Tag Archives: Thomas Tuchel

Football Fans Should Watch Chelsea In The 2021/22 Season

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Around the world, football fans are celebrating the return of the Premier League. The 2021/22 campaign kicked off on August 13th, with the newly-promoted Brentford versus Arsenal. With every new season comes the chance to place wagers on matches and, of course, try to beat your friends at Fantasy Premier League (FPL). Maybe you’re doing both this year. Either way, we suggest watching Chelsea, and here’s why.

Overall Optimism

There’s a feeling of optimism surrounding Chelsea this season: the Blues are entering the campaign on the back of winning the Champions League and the Super Cup. Therefore, the Chelsea players have the advantage of a winning mentality from the outset, especially Jorginho, who also has the additional talisman of football betting odds at 14/1 to win the Ballon d’Or after adding a third title to his summer tally: Euro 2020. According to the football betting tips, Chelsea’s title odds have shortened to 16/5 and they’re the second-favourites, as it stands.

Granted, much of this optimism surrounding Chelsea comes from the London club’s recent signing of Belgian Romelu Lukaku. In the striker’s two seasons at Inter Milan, he scored a whopping 64 goals in 95 appearances and pundits like Chris Sutton believe Lukaku’s influence might be enough to nick the Premier League title from City.

Chelsea Players to Pick Up On Your Fantasy Team

Edouard Mendy

French goalkeeper Edouard Mendy impressed last season, keeping 16 clean sheets. The 29-year-old has both impressive agility and reaction time, two skills that placed him at number 77 on this season’s FPL draft ranking. In fantasy, it’s tempting to always go for the hard-hitters: for instance, players like Harry Kane or Mo Salah, who you know will come through on the goal-scoring front. That said, keeping clean sheets is just as important. Mendy is a Chelsea player who can do this consistently.

Jorginho

As mentioned, Jorginho has had a great summer that’s consisted of winning three competitions. The wins under his wings will definitely have him fired up to take Chelsea to victory in their 2021/22 Premier League campaign. Jorginho, who has an FPL draft ranking of 87, is also Chelsea’s penalty taker, which in FPL is considered an asset.

In the 2020/21 season, Chelsea received ten penalties and scored eight, and so, even if Jorginho doesn’t score from open play, if Chelsea is awarded a penalty, you know it’ll be likely that the ball will meet the back of the net.

Kai Havertz

When Chelsea signed Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen, he was expected to do great things. Under Frank Lampard, that wasn’t the case, with the 22-year-old only producing three assists and one goal in the first 19 Gameweeks. However, the German was visibly boosted by the arrival of Thomas Tuchel midway through the 2020/21 season, scoring three goals and producing two assists in seven starts under the new head coach. As such, many are forecasting that as Havertz continues to build the momentum he was gaining at the end of last season, he could be a big-hitter in this campaign.

Everyone has their way of watching the Premier League, whether it’s betting on matches or playing in a fantasy league. Whatever it is, the fact remains the same: Chelsea will be making waves in 2021/22.

Premier League Game of the Week: Manchester City 1-2 Chelsea

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Don’t adjust your eyes the Champions League final does not take place for almost three weeks but the finalists of the 2021 edition did play each other over the weekend.

Chelsea came out as victors as they came back from a goal down to beat City 2-1 at the Etihad. Don’t be fooled to just brush off this match either just because it is inevitable that City will win the league this season. Arguably it is Chelsea who are the best side in England right now and they will want to extend that to the rest of Europe by the end of this month.

Manchester City’s 5th defeat of the season almost feels like it has been glossed over but this loss did feel important. Chelsea have been superb since Thomas Tuchel took over as manager from the sacked Frank Lampard at the end of January and the club have lost just 1 game in the Premier League since he took the job. Indeed Tuchel’s win rate is currently at 68% and he has won 17 games from the 25 coached so far.

As for the game City were installed as the favourites to win, being at home, wanting to lay down a marker before the Champions League final and of course a victory for City would mean the league title. All was going well until Sergio Aguero’s penalty….

Raheem Sterling opened the scoring on the 44th minute when he seemed to intercept an Aguero chance but took the ball himself and City were a goal up. It had been a dominant half from the home side and Chelsea had only managed 1 shot on target. In injury time of the first half it seemed that this game would be wrapped up when City were awarded what looked like a soft penalty.

