairo earlier this week by young rioters, causing three Alergian players to sustain facial cuts.  Egypt’s FA is making the conspiracy theory defense, claiming that the attack was staged by the Algerians to undermine them on the international stage.

Before the game, Algeria was in first place  with a three point cushion between them and Egypt.  To keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive, Egypt needed to beat Algeria by two goals– which they did!  With the win, Egypt managed to force a play-off game, which will be played in neutral Sudan.  Hopefully, Lorient’s  Mansouri will keep his place in the starting 11 for the final qualification game and help Algeria qualify for the World Cup.

Sudan vs. Benin

Benin sealed their second place group position by beating the Group D whipping boys, Sudan (who only managed to win 1 point in qualification) 2-1.  There isn’t much information on the match, but Benin’s squad typically contains both Sessegnon (PSG) and Pote (Nice) from Ligue 1.  Any additional details would be greatly appreciated!

Burkina Faso vs Malawi

Both Burkina Faso and Malawi came into this game knowing that there was no way they could qualify for the World Cup, but only Burkina Faso was certain to qualify for the African Cup.  Unfortunately, Malawi wasn’t able to channel this extra motivation into a win, losing 1-0.  They no doubt felt secure that Guinea wouldn’t be able to beat Group E top dog, the Ivory Coast.  This means that Ligue 1 will lose Burkina Faso’s Traore (Auxerre), Bamogo (Nice) and Kabore (OM) in January.

Ivory Coast vs. Guinea

The Ivory Coast managed to beat Guinea, who had the chance to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations if they had won this game, without Drogba (Chelsea).  This isn’t surprising considering their strong showing in qualification– they remain undefeated in their World Cup qualification group, winning four of their last five games including a 5-0 smashing of the group’s second place Burkina Faso in September.  Despite not having Drogba, the Ivory Coast squad was in good hands with Ligue 1’s Gervinho (Lille) and Gosso (Monaco) taking the field in the starting 11 to help secure the 3-0 win over Guinea.  Unfortunately, recent call-ups Fae (Nice), Soro (Lorient), Doumbia (Lorient), Coulibaly (Nice), Dindane (loaned to Portsmouth from Lens), Traore (Sochaux) and Bakari Kone (OM) weren’t able to make the squad through injury, suspension or just poor performance.

UEFA WORLD CUP PLAY-OFFS

While most of Africa battled out the final spots for the World Cup and the African Cup, most of the world was fixated on the first leg of the UEFA World Cup qualifying games that were played this weekend.  Ligue 1 was represented in three of the four matches, but results were mixed…

Ireland vs. France

The build-up for this match included Domenech calling Ireland the “England B” squad, Domenech getting booed in front of his players at the Tennis Masters Tournament in Paris, Irish player Dunne claiming that Domenech’s coaching is an advantage for them, Sarkozy getting facebook and Irish claims to teach the French respect.

Despite all these obstacles– and the rain– France managed to win 1-0 in Ireland thanks to a 72′ deflected goal from Anelka (Chelsea). Ligue 1 was well represented in the starting 11– with Lloris (Lyon), Gourcuff, Alou Diarra and Gignac (Toulouse) making the cut.  Mandanda (OM), Sissoko (Toulouse), Govou (Lyon) had to be satisfied with the bench, while Toulalan’s (Lyon) forced him to sit of this game.

Despite winning, the drama continues as Domenech threatens to leave the post-match press conference after being asked about having a fight with Henry over Viera’s abscence from the squad this morning.

Portugal vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Portugal managed to capitalize on a fleeting moment of weakness in a game where Bosnia displayed an amazing sense of discipline.  The goal, which was assisted by Nani and scored by Bruno Alves, allows Portugal to go into the second match with a slight advantage.  The bigger threat to Bosnia’s qualification campaign is the loss of three key players (Montpellier’s Spahic, Rahimic and Muratovic) who received bookings which will keep them out of the second leg.  But, Bosnia’s loss is Ligue 1’s gain as this might allow Lyon’s Pjanic a place in the starting 11.  In the first leg, he started out on the bench but made a substitution appearance in the 87th minute for Muratovic.

Russia vs. Slovenia

Auxerre’s Valtar Birsa was unable to help his team secure a victory in their 2-1 loss to Russia; however, they manage to secure a crucial away goal (though only after Birsa was substituted out of the match).  A 1-0 win at home will see Slovenia qualify for South Africa on away goals this week!

