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.

The games happening this weekend are…

Week 9 – Saturday, October 17, 2009
19:00	AJ Auxerre				Girondins de Bordeaux
19:00	Le Mans UC 72				Boulogne Côte d’Opale
19:00	Olympique Lyonnais				FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
19:00	Montpellier Hérault SC				AS Saint-Etienne
19:00	AS Nancy Lorraine				Olympique de Marseille
19:00	Valenciennes FC				Grenoble Foot 38
21:00	LOSC Lille Métropole				Stade Rennais FC
Week 9 – Sunday, October 18, 2009
17:00	FC Lorient				OGC Nice
17:00	AS Monaco FC				RC Lens
21:00	Toulouse FC				Paris Saint-Germain

While the table is currently looking like this:

1	Olympique Lyonnais	8	6	2	0	+10	20
2	Girondins de Bordeaux	8	6	1	1	+10	19
3	Montpellier Hérault SC	8	5	2	1	+6	17
4	AS Monaco FC	8	5	0	3	+2	15
5	Olympique de Marseille	8	4	2	2	+4	14
6	FC Lorient	8	4	2	2	+2	14
7	Paris Saint-Germain	8	3	4	1	+4	13
8	Stade Rennais FC	8	3	3	2	+6	12
9	AS Nancy Lorraine	8	3	2	3	+2	11
10	AJ Auxerre	8	3	2	3	-1	11
11	Valenciennes FC	8	3	1	4	0	10
12	AS Saint-Etienne	8	3	1	4	-2	10
13	LOSC Lille Métropole	8	2	3	3	-3	9
14	FC Sochaux-Montbéliard	8	3	0	5	-5	9
15	Toulouse FC	8	2	2	4	0	8
16	Boulogne Côte d’Opale	8	2	2	4	-5	8
17	RC Lens	8	2	2	4	-6	8
18	OGC Nice	8	2	2	4	-8	8
19	Le Mans UC 72	8	2	1	5	-3	7
20	Grenoble Foot 38	8	0	0	8	-13	0

Since most of the matches in Ligue 1 happen at the same time, I’m going to make some recommendations for matches to see. Obviously you will want to see your club’s game, but here are a few others worth glancing at.

Montpellier-Herault SC vs. AS Saint-Etienne
Today, 19:00 (1pm Eastern 10am Pacific)
I’m interested in this match because it’s another proving point for both sides. Was Les Verts win over Bordeaux a fluke, or are they going to continue their climb up the table? Montpellier are the Cinderella story of the season thus far. Will they assert their position as a title challenger, or drop back into the midtable region? These questions could very well be answered in this match. I’ll be tuning in.
Probable Lineups:
Montpellier: Jourdren – Yanga-Mbiwa, Dzodic, Spahic, Jeunechamp – Pitau, Marveaux, Costa – Aït-Fana (ou Lacombe), Montano, Dernis

Saint-Etienne: Janot – Andreu, Benalouane, N’Daw, Dabo – Landrin, Fernandes, Matuidi, Payet – Augusto, Bergessio

LOSC Lille Metropole vs. Stade Rennais FC
Today, 21:00 (3pm Eastern, 12pm Pacific)
This is a battle between two of the best teams in Ligue 1 who aren’t in our “Big Three”. These are the clubs you would expect to see in the Europa League places. This season, both sides are lower than they’d like to be in the table, Lille hanging around at 13th while Rennes are barely staying in the top ten in 8th place, only a point in front of 10th place Auxerre. Expect a tense atmosphere and no more than two goals.
Probable Lineups:
Lille: Butelle – Béria, Rami, Chedjou, Emerson – Cabaye, Debuchy, Dumont – Gervinho, Hazard – Frau

Rennes: Douchez – Théophile-Catherine, Fanni, Aubey, Danzé – M’vila, Br. Cheyrou, J. Leroy – Bangoura, M. Sow, Thomert

I’ll add my two for tomorrow later, but rest assured that Toulouse-PSG will be one of them…

You may completely disagree with this list, think it’s terrible, that I’m the worst blogger ever, whatever. Tell me so in the comments. And to tell you the truth I probably don’t agree with it much either, but I compiled it in half an hour, and I feel exhausted after fixing it innumerable times. Tell me what you think.

AS Monaco FC

Classy and classic. Nothing out of the ordinary for Monaco.

Monpellier Herault Sport Club

Boring. Plus ASNL finally have competition for “Busiest shirt in Ligue 1″ with all the ads on this rag.