Aguero put himself forward to take the penalty, here was the man who historically won City the league title with the final kick of the season a decade ago and could seal another with a penalty kick. However an over confident Aguero chose to use the method of the paneka and chipped the ball softly to the centre of the goal. When it comes off the striker looks super cool and the goalkeeper looks like a fool. When it doesn’t reverse that statement. Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who has been outstanding for the club this season simply stood his line and easily saved the spot kick. Aguero looked a tad embarrassed and the whistle went for half time. Chelsea should have been out of the game but were instead in with a chance of a comeback and that is what materialised.

This would be a game of two halves and in the 2nd half Chelsea showed all of their qualities and it is why City will be worried ahead of the Champions League final, because in that second period Chelsea were by far the better team.

The Blues equalised just after the hour mark through Hakim Ziyech. He shot from the edge of the area and found a sweet point to beat Ederson in goal and it was game on.

With 10 minutes to go Callum Hudson-Odoi thought he had put the visitors in the lead but his goal was rightly ruled out for offside. But Chelsea would get their winner.

Timo Werner set up the ball for Marcos Alonso in a clever move and Alonso’s beautiful shot wrapped up the game and Chelsea had won it.

For Chelsea they have been chasing a top four spot for the majority of the season but their fantastic form means they are in 3rd place now and will probably finish in that position. But there will be a lot of confidence within the squad when they face City again in a few weeks time for the grandest of all club prizes.

As for City they must wait for the title. It could be awarded to them tonight if Manchester United lose at home to Leicester or Liverpool in a couple of days time. Failing that City will play Newcastle United away from home at the weekend and they will be the favourites to win that match.

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Premier League Game of the Week: Chelsea 2-5 West Bromwich Albion

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Curse those international breaks, this is what Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was probably thinking when the final whistle sounded at Stamford Bridge this past weekend. But this was a game that looked over and out at least 20 minutes before the end.

West Bromwich Albion defeating Chelsea away from home was something, a shock, a surprise on a certain level. It can happen. But scoring 5 goals, that simply was not expected and the result was easily up there with Aston Villa putting 7 goals past Liverpool earlier in the season. It was mammoth and it had Tuchel fuming and Baggies manager Sam Allardyce laughing and grinning like a Cheshire cat. It was a small beautiful moment in a season, which for West Brom has looked desperate and toothless.

It’s always a surprise when one third of the game has gone without goals and then there were 7 but that was almost the case with this match and the goals didn’t arrive until the 27th minute and it would be predictably the home team that would open the scoring through Christian Pulisic. Marcos Alonso produced a near brilliant free kick that the keeper could not take hold of and Pulisic was in the right place at the right time to tap in from only a few yards out.

It is worth mentioning by this time that Thiago Silva of Chelsea had already been booked for holding, because just two minutes later he received his second booking and was sent off for a challenge that had actually happened after the ball was struck. The challenge looked nasty and was two footed but one could also believe that there was no malice intended, it didn’t matter though and Chelsea were now down to 10 men.

Everything was to change in injury time of the first half, something quite spectacular indeed, and it is this unpredictable nature of the Premier League which probably makes it the best competition in Europe- barring the fact of course that Manchester City are running away with the league.

West Brom’s Sam Johnstone looping pass found an unmarked Matheus Pereira who then looped the ball past Edouard Mendy in goal and on the 45th minute +1 it was 1-1. Pereira wasn’t finished yet though. There was chaos in the Chelsea defence as West Brom came forward again and despite there being 3 defenders in front of Pereira his shot still went past them and into the back of the net. Suddenly West Brom were heading into the break 2-1 up.

True you could argue that Chelsea had had the better chances of the first half but West Brom had not come here to defend and park the bus like many would have expected, and they remained a constant threat and had chances of their own. Even still Chelsea remained the favourites to go on and win the game despite being reduced to 10 men. That myth was busted within 20 minutes of the 2nd half re start.

There would be no 2-2 score line and then the inevitable Chelsea come back, West Brom firstly went 3-1 up and then 4-1 up. It felt like madness on paper but in reality was grounded in hard work and a desire to win a game that nobody thought would be possible for Allardyce’s side.

