Matchday 10: Lyon and Marseille Put their Ligue 1 Shorts on

By: Sam | October 7th, 2007

As opposed to their Champions League shorts. Yes, the reigning champions were back where they belonged, aka on the happy end of the scoreline. OM, on the other hand, failed to win for the ninth time this year. Out of ten tries, yeah.

(4) Bordeaux 1-3 Lyon (1)
Coming off of last week’s spanking against Rangers at home, Alain Perrin made a few changes, but couldn’t use Toulalan, suspended, and decided against using (hahaha) Fred, back on the bench after all this time. Also of note, this match pitted the two top scorers in the league, Karim Benzema and David Bellion. Kleber Anderson put Lyon in front after only six minutes, left alone at the far post on a corner kick. Fifteen minutes thereafter, who else but Karim Benzema got his tenth of the season (!) after a great service from Hatem Ben Arfa (again) and a powerful and accurate finish. Kim Kallström added the third on the hour mark, alone near post and well spotted by Juninho. Jussie got consolation for the Girondins in the last five minutes, after Vercoutre awkwardly missed his challenge and allowed Chamakh to set him up easy. Lyon is still leader on goals scored over Nancy, who both have a +12 differential.

(3) Le Mans 2-0 Nice (8)
With both these usually unspectacular sides playing upbeat football of late, there was potential to climb up to some very important spots going into this match. Though it was MUC who emerged victors, there was not much to signal about this one. Tulio De Melo got the first one midway through the first half when he cut in front of a cross, and Daisuke Matsui got a real ugly one in the second when he sort of slid onto a cross in the six-yard box. De Melo hit the bar late, but it would prove to be irrelevant, as Le Mans gain access to the podium after losing their place as leaders early in the campaign.

(12) Monaco 1-3 Nancy (2)
Wow. To be honest, I didn’t think ASM were doing this bad before actually looking at the table. What happened to their wicked-ass start to the season? They sure didn’t have that touch playing host to the red-hot ASNL, who wasted no time to set their foot down and kill the match before Monaco could say Jack Robinson. Kim got the slightest of touches on a Gavanon free-kick to put Nancy 1-0 up on 31 minutes, and then Issar Dia made it two eight minutes later, impeccably striking past Roma on a good counter. Kim got his second just after the second half got underway, taking on a number of defenders on a great run before finishing with a beauty of a strike into the very tip of the corner of Roma’s net. Jan Koller got a consolation goal for his boys on 74 minutes, but consolation was all it was.

(11) Lille 3-0 Valenciennes (6)
Going into the “other” Derby du Nord, Lille had seven draws in nine matches, and hoped to earn their second win, boasting Patrick Kluivert in the starting eleven for the first time. It took the Dutchman roughly five minutes to make an impact, converting a penalty right from the get-go. Les Dogues went ahead by two just before the half-time whistle, with Stéphane Lichsteiner scoring an odd little number past a what-the-hell-was-he-up-to Penneteau. The knockout occured halfway through the second, with Nicolas Plestan heading from close range. Could VA be falling into their rightful place, after such a cannon start?

(14) PSG 1-3 Rennes (5)
Before the Parisians got ready to try to win their first match of the season at home, Jérôme Rothen received the UNFP trophy for being elected player of the month of September. He edged out Youssouf Hadji and Karim Benzema (who got 5% of the votes. Fucking 5%?). Jérôme Leroy got the first goal on nineteen minutes, after a mishap in the PSG midfield and a tricky chip over Landreau. In the second half, new Brazilian Cearà levelled for the hosts, crunching a drive that Luzi mishandled and let slip through. But they fell apart shortly thereafter, allowing Jimmy Briand to run through and score a second, then completely falling apart on the third goal, which Sylvain Wiltord scored easy as pie without a defender in sight. No celebration to honour the passing of former president François Borcelli tonight.

(8) Saint-Étienne 1-0 Marseille (18)
You just beat Liverpool at Anfield. You’re on top of your Champions League group. Blah, blah, blah. Marseille have learned the hard way that that don’t mean a thing. A game that both sides could very much have won, with both sides getting chances and both sides not getting a penalty they maybe should have, was at hand in Le Chaudron. But 90 minutes of tension were nothing compared to the dénouement, with Taiwo getting sent off and a few minutes later, Geoffroy Dernis unleashing an absolute screamer off the bar and in to give Les Verts the win, and send Marseille home, again, without a second league win.

(20) Metz 1-2 Strasbourg (7)
You wouldn’t know it from their spot in the table, but Metz had won two straight heading into this match, and one of those was in Bordeaux, thank you very much. Le Derby de l’Est turned out to be a ripper, with Éric Mouloungui scoring for Racing a few minutes before half-time, rising higher than his man and getting a head to the ball on a corner. Renteria made it two for the visitors midway through the second, doing well to get in front of a Johansen cross to mystify Marichez. Metz pulled one back soon after, when Cassard pushed the ball right to Julien François, who picked the corner beautifully. Too little, too late, as it turned out, even though Metz pushed harder and harder until the end of the match.

(19) Sochaux 0-1 Toulouse (10)
“Bonal est maudit”. Sochaux haven’t won inside their own fort yet this season, and this match epitimized their troubles so far. Without playing particularly bad, last season’s Coupe de France winners could not find a way, plain and simple. After playing hot potato with Toulouse for the better part of the first half, in which Nicolas Douchez pulled off a sensational save for the Sudistes, it was still nil-nil. Cruelly, though, the only goal came after a freak accident, in which a clearance was blocked and drifted to Achille Emana, who had all the time in the world to shoot past Richert. And to top it off, Isabey hit the bar for Sochaux in the waning minutes. Sochaux is now second from the bottom, with four losses in five home matches to boot.

(13) Lorient 0-0 Caen (17)
Yawn. Hardly a shot on target.

(15) Lens 2-0 Auxerre (16)
With a totally different team than the one who lost out in smarting fashion to the UEFA Cup group stage during the week, Lens was second-last with a game in hand and went for the kill against an also lowly Auxerre side. And worry you not, it was all Lens, all along. Luigi Pieroni beat Olivier Sorin on a penalty (dive, dive, dive, dive, dive) midway through the first half, and with AJA showing little signs of life, that would be half-time. Now, with Jean Fernandez’s men looking more up to it, it was not them but Lens who would get the second, with Kader Mangane picking up his own rebound after great combination play by his teammates. A much needed win for JPP and his boys, who are now fresh out of the red zone.