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES

Spain vs. Argentina

Given  his dismal OM performance, it really isn’t shocking that Heinze failed to help his team keep out two Xabi Alonso goals in Argentina’s 2-1 defeat.

Slovakia vs. US

Bocanegra (Rennes) couldn’t help the US beat Slovakia in this friendly which was determined by a penalty.  It will be a tough loss for US to swallow considering they outshot the Slovakians 8-5 and had four more corners.

Interesting Fact:  Apparently, both teams started sons of their coaches.

Le Mans UC 72 0 – 1 AJ Auxerre

AJA pushed into the top three, at least temporarily, as they eked out a win against Paolo Duarte’s side, who are currently firmly in the relation zone. Speaking of Paolo Duarte, here’s an excellent interview he gave to the Ligue 1 official site. The interviewer is rather bold, asking some interesting questions, and also seems to have been reading to much Harry Potter lately, referring to Jose Mourinho as the ‘Chosen One’.

FC Lorient 5 – 0 Boulogne Côte d’Opale
(No video highlights available at the point–I have seen none of this match)
I’m going to assume from the scoreline that this match was total destruction. It’s also further proof that Boulogne are going down and Cristian Gourcuff is a half decent manager.

AS Monaco FC 0 – 0 Grenoble Foot 38

Some stellar goalkeeping from Ronan Le Crom gave Grenoble their first point of the season, and they dominated the match. A bit of a shock for Monaco, who were playing at home and went into the weekend in third place. Check out the Monaco Offside for a more complete review later.

AS Nancy Lorraine 0 – 1 AS Saint-Etienne

A wonderful goal from the quickly rising star of Dimitri Payet proves key for ASSE, and bumps a frustratingly inconsistent Nancy down to 10th place. Check out the Saint-Etienne Offside for a review.

Paris Saint-Germain 0 – 1 OGC Nice

Guess who’s even more inconsistent than ASNL? PSG of course. Last weeks victory wasn’t a turnaround, simply a performance on which to base false hope. PSG completely dominated the match, but it was Nice who put the ball in the NET. I give credit to Mounier and Remy for the beautiful cross and header. The PSG Offside will have something up soon.

Valenciennes FC 1 – 1 Montpellier Hérault SC

Did you know that these two teams were the highest scoring in Ligue 1? I certainly didn’t. Anyway, Colombians ran the show, but the result didn’t really change anything. Don’t you wish we had a Montpellier Offside?

Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 – 2 RC Lens

Lens pulled out of the drop zone with this victory and grounded Sochaux in the bottom half of the table. Be sure to visit the Lens Offside for more.

LOSC Lille Métropole 2 – 0 Girondins de Bordeaux

In one of the unexpected results of the evening, surprise bottom feeders LOSC upset Ligue leaders Bordeaux. Both sides put on displays of how to miss one on one’s with the keeper, but Gervinho’s dribbling ability eventually won the match for Lille. Visit the Bordeaux Offside for more.

Toulouse FC 3 – 2 Stade Rennais FC
Some nice goals in this matchup, TFC eventually coming out on top. APG seems to have rediscovered his scoring touch, but Moussa Sissoko seems to have no intention of stopping to let Gignac take over. Check out Dave Trotter’s review at the Toulouse Offside.

Olympique Lyonnais 5 – 5 Olympique de Marseille

Match of the century? It’s certainly a candidate. I’ll let the Lyon and Marseille Offsides elaborate.

Rennes 0-3 Valenciennes

Rennes dominated from the off, having a Peter Hansson goal wrongly dissalowed, followed by numerous chances including an Ekoko shot that hit the bar. The first goal came a little way into the second half, when Valenciennes’ new center-back Dianbobo Balde headed in from close range. This was followed by two beautiful goals from Valenciennes, the first a superb long range individual effort from Fahid Ben Khalfallah, the second a stunning Gregory Pujol shot that hit the crossbar twice and than bounced out, crossing the goal line in the process. Needless to say, the Stade de la Route de Lorient was stunned.

Nice 1-0 Le Mans

This match turned sour early on when a scuffle for the ball between Mamadou Bagayoko and Geder resulted in a red card for the Le Mans defender. Le Mans dominated the chances, but it was Nice who broke the deadlock when Ismael Gace headed in a corner. Le Mans had several chances to tie it up but the match ended 1-0 to the delight of the fans at the Stade du Ray.