Callum Robinson slotted in a beautiful third and when Mbaye Diagne soon after scored a fourth goal for the Baggies, this was suddenly looking very easy for the away side who are in 19th place.

West Brom did show some vulnerabilities at the back, and this is why they could get relegated this season to let in Chelsea for 2-4 when the Blues easily picked them off and the goal was finished by the impressive Mason Mount from just a few yards out. Suddenly a threat from the home side was there, this is a game that Chelsea could possibly draw. But it was the away side that needed these points.

But as the time went on Chelsea were not able to find the chances in the final third to create much danger and then Robinson scored his 2nd of the game, perhaps the finest of the encounter with a beautiful little dip beating the keeper for an incredible 5-2 victory.

Chelsea lost their first game in over 2 months and Tuchel has faced his first taste of defeat in the Premier League. The result is a blow to the Blues top 4 chances too and they saw West Ham pass them for 4th place and the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham have edged nearer.

As for West Brom, well Sam Allardyce has never been relegated with his teams and perhaps the great escape is on. It would indeed be the greatest given how West Brom are in 19th with 21 points and are 8 points from safety with just 24 left to play.

Let’s take a look at the latest betting odds for relegation in the Premier League.

Sheffield United 1/500

West Bromwich Albion 1/25

Fulham 8/11

Newcastle 11/10

Burnley 16/1

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3 key players who have reinvented Chelsea’s winning way under Thomas Tuchel

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When Thomas Tuchel landed the Chelsea job at the end of January after Frank Lampard was sacked Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp mused that he has been given a gift, and Klopp was absolutely right.

The problem with that statement though was that Chelsea’s brilliant players- and they really do have plenty were not performing to their maximum best under Lampard. They simply could not be coached by him and he had to go.

Bringing in Tuchel was an ace move, the German had worked wonders at PSG and stream rolled their domestic success. He almost reached the top of the mountain last summer as he guided PSG to their first ever Champions League final, but ultimately they lost in a close final to Bayern Munich.

Even though there would be disappointment for Tuchel last year with being a runner-up in the Champions League and then being sacked from PSG, he did earn pedigree and he also earned respect. It is this respect which is now filtering through to the Chelsea stars, and it is obvious that Tuchel gained it as soon as he arrived at the club.

But which players have really picked up their game since he took to the Stamford Bridge dugout? It’s interesting that one player in Timo Werner, Tuchel’s German countryman continues to struggle and Werner only has 30 points so far for a striker and has scored just 5 goals.

Let’s take a look then at the best 3 Chelsea players who have really stepped up their game and made an impact under Tuchel already.

- Mason Mount was bubbling with form under Lampard but has exploded with Tuchel in charge. He is quick, confident on the ball and is scoring goals. Six months ago he may have not been on Gareth Southgate’s list for the Euro’s this summer, but he will be one of the first on it now. Mount is able to score goals in the important games.

-Mateo Kovacic has really benefitted from Tuchel’s tactical switch of playing 3 at the back and while the defender looked lost under Lampard at times he has come into his own. He reacted very well to Tuchel’s method of play, but Chelsea have a strong team and he will have to keep that form up.

-N’Golo Kante is in a long line of brilliant midfielders for Chelsea, from everyone from Michael Essien to Frank Lampard. Though unlike Lampard Kante’s forte is not about goals, instead he has been dominating the midfield and games and has looked like one of the shining stars of this Chelsea side.

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Did Frank Lampard deserve to get sacked by Chelsea?

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The big news in the Premier League over the last few days has been the sacking of club legend Frank Lampard. Lampard was sacked after Chelsea fell to 9th place and the Chelsea board could seemingly take no more.

Lampard lasted 18 months in the job and one has to wonder have Chelsea made the right choice in sacking him, or have they reacted too quickly? After all in his debut season with the club in the dug out he did manage to qualify for the Champions League as the Blues finished in 4th place. He also guided the team to the FA Cup final, although they eventually lost to Arsenal.

This season Chelsea were brilliant in the Champions League group stage and qualified with ease for the knock out rounds in February where they will play Atletico Madrid. In the FA Cup they have made it to the fifth round this past weekend as they beat Luton 3-1, this was incidentally Lampard’s last game in charge of the club.