AS Nancy Lorraine

As I said before, Montpellier have got almost as many, if not more, clashing advertisements than ASNL. However, Nancy actually have a somewhat stylish shirt when without the ads.

OGC Nice

I like these shirts. The color combination is great and the gold trim is the icing on the cake. The away kit is especially nice (hehehe).

Paris Saint-Germain

So, you’ve got a club with a history of great kits and have been sticking with one nice model for ages. So, what do you do? Well, if you’re Nike, you change it into some boring all blue affair with pinstripes. Ack. And the away shirt. Um…polkadots? Oh yay! We love polkadots in Paris! Grr.

Well, I guess it’s time to vote now. Don’t vote for PSG. We have to shame them into bringing the old ones back.

Which club will be victorious from Group 3?(opinion)

Vote Away!

UEFA Champions League
It was an auspicious start when Stade de Reims-Champagne reached the final of the inaugural European Champion Clubs’ Cup, only to fall to a late Hector Rial inspired comeback from Real Madrid.

French clubs continued to impress in the following years, Including another final appearance for Reims in 1959 along with numerous appearances in the quarterfinals from Nice. A period of European drought followed, without a team in even the quarterfinals until AS Saint-Etienne did one better by making it into the semifinals in 1975. Sainte continued to up their European performance, making the final in 1976, only to lose to FC Bayern Munchen by a score of one to zero.

For the next nine years the only events of note were a single quarterfinal appearance apiece for Les Verts and Strasbourg.  However, in 1985 Bordeaux famously gave Juventus a run for their money in the semifinals, coming off of a three-zero drubbing in Turin to put in two late goals at the Chaban Delmas.

In the late 80’s Bordeaux and Monaco’s occasional appearances in the quarterfinals were the only events of note, so It came as a bit of a surprise when Olympique de Marseille began to dominate in the early 90’s. In 1990, their first appearance in the later rounds, they lost to Benfica in the semi’s on away goals. The next year they went one better, making the finals against Crvena Zvezda only to suffer a heartbreaking loss. The match ended 5-3 on penalties after a zero-zero draw.

Only two years afterward, Marseille were in the final again. This time it was against giants AC Milan, in the first ever UEFA Champions League.

Nearly forty years after Reims lost at the Parc des Princes, a French club had won the European Cup. The next three years brought three successive semifinal appearances. In 1994 AS Monaco lost to eventual champions Milan (video). The next year PSG were eliminated in the last four, again by the Rossoneri (first leg, second leg). FC Nantes barely lost to Juventus in 1996, missing out on a final appearance by a goal (first leg, second leg). French clubs continued their good fortune, Auxerre losing to eventual champions Dortmund in the quarters in 1997 (first leg, second leg), while Monaco made another semifinal appearance the year after that, this time losing to Juventus (first leg, second leg). There was a short period of relative quiet after that, until Monaco shocked many by making a run to the final.

As you can see, the principality club were embarrassed by Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto in a resounding defeat. In the next few years, as you probably know, Lyon became the dominant French force in the Champions League, making three consecutive quarterfinal appearances from 2004-06, but have failed to come further than the first knockout round in the past three years.

Grenoble Foot 38 2-3 Montpellier HSC


OGC Nice 3-2 Valenciennes FC

Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 AS Nancy Lorraine

Stade Rennais FC 0-1 AJ Auxerre

AS Saint-Etienne 3-1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1-0 Le Mans UC 72

RC Lens 0-2 Olympique Lyonnais

US Boulogne CO 2-3 LOSC Lille


Toulouse FC 0-1 FC Lorient

Olympique de Marseille 1-2 AS Monaco FC

Enjoy the highlights!

1) Let’s start here, on the general Ligue 1 blog. We’ve got two new writers here after a year of inactivity. Sarah and myself have teamed up to make this blog back into the amazing piece of journalism it once was. Corey of the Real Madrid blog will probably continue to contribute sometimes as well.

2) We have two new bloggers at the Marseille Offside, Sarah and Richard, after it went through a brief spell of inactivity.

3) I guess I count myself as new also. I’ve been writing for the PSG Offside since late June.

4) Xavier has been doing a great job bringing us the news about newly promoted RC Lens since July.

5) The Monaco Offside has another blogger! Christoffer has joined Richard to give us more coverage about the principality club.

6) I have information that Dave Trotter will soon start The Offside’s first Toulouse FC blog.

So, what’s going on with the blogs that aren’t so new?

The Lyon Offside is actively covering the seven time champion’s exciting season.

The Bordeaux Offside is giving us updates on Les Girondins amazing run of form.

And LOSC is getting some coverage over at the Lille Offside.