Sochaux 1-4 PSG

Check out the PSG Offside for a review later. I can guarantee you it’ll be there.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 AS Monaco FC

This match, which happened to be a battle between first and second (which no one would have predicted at the beginning of the season), was much less exciting than last year’s version. Planus’ tap in off a Wendel free-kick kept Bordeaux in control of the top spot and allowed Lyon to overtake Monaco and move into second place.

US Boulogne Côte d’Opale 1-2 AS Nancy-Lorraine

I believe I predicted earlier that the only direction Boulogne were going was down. I think I was correct. USBCO fell to an unimpressive and inconsistent Nancy side who were without Gennaro Bracigliano, maintaining ASNL’s top ten position, and proving that Boulogne really are nothing more than a Ligue 2 side.

Grenoble Foot 38 0-2 LOSC Lille Métropole

An 11th straight defeat for Grenoble. They’re just way to unlucky. They hit the crossbar twice in this match, while Lille scored on each of their two shots. Mickael Landreau has returned from injury, starting in the net for LOSC, and Gervinho has continued to impress.

Racing Club de Lens 1-1 FC Lorient Bretagne Sud

Check out the Lens Offside for a full review.

Olympique de Marseille 1-1 Toulouse FC
Check out the Marseille Offside for a full review.

AS Saint-Etienne 0-1 Olympique Lyonnais

This was just the kind of storybook derby that I was expecting. Former Sainte favorite Bafetimbi Gomis started on the bench for Lyon, and the match remained pretty even until Gomis was brought in late on. Only minutes later, he put in the winning goal on a volley from a corner.

Top 3 Performances

3.  Nene (Monaco): Ligue 1’s current top scorer continued his streak against a struggling Boulogne by adding another two goals to the 7 he has already scored.  This gives him a total of 9 goals in 10 ten games.

2.  Guy Ndy Assembe (Valenciennes): The Cameroon-born goalkeeper made several show-stopping saves against Saint-Etienne.  His point-blank save of Bergessio’s shot is a candidate for save of the season.

1.  Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse): Maintained his consistently impressive form this season, impressive at any age but extremely impressive considering he is only 20.  His leadership in the midfield has already been noted by the press, but the offensive skills displayed in this game have elevated his game to another level.

Top 3 Flops

3.  David Jemmali (Grenoble): Poor Grenoble seems determined to throw away even a point as they lost their 10th game of the season.  Grenoble’s Jemmali gave Nancy the equalizer with a strong header, which he unfortunately aimed at his own goal.

2.  Lyon: While this should not discount Nice’s awesomely effective and efficient performance in front of the goal in their utter destruction of Lyon this weekend, Lyon could not help themselves as they completely broke down.   Two of their former players (Remy and Mounier) came back to haunt them, Cissokho claimed an own goal and nobody on the team seemed to have it within themselves to pick the team up, put them on their back and put in a game-changing performance.

1.  Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP): Waited until the last possible moment to call off the Classico.  Regardless of if the decision was right or not, the call should have been made earlier.  Instead, the call wasn’t made until PSG was already in Marseille (forcing the transportation of sick players) and fans had traveled South (leading to violent clashes) unnecessarily.  The whole debacle should have been handled better.  After the first player in Ligue 1 was diagnosed in August, they should have created a protocol on how to deal with situations like this (should they arise)– that way they could have avoided accusations of bias.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 3-0 Le Mans UC 72

Bordeaux, inspired by their victory against Bayern midweek, got back to winning ways against a Le Mans side currently sitting in the relegation zone.

US Boulogne Cote d’Opale 1-3 AS Monaco FC

Monaco left it late against a quickly falling Boulogne side to climb into second place. That Nene just can’t stop scoring!

Grenoble Foot 38 1-2 AS Nancy-Lorraine

This was a painful loss for Grenoble. On track for their first points of the season after gaining their first lead in the 53rd minute, they fell to two late goals.

OGC Nice 4-1 Olympique Lyonnais

The shocker of the evening. The score says it all. Nice handed Les Gones their second straight loss and climbed out of the relegation zone, while Lyon dropped down to 3rd place. Check out the Lyon Offside review here.

AS Saint-Etienne 0-2 Valenciennes FC

Okay, maybe I was wrong about Sainte’s summer signings. Why are Valenciennes so good?

FC Sochaux-Montbeliard 1-0 FC Lorient

Sochaux continue their push up the table with a solid win against a solid team.

Stade Rennais FC 3-0 Montpellier HSC

Montpellier went into this match in 2nd place, enjoying their fairytale season. Rennes got down to business and banged in some goals. Fairytale over.