But it’s the league where the problems mount up for Lampard’s Chelsea side. The club spent big on players last summer over £200m was spent bringing in the likes of Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech. Chilwell has been superb and fitted right into the club. Ziyech has looked quick but has also faced some injuries and Werner has looked lost, confused and puzzled. He has been a huge disappointment.

It has been reported that behind the scenes lies problems, players feel they are not being coached very well and Lampard isn’t up to the job. Of course it is one thing being a superb player for the club but quite another at managerial level. Perhaps the problem in this whole matter is that Lampard was not experienced enough to manage a club side like Chelsea?

One has to ask would Chelsea have appointed a manager who has only had 1 season with Championship side Derby County on his resume? Therein lies the answer as to why everything hasn’t turned out as Chelsea had hoped. It also goes to show that even though Lampard spent 14 seasons at Stamford Bridge and knows Chelsea inside and out, managing players who also may have had egos is a difficult task.

Chelsea do not give the best managers a chance if failure looks like it is creeping up, the likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti have been sacked in the past, so Lampard’s number looked up a few weeks ago. Though how odd is football sometimes because it was only 8 weeks ago that the Blues had gone 2 months unbeaten in all competitions and were challenging for the title.

Ultimately Lampard wasn’t able to get the best out of his players, but Chelsea are to blame too for going in for an unexperienced manager, their though process only concerned with the fact that he used to play for the club. New players coming into the team don’t care about the past when they were still teenagers, only the now and the relationship simply didn’t work out.

After spending huge sums though one has to wonder what Chelsea thought would happen this season. A league title? surely not. As any team who has bought so many impact players knows, it always takes some time for the players to gel and click by that time any league chance has gone. Did Chelsea really believe that they would fly past Liverpool and Manchester City, if so that seems like wishful thinking.

At the flipside of that the club were not expecting to be 11 points behind either. Chelsea are 5 points from 4th place and that would have been taking into account too.

Sadly for Lampard Covid-19 and the impact it has made on football hasn’t been taking into account. Chelsea may have won more games at home with fans and the players may have reacted more positively. The pandemic has turned football on its head and we have seen some interesting results to go along with that. There have also been more away wins than any other season, that can’t just be a coincidence.

In an ideal football world Lampard would have been given more time, perhaps until the end of the year if not end of this season. However, if as expected, he had lost the dressing room then there is only one solution for that and that was his sacking. One has to wonder what the future now holds for Lampard? And who knows maybe the club legend will return back in the dugout after gaining years of experience coaching elsewhere.

As for Chelsea they have brought in Thomas Tuchel the ex PSG coach and who knows what will happen there. Tuchel is a good character and of course with PSG had to put up with plenty of egos. But he hasn’t been in this position for a long time where his team are not challenging for honours so it will be fascinating to see how he takes to the job.

Also Tuchel being German might be able to train Timo Werner better and install some confidence in him, let’s see if Werner becomes the striker we all thought he would be in the Premier League.

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Kylian Mbappe’s row with PSG coach Thomas Tuchel could highlight a move away

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Even though PSG beat Montpellier 5-0 in front of their home fans controversy was never that far away. Both Neymar and Mbappe were involved in skirmishes. Neymar’s story has been covered on here but involved getting booked. But Mbappe’s was much closer to home.

The star striker had scored in the game meaning that he now has 14 goals and is in 2nd place in the goalscorers chart one behind Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder, and perhaps that is why he flared up when PSG coach Thomas Tuchel ordered him to come off.

He was substituted for Mauro Icardi and Mbappe did not go quietly. Clearly it could be seen on the touchline his confrontation with Tuchel. Mbappe was furious as Tuchel tried to cradle his hands on his head and calm the player down.

In that moment it was evident that despite his brilliance as a team player and natural goalscorer and already of course a World Cup winner with France to see the little boy in him. He will probably look back on incidents like this and laugh them off, or at least he should do. Tuchel obviously took off Mbappe as PSG were 4-0 up at the time with just over 20 minutes remaining, why not bring on Icardi?

After the game Tuchel said: ”I’m the coach someone has to decide who goes off and who comes on it’s me. He is very intelligent, he knows what he is doing. He doesn’t like going off, nobody likes going off These are not good images, but we are not the only club that has to deal with this sort of thing. It’s not good, because it opens up subjects that go against the team’s state of mind. Too bad.  I explained to him why we did this, and it will stay that way. I will always decide the technical aspects. We don’t play tennis, we play soccer and we have to respect everyone.”

