Toulouse started the weekend in first and kept their lead with a convincing win over Nancy. Despite only adding the second in stoppage time the class of Didot and Capoue completely bossed the midfield and dictated the pace for Toulouse. Nancy had possession and opportunities to put their stamp on the game but were pretty tame in the final third. The second, after Capoue’s opener on ’68, was a brilliant solo effort that was worth the wait: Tabanou beating the entire Nancy defence with a surging run before dinking the keeper. The ball came back off the post but directly to the Toulouse striker who, unlike Carlos Tevez
, didn’t have much problem finishing into the empty net.
Rennes travelled to Arles-Avignon and put a bus in front of the goal. All the graft and imagination was from the southern side but it was Rennes who came away with the points after opening the score through Montaño midway through the first half. This was one of those that AA will kick themselves for as they dominated possession and chances and lost to the only shot on target Rennes had all game. Still the goal was lovely, a screamer from 35 meters out as the AA defence backed off
. The red tops had a field day with the keeper, whose name means “rooted to the spot” and he was. Rennes are into the top 3 but they will need to be more adventurous after this display and the disappointing draw to St. Etienne at home last week. Arles-Avig. are still pointless after 4 games.
Another top of the table team playing away and another 1-0 win after a goal on 28’. This time the story was different however with Montpellier well deserving their victory and they should have had a lot more. Valenciennes were 4th going in but they will have to do much better if they are to stay near the top as they were dominated in pretty much every area of the pitch by a Montpellier team who have yet to concede this year.
Remember the abysmal display St. Etienne offer up to PSG on the opening day? Since then they may not have set the league alight but they have been much more organised winning at home to Sochaux 3-2 before taking a point at Rennes. This weekend saw them entertain Lens and great individual performances by their wide-right striker/winger Dimitri Payet, who nicked a hattrick, and goalkeeper Janot won a game that wasn’t as one-sided as the 3-1 scoreline suggests. Marchal’s red on 90’ and Jemaa’s injury time consolation didn’t really change much in the overall result but this is one that they will be happy to take all three points from given Lens’s entertaining play. Not much they could have done about Payet though, who constantly switched wings throughout the game and scored two goals that Robben would have been proud of, controlling both, cutting in and either smashing it into the far corner or curling it round the keeper.
The “story” of the weekend turned into a bit of a damp squib with Johan Gourcuff on the bench for Lyon for the very first time as they travelled away to his birthplace, Lorient, a club managed by his father, Christian. An ankle injury on Delgado on 30’ saw the younger Gourcuff’s introduction but Lyon were already 1-0 down from the 8’ penalty that newly capped Kevin Gameiro converted after some comedy defending in the Lyon box. They doubled the lead on 38’ after some lovely one touch play that saw Lloris palm Amalfitano’s stinging shot into the path of Kitambala and from there it was just a case of avoiding a Tevez moment
, which he didn’t. Lyon lose 2-0 and drop to 13th.
In the final game on Saturday Brest (hur! hur!), still pointless, travelled to Caen. Now Caen have drawn to Montpellier and beaten Lyon and Marseilles in the opening 3 games, hosting Brest shouldn’t have been much of an issue. Unfortunately the game-plan suffered with the expulsion of Yatabaré who received a straight red after only 18 minutes for a horrible 2-footed tackle over the ball on Ferradj. The Hosts held out until the 75’ though, when Brest managed to open the scoring and directly after the kickoff doubled their advantage with a penalty. Hard to say who would have won had it remained 11-11 as Caen controlled the ball well though didn’t do much with it. Brest (hur! Hur!) proved more dangerous when they did get the ball and deserved the win.
In the Sunday games, Auxerre showed that getting to the group stages of the Champions League may indeed affect their league form with a timid 2-0 loss away to Monaco. They are going to have to recruit to rotate better or just enjoy their 6 European games as best they can while they concentrate on the league. No-one expects them to qualify from a group with Read Madrid, AC Milan and Ajax. Their league form is now DDDL and they need to get it started. Lille, another team starting the league with 3 draws, couldn’t improve on that either adding a 4th point with a home draw to Nice.
PSG won their opening game of the league campaign in swashbuckling fashion, putting St Etienne to the sword. Their subsequent away draw to Lille is nothing to be ashamed of despite the litany of misses that should have seen them win it easily. They followed that with last week’s late home capitulation to Bordeaux which was sandwitched between their 5-4 EL victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv. A Sunday visit to Sochaux after that schedule would surely show us what sort of team PSG were made of this year. To be honest, we‘re still not sure. They didn’t play badly but Mickael Landreau
, once more omitted from the French selection for the upcoming internationals, effectively gifted 3 goals to an adventurous Sochaux. The first a shot he should have held on to and, if not, put anywhere else but directly in front of Maiga (who, likewise, didn’t do a Tevez)
. The second allowed a very simple shot to beat him while he dithered about coming to meet Brown and the last a pathetic attempt to punch clear a corner where he neither jumped nor really raised his arms. Perquis, completely unmarked, seemed a little bemused at how easy it was to score a header from dead centre on the 6 yard line. With Landreau off his line, it was effectively an open goal and we know how hard it is to score those!
The final game pitted Bordeaux at home to Marseilles a tie that Marseilles hadn’t won in 33 years. Usually when the press harps on about stuff like that, you’re pretty sure it’s a streak that’s sure to continue, especially with Dechamps stating that he’ll be playing with 3 strikers and another 3 on the bench. Things looked rosy for Marseilles when they opened the scoring on 12 minutes with Brando crossing for Lucho to convert, a great goal that the keeper couldn’t do much about. There followed a pretty fractious period, constant stoppages for fouls and 4 cards in a 15 minute period finally culminating in Eduard Cissé’s straight red for a lunch from behind on Plasil. Bordeaux took total control after that, completely dominating the visitors but not managing to breakthrough until Plasil’s perfect centre in the 88th minute. Modeste out-jumped Azpilicueta to power a header past Mandanda and the game ended all square.
Other Leagues Season 2010/2011