On Wednesday, Bordeaux took on FC Bayern Munich and Marseille took on Zurich. Bordeaux, who had made a good start with a draw away to Juventus followed by a win against Maccabi Haifa, greatly aided their chances for qualification in what could be described as the most difficult group. They came out of the match victorious, it was a 2-1 scoreline, but they missed two second half penalties and the result easily could have been 4-1.

Marseille picked up their first win of this Champions League campaign in Switzerland, but will need a result at the San Siro to have a chance of qualification. Here’s the Marseille Offside’s analysis of the match.

In the Europa League, French clubs had mixed fortunes. Lille recorded an astounding 3-0 win against Genoa, who are touted as one of Serie A’s better sides.

However, Toulouse were completely dismantled by defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk, the match ending 4-0.

Watch out Europe!

Update! Thanks to Thomas for pointing out some of the players I missed last night! I’ve updated the post to reflect a more accurate (I’m pretty sure a few are still missing…) aggregate list.

This post is slightly late– half of the games have already happened– so apologies for my tardiness but better late than never!

Last weekend and this mid-week will see several Ligue 1 players fighting for world cup qualification, a place in the play-off games or just pride.  Here is a brief summary of what happened last weekend and what we can look forward to in midweek from Ligue 1 players.  As a caveat, I may have miss a few– it is completely unintentional and I encourage you to keep this post honest by noting any players I missed in the comments section so I can include them in future summaries!  

So, lets start with the obvious– Les Bleus!  

Despite missing several key players in this must-win game against Faroe Islands (Gourcuff and Ribery were both injured), the French team managed to pull off their best performance of the qualification campaign (though, lets be honest, that is a low bar).  And, the amazing part is the role Ligue 1 players had in this win.  Though France were strong from the outset, Gignac from Toulouse was the man of match (and earned an 8.5 player rating from Goal.com) after he broke the deadlock on the 34th minute and quickly followed up with a second goal 4 minutes later.  In defense, Toulalan from Lyon was solid in defense but almost threatened to steal Gignac’s thunder as he came close to scoring twice in the game’s opening minutes. Mandanda had a solid performance, but he wasn’t really tested much this match. His best highlight is the possible assist he could claim in Gignac’s second goal. On another bright note, Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse) received his first international cap this game when he came on as a subsitute at 62′ for Patrice Evra. Nothing too special about his performance, but he didn’t make any major mistakes either, which I think makes it a successful debut!

Highlights: France vs. Faroe Islands

This win secured France’s 2nd place finish in the group, meaning they will participate in a play-off game regardless of the result of their Austria game. That being said, a win would surely help them maintain some momentum. As there are no Ligue 1 players in the Austria national team, I think we can safely say that this section of the offside will be rooting for Les Bleus!

For a detailed description and up-to-date news, you visit Jeff and Laurie at the France World Cup Blog.  They do a really incredible job of keeping on top of the news, match previews and match wrap-ups.

Argentina

Argentina also saved their campaign with a last minute goal by Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors) and some defending by Heinze (OM) who played the full 90 minutes. Check out the Offside-Argentina blog here.

Other Results

Jean Makoun (OL), Nkoulou (Monaco), Alo’o Efoulou (Nancy) and M’bia (OM) helped Cameroon win 3-0 against Romao (Grenoble) and Serge Akakpo’s (Monaco) Togo.

Taiwo (OM) was an unused substitute in Nigeria’s 1-0 win over Mozambique.

Burkina Faso beat Guinea 2-1, but it is unclear if Kabore played (OM). Even ESPN doesn’t know.

Marouane Chamakh could not translate his good form with Bordeaux to help Morroco beat Ovono (Le Mans), Aubemayang (Lille), and Mouloungui’s (Nice) Gabon on Saturday, losing 3-1.

Iceland beat South Africa 1-0 in an international friendly, but it is unclear if Monaco’s Gudjohnsen played– once again, ESPN has let me down.

Jean Jacques Gosso (Monaco), Gervinho (Lille) and Faé (Nice) helped their Cote D’Ivoire secure a 1-1- draw against Malawi.

Davies (Sochaux) and Bocanegra (Stade Rennais) helped the US secure their place to the 2010 world cup with a 3-2 win over Honduras. On a sad note, Davies was in a car accident over the weekend, with reportedly potential career threatening injuries. After undergoing surgery, he will have a recovery time of at least a year– meaning he is out of the World Cup. Check the Offside-US blog for more details.

If you are missing your club teams…

Remember to keep checking up on your Offside club team blogs though as some played friendlies during the break, like OM which I blogged about here.

