Your Weekend-At-A-Glance

By: Corey | January 10th, 2008

With Coup de Whatever action subsided, the league program roles around again, with two ties certain to catch the eye of neutral fans. The under-the-radar Nancy Boys will travel to Caen for what should be an entertaining tie between two surprise packages, while we have game between Bordeaux and Auxerre, and we have some relegation cliff hangers in the form of PSG against Lens and Lille against Metz. Ill previews the games for you from top to bottom:

11:10am Eastern Time

Valenciennes (6th) vs. St Etienne (11th) Stade Nungesser

What can you say about these two teams? I cant say much, they both are having decent season, Les Verts less so then Valenc, but neither entertains to the max. I believe Johan Audel never went to the ACN because he is actually from the Caribean so Valenciennes should continue there good run of form and be able to take care of a Les Verts team that just doesnt travel well enough. They also lost a couple players to the ACN so they may look a little weak in this encounter.

Saturday Games
2:00 pm Eastern Time

Lyon (1st) vs. Tolouse (12th) Stade Gerland

Lyons take on the boogeymen in this clash that is sure to entertain with the leagues twp top marksmen do battle in Karim Benzema and Johan Elmander. Inara should have a preview of this match on the Lyon site so I wont go any further.

Bordeaux (3rd) vs. Auxerre (15th) Parc Lescure

An old rivalry between two teams that are always considered contenders for Europe, Bordeaux havent missed a beat with Laurent Blanc in charge while Auxerre have been struggin with Santini in charge, then again, who would doubt that? Anyways, we will probably see some dour tactics from Auxerre who prefer to defend rather then attack with the new crop of youngster they have coming through (Genest, Alain Traore, Cissoko, and Kahlenberg) no matter where they are, which means Bordeaux should be coaxed forward and will use the pace of Daivd Bellion to open up a rearguard of Marcos Antonio and Gabriel Tamas that is err slow. I expect an easy win for the Wine Country boys.

Caen (4th) vs. Nancy (2nd) Stade Michel-d’Ornano

2nd vs. 4th is always an interesting encounter, but this year its between two teams with tiny budgets and small but consolidated fan bases. Not exactly PSG vs. Marseille, it will none the less be an entertaining encounter as Nancy attempt to keep upwith Lyon and stave off Bordeaux. Caen themselves will want to consolidate there place and they look to be hanging on to Gouffran for now so their season looks saved already. I predict a Nancy win as they are quietly efficient no matter where they are.

Le Mans (5th) vs. Sochaux (19th) Leon-Bollee

This was suppose to be the home coming for the excellent Fredrick Hantz, but he was sacked because Sochaux is in shambles, and despite a cup win last year, has been for some time now. Le Mans have continued improving, and have a good crop of youngster that have pushed them up the table, but they will feel the effects of the ACN with Romaric, Gervinho, Keita and Yebda all absent. Mathieu Coutadeur, Cyriqaue Louvion, Guillame loriot, Anthony Le Tallec, Mamadou Samassa and Douillard were all at one point French youth internationals, so they should have the required class to keep Le Mans in the top half while the others are absent, but I would expect Le Mans needs to recruit a few faces to keep the momentum up. Its an obvious Le Mans win here, Sochaux need to get their act together or face the drop finally.

Lille (18th) vs. Metz (20th) Stade Lille Metropole

This is the definition of a 6 pointer. Metz need this big time, seeing as how they are on 7 points, 9 behind Sochaux. With 1 win on the season, they would need a miracle run to stay up, so even though they may pull something off here, it wont save them, I say this because their goal threats, Babaca Gueye and N’Diaye as well as a whole host of other players are at the ACN and besides Julien Cardy, Daniel Gygax and Barbosa, they lack the quality for ligue 1. Lille will win, maybe Kevin Mirallas will get more shots on goal, he is second in the league in that statistic, but has a paultry 0 goals! 12 shots no goals, more power or placement lad! Lille lost Makoun, Youla, Sylva and I think Chedjou so they will have to pull together to cope with that. But a Lille win is expected.

Monaco (9th) vs. Lorient (8th) Stade Louis II

Monaco’s league position betrays the fact that they are a loss away from being tied with PSG at 16th. Monaco has the tremendous talents of Jeremy Menez, Serge Gakpe (out for this match along with Monsoreau) and Malaury Martin as well as young left back Vincent Muratori. But they look set to lose Jan Koller, and Piquonne never really chips in with enough goals, so unless they start something off right in the New Year they can slide down the table. Lorient on the other hand is a modest means team coached by Mr. Gourcuff, who does a tremendous job. Even though Lorient are away, I see them winning this, they are fighters and Monaco just seems to disconnected this year.

Strasbourg (14th) vs. Nice (7th) Stade de la Meinau

Even though its nice to see Nice in 7th, and I enjoy the talents of Ederson, Hugo Lloris and Stras’s Kevin Gamiero, I have to say SNOOOOOR!

Sunday Games
12:00 pm Eastern Time

PSG (16th) vs. Lens (18th) des Princes

A big game for two teams who are stuttering there way through the year and who are making signings in hope of turning things around. Lens picked up Mailouda while PSG are hot favorites still for Fred even though Tottenham and Boro have stepped into the mix. As for the game, expect Papin and Le Guen to baffle everyone with player selection and tactics as usal. A draw looks likely here, so Parc des Princes.

2:55 pm Eastern Time

Rennes (12th) vs. Marsielle (10th) Stade dele Route de Lorient

Hmm, who would have thought these two would be in the positions they are in. Both have a new coach, both need to win this one. Rennes got their first win in what seems like a lifetime midweek, while Marseille are gonna have to start gasppppp Djibril Cisse sing Niang is off to Ghana. Niang = 10 goals, Briand = 3 goals. That sorta tells you what you need to know. Withou Niang, Briand is equald to Cisse. So goals a plenty, probably not. But it should be a good one none the less, the Sunday night games always are. Rennes win, sorry Mag!

Okay, so enjoy the weekend matches, and remeber, if you hear someone screaming BUT! at your local watering hole or brew house, its me. Later.