As you can probably see, there are some gaping holes in the coverage of Ligue 1. Are you a fan of Rennes, Saint-Etienne, or Auxerre? Do smaller clubs like Boulogne interest you? Interested in Charlie Davies’s progress at Sochaux? Or is the team you support already accounted for? Cobloggers are generally an option, so write for a Ligue 1 team on The Offside! Read the guidlines here if you want to blog, and than send Daryl an email.

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.

Now that everyone knows whats going on in terms of the table, I’ll fill you on the probable lineups for today’s matches.

19:00 – AJ Auxerre / Grenoble Foot 38

Auxerre: Sorin – Hengbart, Coulibaly, Mignot, Grichting – Chafni (or Birsa), Pedretti, Ndinga , Capoue – Niculae, Jelen.

Grenoble: Le Crom – Mainfroi, Jemmali, Vitakic, Robin – Batlles, Romao – Feghouli (or Courtois), Akrour, Matsui – Ljuboja.

You can find a Goal.com preview here.

2-0 FT–PEDRETTI (63 ‘) HENGBART (84 ‘)

19:00 – FC Lorient / Paris Saint-Germain

Lorient: Audard – Sosa, Marchal, Koscielny, Morel – Amalfitano, Ducasse, Mvuemba, Diarra – Gameiro, Vahirua

Paris Saint-Germain: Coupet – Ceara, S. Traoré, M. Sakho, Armand – Giuly, Makelele, Clément, Sessegnon – Hoarau, Luyindula

A preview for the game will shortly be arriving at the PSG Offside.

1-1 FT–MVUEMBA (40′) HOARAU (45′)

19:00 – AS Monaco FC / AS Saint-Etienne

Monaco: Ruffier – Adriano, Mongongu (or Nkoulou), Puygrenier, Traoré – Costa, Coutadeur – Alonso, Gudjonhsen (or Perez), Nenê – Park

Saint-Etienne: Janot – Varrault, Bayal, Ndaw, Dabo – Landrin, Gelson, Matuidi, Augusto (or Payet) – Sanogo, Bergessio

Check for a preview at the Monaco Offside, or if not in evidence, find one here.

1-2 FT–PUYGRENIER (56 ‘) SANOGO (3 ‘) BERGESSIO (90 ‘)

19:00 – Montpellier HSC / US Boulogne CO

Montpellier: Jourdren – Yanga-Mbiwa, Dzodic, Spahic, Collin – Pitau, Marveaux, Costa – Aït-Fana, Camara, Montano

Boulogne-sur-Mer: Valverde – Rabuel, Touré, Lachor, Borne – Marcq, Adefemi, Da Rocha, Agouazi – Blayac, Robert

Again, this Goal.com article is your only option preview-wise for a battle between two promoted teams.

1-0 FT–DZODIC (79 ‘)

19:00 – AS Nancy Lorraine / FC Sochaux-Montbéliard

Nancy: Bracigliano – Chrétien, Macaluso, Sami, Marange – Féret, Berenguer, Ca, Brison – Dia, Hadji

Sochaux: Richert – J. Faty, Perquis, Bréchet, Jokic – Boudebouz (or Nogueira), B. Gavanon, Mar. Martin, Dalmat – Davies, Sverkos

Preview here.

2-1 FT–HADJI (2 ‘) pen HADJI (39 ‘) MARTIN (81 ‘)

19:00 – Valenciennes FC / Olympique de Marseille

Valenciennes: Ndy Assembé – Ducourtioux, Bisevac, Rafael, Tiéné – Mater, Cohade, R. Gomis, Sanchez, Danic – Pujol

Marseille: Mandanda – Bonnart, Diawara, Heinze, Rool – Cissé, Abriel, Lucho, Be. Cheyrou – Brandao, Niang

Look for a preview at the Marseille Offside, or if one doesn’t make it up in time there, visit theLigue 1 Official Website.

3-2 FT–BISEVAC (20 ‘) DUCOURTIOUX (30 ‘) RAFAEL (83 ‘) MORIENTES (13 ‘) NIANG (23 ‘)

21:00 – Olympique Lyonnais / Toulouse FC

Lyon: Lloris – Réveillère, Cris, Bodmer, Cissokho – Toulalan, Makoun – Källström, Pjanic, Govou – Gomis

Toulouse: Pelé – Congré, Capoue, Nounkeu, Tabanou – Berson – Braaten, Didot, Sissoko, Machado – Gignac

The amazing writers over at the Lyon Offside will probably have a preview up soon, but you can also find an excellent one at Le Tef.