Tag Archives: Angers

Ligue 1 Round Up: PSG roar on as Lyon’s bus is attacked in Marseille

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The 13th week in Ligue 1 saw champions PSG reinstate their 8 point advantage at the top of the standings.

PSG were impressive away to Brest who had not lost at home this season and they came out 2-1 winners at a tough ground. Angel Di Maria opened the scoring and the impressive Mauro Icardi grabbed the winner. Icardi has been one of the most important signings made up PSG coach Thomas Tuchel as the club have repeatedly had injuries to their famed front three. This game was no different as both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were missing, but it was another 3 points for the club in the end.

Marseille have roared into 2nd place mostly because other clubs keep dropping points but they have won 3 of their last four games. At the weekend the club played a grudge match against Lyon, and these two famous rivals served up a treat which Marseille won 2-1. That stopped Lyon’s revival under new coach Rudi Garcia. Although Lyon’s team bus was attacked before the game and the club would have been shaken by that. One is reminded of when the same thing happened to Manchester City’s bus when they took on Liverpool in the Champions League.

Whilst the result leaves Lyon in 14th place with 16 points they are just six points behind 2nd placed Marseille, and there is a lot still to play for in the league.

Angers could have remained 2nd but slipped up to Reims and could only draw 0-0. They also ended the game with 10 men and the club have only won 1 game from their past five. One of the best form teams at the moment is Saint Etienne who have picked up 13 points from their last available 15. The club gained their 6th victory of the season when they beat Nantes 3-2 away from home. As for Nantes who were 2nd just a few weeks ago they are going through their worst form of the season and have now dropped to 9th place after losing 4 games in a row.

The bottom of the league remains tight. Nimes are last with 11 points and yet one win would take them into safety, but those wins will have to start coming soon. The club lost to Strasbourg 4-1. The worst form side of the league Toulouse are in 19th after losing 3-0 at Montpellier and Dijon remain in 18th after a close 1-0 defeat at the hands of Monaco.

Ligue 1 football resumes from the weekend of 22nd November where PSG will be at home against 5th place Lille. Marseille will take on Toulouse and be favourites to win that game. Can PSG’s 8 point lead be caught up? Probably not but that is the question on every French football fans’ mind. Only time will tell.

Prove you have what it takes to challenge the best French Fantasy Football managers here www.fantasyligue1.com 

PSG lose another game in Ligue 1 but get away with it

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PSG lost their 3rd game of the season, something which usually doesn’t happen until around April and yet they are still 7 points in the lead in Ligue 1, in a season which is looking quite bland as far as who will win the league title goes.

This latest defeat was perhaps the most surprising as the club were playing Dijon who are struggling badly in the league and look set for a relegation dog fight. Whilst it is true that Dijon’s form has picked up no one expected them to get anything against the champions even if they were at home last Friday night.

What made matters worse was that PSG opened the scoring and it looked like only a matter of time before the league leaders would add to that, but it didn’t happen. Dijon actually fought back and won 2-1, that winning goal coming after a great solo run from Jhonder Cadiz.

Dijon coach Stephane Jobard said: “I’m happy for my players because they were rewarded for their efforts. We caused PSG problems and were also able to hold them off. It’s a great chapter in the club’s history, and proves to me that we belong in Ligue 1″ He continued: “I’m certain of my players mental strength, and we showed character in equalising before the break. We scored at key times: at the end of the first half and the start of the second. That ruined things a bit for PSG, because after that they became a little too individualist.”

With PSG losing it meant that 2nd placed Nantes could take full advantage and close the points gap to 5, but the Canaries lost to Bordeaux 2-0 to make it 3 defeats in a row. This has let in Angers who have gone back up to 2nd place after they beat Strasbourg 1-0. At the end of the weekend PSG can be content in knowing that they only lost 1 point

Next PSG will play in the Champions League and their next domestic match will be against Brest. On paper this should be 3 points but Brest are at home and unbeaten their all season and have proved to be very solid. It should be an interesting game and we have seen already that if teams are willing to give PSG a game this one can struggle.

Is Thomas Tuchel’s job under threat? For now that answer is no, but if the club struggle some more in the league and do not win the Champions League, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this is his last season.

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Ligue 1: Player of the Weekend: Mario Balotelli

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BALBAL(1)

Since leaving the Premier League and joining the French Ligue 1 Mario Balotelli has been able to reinvent himself. Perhaps he has found a level where he can consistently shine but the Italian international has been superb, first with Nice and now with Marseille.

Balotelli joined Marseille only in the January transfer window when it was made clear to him that he would not be part of Nice coach Patrick Vieira’s plans. And since joining Marseille Balotelli has consistently been one of the best strikers in the league.

At the weekend he earned 8pts in Ligue 1 fantasy standings amongst the very best performance of all players in all positions. He earned these points as Marseille drew 2-2 with Angers, but Balotelli scored both of Marseille’s goals. On a personal level Balotelli had a fantastic game but given that his side with his goals were leading the game 2-0 and at home the match ended in disappointment for the former Inter Milan player.

Balotelli has really struck up a friendship and a connection on the pitch with Lucas Ocampos and it was Ocampos who assisted for both of Balotelli’s goals on Saturday at Stade Velodrome. Both classic style Balotelli finishes even if they weren’t his best ever. The two goals took Balotelli’s total to 7 from just 17 starts this season but the bulk of his goals have come from playing with Marseille in the past 8 weeks.

In the Ligue 1 fantasy rankings Balotelli is ranked 20th but this is mostly due to his non starts as a Nice player. He has 23pts so far but if he continues his form he could easily reach the 40pts marker and perhaps squeeze into the top 10 players. And he may be worth bringing into your team because he needs to keep scoring and helping his team as they try to qualify for the Champions League. He can be bought for 7m.

Marseille coach Rudi Garcia had this to stay after his teams 2-2 draw, bizarrely not praising Balotelli for his goals in this statement, it could be down to the fact that he was angered that his side did not win the game being 2-0 up. “As long as it’s mathematically possible we’ll still believe we can qualify for the Champions League. Of course we believe but we still have to win matches, and tonight we had the opportunity given we were leading 2-0. It’s a bump in the road, getting held at home. We’ll have to recover points on the road. We have to be solid for the whole game. We lost balls that we shouldn’t be losing and Angers took advantage. We played well for the first half-hour and then stopped attacking. We can’t blame refereeing decisions for this”.

Balotelli is richly deserving to be named Ligue 1 player of the week.

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Angers’ Ismael Traore wins Ligue 1 Player of the Week accolade

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ismael-traoré

This week’s Ligue 1 Player of the Week accolade goes to Angers defender Ismael Traore.

Perhaps an unexpected recipient of the accolade, the 31-year-old central defender delivered a steadfast performance as his side ran out 3-0 victors in their home clash with a Guingamp side that have been tough to beat in recent weeks.

Angers took the lead in the very first minute when Flavien Tait headed home from a deliciously floated in cross to bag an unexpected first goal of the campaign.

What followed was a tight affair between the two clubs that saw Guingamp dominate much of the fixture but fail to create opportunities as they came up against a Continue reading →