Tuchel added that the argument is not over. “I will make a decision, We have training at 11am, we will talk about the match with the group. I’ll see if I talk about this or if I do it individually. It will depend on my night’s sleep too.”

Speculation has now grown that Mbappe could want out of the club. He has always been linked to Real Madrid but the club would have to find at least 250m euros to make this happen, or perhaps a few player swaps could help.

Tuchel though seems blameless in the whole debate, he acted as a coach and did nothing wrong. Mbappe is an amazing player but sadly he has shown to throw his toys out of his pram on a few occasions in the past when he hasn’t got his own way. PSG and Tuchel will hope that this story can blow over.

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Referee Jerome Brisard got it wrong with Neymar at the weekend

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Even when PSG win games 5-0 Neymar appears to have arguments with someone but one could feel for the player this weekend.

PSG destroyed Montpellier 5-0 and even though Neymar did not get on the score sheet he did make an assist for Kylian Mbappe’s goal.

For Neymar it all kicked off as the first half was approaching closure. The Brazilian tried a fancy flick which looked great, although the ball did go out of play. Then, for some reason the camera’s zoomed in on him and referee Jerome Brisard it was hard to know what at that point was going on, but it looked heated. Some have claimed that Neymar was screaming that he was trying to play football. But words were exchanged and it is possible that at that point Neymar said something to the referee and then was booked. Which almost tipped Neymar over the edge.

It didn’t stop there though and at half time the players were seen to go through the tunnel to get to their dressing rooms and Neymar told the waiting officials again he was only trying to play football, of course he was speaking in Portuguese which didn’t go down well and one of the officials looking angry turned to him and said ”speak French”, it is claimed by some TV stations that Neymar replied ”speak French, my ass” and then kicked something.

So, two things here; The first is that why did Brisard book Neymar, and why did a confrontation happen in the first place. Was Brisard right to book him. Wasn’t it not just a heat of the moment thing, after all Neymar had not injured a fellow player. If he had sworn at the referee that is a different matter but it is some thing that we are not clear about.

The second situation seems a lot more darker. Why did a French official feel it was necessary for Neymar to speak French? Would that have suddenly validated his concerns- obviously not, so that seemed quite bizarre to say such a thing. Neymar replying simply added to what many think of him as a cry baby. But in defence of Neymar who also turned 28 it seems from this point of view that the officials were a little heavy handed on him and got it wrong. If anything they made sure to make the headlines especially in France.

As for Neymar he needs to put this recent episode behind him as PSG and him are in glorious form and will want to continue that to the end of the season.

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Marseille emerge as the only hope to stop PSG in Ligue 1

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The end of the year is here for Ligue 1 and PSG as expected are in 1st position. Perhaps the surprise is seeing Marseille in 2nd place. Marseille who will always be the great rival to PSG and one of the biggest clubs in France have been up and down and had a yo-yo decade in the league, but they seem on the ball and focused for this one. Can Marseille stop PSG’s dominance this season?

The only club to upset PSG’s apple cart since 2012 has been Monaco when they won the league in 2017 in stunning fashion with a barrage of goals, led by Kylian Mbappe who is now at PSG and a brilliant defence. But Monaco has fallen so far since that being the league champions just 2 and a half years ago seems a long way off. Fast forward to now and PSG lead the league by 7 points over Marseille. That in itself is a healthy lead, but add the fact that PSG have an extra game to play and it makes the situation much worse for Marseille.

PSG were tipped to struggle this season because of the Neymar transfer saga. The Brazilian was all set to leave the club in the summer but deals fell through and he stayed, then he got injured and returned and then injured again and has returned just this month. There has been niggling injuries to their other stars including Edinson Cavani and Mbappe, but the club have kept their chins up and coach Thomas Tuchel signed Mauro Icardi to get the goals instead. Despite a shaky start PSG are having a good season.

Good in that they are leading the league with a gap, have qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League and are in the quarter finals of the Coupe de la Ligue. All really is good. And PSG are having a great month, all 3 of their deadly strikers are available and are scoring goals. The club have netted 13 times this month and conceded just 2 goals.