Now, on to the the players that most impressed and disappointed us this week…

The Tops

The Whole Valenciennes Team:

Given that I write for the OM blog, I am clearly biased. However, I do try to give props where they are due. And, I think the Valencienne team last night proved that teams without a lot of money and “stars” can beat the very best if they play as a unit, take their chances and have confidence. Even more impressive is that they came from behind twice to equal and then surpass OM’s goals. They were focused, vigilant and not afraid to impose themselves. Congratulations to the whole team and extra props to Rafael, the defender who headed in the winning goal! I will be hoping that they continue this attitude when they play Bordeaux (11/21 and 3/28), PSG (5/5) and Lyon (5/8). Also, if anyone is interested, The Offside is looking for someone to blog about this team….for more information, click here.

Frederic Thomas

Thomas scored twice in Le Mans’ 3-0 win over Lens this weekend. I didn’t see the game, but from what I have read the game was even more one-sided than the score line suggests (despite a stellar performance Lens goalkeeper Vedran Runje). Thomas’s goals helped Le Mans move into 15th place on the table (and out of the drop zone), dropping Lens into 13th place. Thomas’s second curling shot into the top corner from 30 yards out was particularly beautiful. Check it out at the 34 second mark here, along with the other goals.

Bafetimbi Gomis:

Gomis’s 72′ goal for Lyon not only gave his team a 2-1 win over Toulouse, but his goal also sent OL to the top of the table (although only briefly as Wendel’s goal sent Bordeaux back to the top). The whole team did pretty well to battle back after Toulouse scored in the opening minutes of the game.

The Flops

Didier Deschamps…and the Whole OM Defense:

Last year’s defensive debacles were suppose to be a thing of the past after this summer’s major investments in Heinze, Cisse, Rool, Diawarra, M’bia…in addition to securing longer contracts with Taiwo (until 2011) and Mandanda (until 2014). The season began well defensively, with OM only allowing in 4 goals in the first six games. Perhaps we should have seen the signs when Heinze and Cisse allegedly got into a fight in the OM dressing room after the Milan-OM game in the Champion’s League (in addition to their arguing on the pitch after the 2nd Milan goal). Both of them seem to want to be leaders, but neither of them seem willing to take responsibility for their errors (which, in my opinion is the most important quality in a leader). But, let’s take a second to sympathize (at the very least empathize) with the players. DD deployed a starting 11 of almost entirely new players yesterday– 6 out of the 11 players last night were purchased this summer (Diawarra, Heinze, Cisse, Rool, Gonzalez and Morientes). And, frankly it looked like it last night– and DD did nothing to help establish some control and structure. The fact that two of their goals came from set pieces is just ridiculous– and further proof that the team is not getting enough specific instructions from DD regarding defensive strategies and marking.

Lille Offense

Lille can only blame themselves for falling into the “drop zone” this week. They had plenty of chances to score this week, if they had managed to get even a few of their shots on target. I will give some credit to the Nice goalie, who made some excellent saves. But, given the number of chances Lille had, this game should have been over after the first half alone.

Nice…with the exception of Loic Remy and David Ospina

Remy was the only Nice player who managed to look even a bit dangerous in front of the goal. He saved Nice with his 60′ goal, but the rest of the team could barely manage a shot towards the goal (much less on target). Defensively, Nice did nothing to break up Lille’s momentum, resulting in several scary moments for the Nicoise fans. David Ospina (Nice Goalie) deserves a lot of free drinks after his performance.

AS Monaco 1-2 AS Saint-Etienne

(0-1 Sanogo 3′, 1-2 Bergessio 90′+2)

(1-1 Puygrenier 56′)
In an exciting match in the principality Saint-Etienne move out of the drop zone and AS Monaco fall from the Europa League places. Sainte’s new signings seem to have been effective, as new recruits Gonzalo Bergessio and Boucabar Sanogo each found the net, while other signing Augusto Fernandez threatened on set pieces. Saint Etienne have displayed a remarkable change in form since the arrival of the two Argentines, and AS Monaco have shown that they really are no more than a midtable team.

AJ Auxerre 2-0 Grenoble Foot 38

(1-0 Pedretti 63′, 2-0 Hengbart 84′)
Auxerre continue to improve their position, this time by beating a Grenoble side still without a single point. I can’t say I watched any of this game but the highlights, but apparently both Ireneusz Jelen and David Jemmali were sent off in the 21st minute when an altercation after Jemmali’s dangerous tackle turned violent. Benoit Pedretti opened his scoring tally for the season, while deffender Cederic Hengbart becomes Auxerre’s top scorer in Ligue 1 after scoring his second in two Matchdays.

FC Lorient 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain

(1-0 Mvuemba 40′, 1-1 Hoarau 45′+1)
PSG continued their slump against 8th place Lorient, who continue to impress. PSG had Stephane Sessegnon back, and his presence proved vital, creating the goal that equalized the match for the Parisiens. Lorient opened the scoring with some nice passing around the box, culminating in a goal to former Portsmouth player Arnold Mvuemba, but PSG brought it back to level terms barely five minutes later when a good play involving Sessegnon and Ludovic Giuly resulted in a tap-in for Guillaume Hoarau’s first goal of the season.

Valenciennes FC 3-2 Olympique de Marseille

(0-1 Morientes 13′, 1-1 Bisevac 21′, 1-2 Niang 22′, 2-2 Ducourtioux 28′, 3-2 Rafael 84′)

“The OM coach had promised that Ligue 1 would see more of Fernando Morientes when the Spaniard was ready, and the ex-Real Madrid and Monaco forward responded to being handed his first start with his maiden goal in OM colours after just 13 minutes.

The strike sparked a glut of three more goals in the next 17 minutes as the balance of the match swung back and forth violently.

OM’s advantage lasted just seven minutes with Milan Bisevac levelling after Steve Mandanda and the Marseille rearguard had failed to deal with Rudy Mater’s corner.

The visitors, though, edged back in front on 23 minutes – Mamadou Niang claiming his fifth goal of the season after VA keeper Guy Rolland Ndy Assembe had parried a Morientes header invitingly into his path.

Schmitz strike

Having got their noses in front, Marseille again proved incapable of holding onto their lead, and Valenciennes were level before the half-hour mark. Johan Audel skipped by left-back Cyril Rool before delivering a cross that David Ducourtioux dived full-length to head past Mandanda.

Niang and Brandao both narrowly missed the target in the second half before Lucho Gonzalez brought a fine stop from Ndy Assembe, who provided the platform for the hosts to claim all three points.

With their defence holding firm, VA finally picked a way through from a well-delivered set-piece seven minutes from time. Renaud Cohade’s free-kick found Rafael Schmitz rising highest, and the Brazilian’s well-placed header beat Mandanda to give Philippe Montanier’s men their third win in a four-match unbeaten run.”

Ligue 1

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Montpellier HSC 1-0 US Boulogne

(1-0 Dzodic 78′)
In the battle of the promoted sides, Montpellier gained an unconvincing win against a Boulogne team looking set to quickly drop in the table. It took until the 78th minute to break the deadlock, and even then it was a sloppy goal after a questionable call where Matheiu Valverde appeared to have been fouled. This match was reportedly a snooze fest.

AS Nancy-Lorainne 2-1 FC Sochaux-Montbeliard

(1-0 Hadji (pen) 3′, 2-0 Hadji 39′, 2-1 Martin 82′)
Sochaux continued their awful slump today with defeat at a dangerous looking Nancy side. Charlie Davies has lost his early season form, and Sochaux looked lifeless. Nancy have been unexpectedly adept at putting the ball in the net this season, considering that their recent successes have mainly been down to a solid defense. Sochaux have well and truly returned to the relegation dogfight.

Olympique Lyonnais 2-1 Toulouse FC

(0-1 Sissoko 8′, 1-1 Tafer 52′, 1-2 Gomis 71′)
In one of the more interesting matches of the night, Les Gones continued their excellent form against a tough Toulouse side. Even without three quarters of their starting defense, Toulouse completely dominated the first half, going ahead early after a horrible mistake by Mathieu Bodmer. Toulouse almost extended their lead when Bodmer again fumbled, but Andre-Pierre Gignac was unable to slide the ball past Lloris and the half ended 0-1. Bodmer was taken off for 19 year old Yannis Tafer, and Jeremy Toulalan was shifted into the center of defense to compensate. Tafer’s impact was immediate, pounding an Aly Cissokho cross into the back of the net in the 52nd minute for his first Ligue 1 goal. Lyon finally took the lead late on when Bafetimbi Gomis continued his goalscoring run by deflecting Miralem Pjanic’s shot into the net with his head.

Await more exciting games tomorrow, when Lens travel to Le Mans and Lille take on Nice at home, followed by a much anticipated Rennes vs. Bordeaux match at the Stade Chaban Delmas.