So what can Marseille do about this and is 2nd even an option? Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas is being praised at the club because they are heading in the right direction at least. They are unbeaten in 5 games and have lost just 3 this season – the same as PSG, it is just the many draws that have been the difference between the sides.

PSG will drop more points this season, the problem is just how many? with the game in hand PSG are in theory 10 points clear, so that is basically 4 games difference before Marseille could surpass them. On top of that there has to be another 6 games at least added to that because we aren’t going to see the situation where PSG face a massive meltdown whist Marseille turn into world beaters, it can happen, but we don’t expect it. So for Marseille to go past them they will need 10 very good games. That would take the league up to 29 games and we could have a very close run in.

Close run ins are great but it would take a massive effort from Marseille nonetheless. They will have to beat PSG when they face them again and they have a terrible recent record over their eternal rivals. Marseille can get 95 points and PSG could get 108 points. In short, yes Marseille could win the league but it would need a massive loss of form from PSG and that simply seems unlikely, because Marseille even in great form won’t likely reach 90 points which is what they will need to aim for.

Rennes and Lille are the other problems for Marseille, they are 5 points and 7 points behind respectively. They could nab 2nd place which would mean no Champions League football next season for Marseille, if anything the clubs objective has to be 2nd place, and that means they will need to find a consistent method to winning.

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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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PSG’s rout of Marseille confirms Ligue 1 as a one team league

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The beginning of the season in France’s Ligue 1 just felt different. It may have been because the champions every year except in 2017 since 2012, PSG had suffered through transfer speculation all summer about Neymar. It looked as if the Brazilian was certain to leave, he wanted to, and yet a proposed deal to Barcelona or Real Madrid fell through and Neymar and PSG were stuck with one another, not that PSG ever wanted Neymar to leave in the first place.

Then there was the beginning of the season, PSG had a poor pre-season and then lost a couple of early games. Losing at this stage of the season just didn’t feel normal at all. When the club then lost 2-0 at home against Reims that was simply seen as a shock, this PSG weren’t supposed to lose in Paris, and if they did then it would happen in April with the season long over not in September.

On top of PSG’s league problems was their attacking front three, when on form look like the deadliest in Europe. Edinson Cavani a veteran now also looked like he would be leaving in the summer but he couldn’t find a good deal. But he has spent most of the opening campaign injured. Neymar also started the season injured, then came back and duly earned 9 points for the club in four games, his goals in single goal games won games and won over the fans, even the ultras who had warned Neymar that it would take a long time to win their trust back. Think of Neymar what you will, he is a world class player and a summer of discontent has not changed that fact.

However on recent international duty Neymar was injured and the forward is not expected back until after the November international break. So attentions turned to Kylian Mbappe the outstanding French forward but he has also missed key games through injury. He is back now and has simply continued scoring goals, it is amazing to think that Mbappe is just 20 years old. Mbappe has scored 8 goals in all competitions this season totalling 9 games. And for PSG overall he has scored 68 goals in 96 appearances that is simply fantastic.

So with PSG having a stop/start beginning to their season one could think that even if they win the league it would be much more competitive than it has been in recent years, not so. PSG might have lost 2 games already seen this but just thank the big man upstairs that they have because they are winning their other games and destroying others. This includes smashing Marseille 4-0 at the weekend with two goals each for Mbappe and Mauro Icardi. Make no mistake that PSG coach Thomas Tuchel was on the money bringing in quality like Icardi to PSG when their strikers were getting injured.

So after 11 games PSG have 27 points from a maximum of 33 and in fact that’s very impressive so impressive that the other clubs simply cannot keep up with them. Nantes are the surprise team in 2nd place but they have lost their last two games and are 8 points behind PSG. Last December it was clear that only PSG would win the league and that looks like easily being the case again.

One of the main problems is that Lille who finished as runners up last season sold a couple of their best players and Lyon started the season with Sylvinho in charge only to sack him after a few months. Lyon will improve after a shocking start to the season but they are already 14 points behind PSG as a consequence.

The French league has a lot to like about it, and sometimes fans of other leagues don’t see this. But there is one glaring problem, we already know who will be the league champions with 27 more games left to play and that can’t be good for anyone.

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