Matthieu Chalmé - Our Ligue 1 All-Star right back
Throughout the years, Ligue 1 has always been considered one of the most physical leagues in all of the world. That physical play leads to less scoring as well, which makes for better defenders.
Still, this year seems to be bucking the trend, as goals are flying in Ligue 1 this season. Who thought, even with all the fire-power that both teams have, that we would see a 5-5 game between Lyon and Marseille a month ago.
Therefore, in Ligue 1 anything is possible.
Still, while there are many defenders that make the cut, there are a few defenders that caught the eyes of our voters. And here are our choices for out Ligue 1 All-Star team defenders.
Left Back – Aly Cissokho (Lyon)
While defense is a strong part of Ligue 1, sometimes there doesn’t seem to be depth in a certain position. And that can easily be said amongst the left and right backs in the league. Toulouse’s Cheikh M’Bengue and Bordeaux’s Benoît Trémoulinas received multiple votes in our poll. And even though he had a pretty good Champions League match yesterday, Marseille’s Taye Taiwo only received one bote.
But for our voters, Aly Cissokho of Lyon was an obvious choice, receiving five out of a possible six votes. Being promoted to the French National Team recently, Cissokho has shown his weight in gold this season. While the rest of Lyon’s defense has been much weaker than expected, Cissokho continues to shut down the right side attack of any opposing team. Even though he isn’t a scoring defender, Cissokho did score his first goal for Lyon today in the team’s Champions League match.
During his career, Cissokho spent much of his time with some smaller clubs. But in 2009 he joined current teammate Lisandro Lopez at Porta, where he showed what he was capable of. He transferred with Lisandro to Lyon this year, where he has shown Raymond Domenech that he is a worthy player for Les Bleus (even though it will be hard to knock off Patrice Evra for that left back position).
Right Back – Matthieu Chalmé (BDX)
Along with Cissokho, Matthieu Chalmé was also a strong pick for the right back position, receiving five out of a possible six votes. Even though he did well in the balloting, Auxerre’s Cédric Hengbart received four votes. All the other vote-getters were pretty much out of the running.
Chalmé has shown in both Ligue 1 and Champions League play that he is a force to be reckoned with. Unlike our other All-Star Cissokho, Chalmé possess a bit of an offensive side to him, being able to turn on a dime and bring the ball up the right side for Bordeaux. He also has extremely good dribbling skills. And in addition to pushing forward, Chalmé can also drop back quite fast. He is easily one of the most versatile defenders in Ligue 1.
Center Backs – Adama Coulibaly (AUX) and Marc Planus (BDX)
As both Bordeaux and Auxerre are strong at the right back position, the same can be said with their center backs as well.
Malian international Adama Coulibaly has shown that players from Africa can play just as strong at the defensive position as they can scoring goals up front. Coulibaly, along with Hengbart, help anchor a defense that is one of the hardest to get by in Ligue 1. So far this year Auxerre has only allowed 14 goals this season, just two behind defensive leaders Toulouse FC.
Marc Planus also possess the same ability and talents of Coulibaly. Along with Michaël Ciani (who Planus beat in a tie-breaker for this position in our voting), Trémoulinas and Chalmé, Planus adds strength to a defense that might possibly be the most disciplined in Ligue 1. All these defenders play positionally brilliant. And in set pieces Bordeaux (especially Planus) has proven to be far superior to any other Ligue 1 team.
Goaltender – Hugo Lloris (LYN)
There has been a lot of criticism of Hugo Lloris in recent weeks. Why is his team losing in Ligue 1? Why did he allow five goals against Marseille…blah, blah, blah.
Still, when all is said and done, Hugo Lloris has to be considered the best goaltender not only in Ligue 1, but on the French National Team as well (of course, this is my strong biased opinion).
Many commentators and writers have talked about the amazing saves that Sebastian Frey or Steve Mandanda have had recently. That is nice, but all professional goalkeepers make amazing saves, that is what they are paid for.
But Hugo Lloris has cat-like reflexes that most goaltenders can only dream of. He also possess rapid movement and recovery, and is usually smart with many of his rebounds (though that is questionable sometime, and leads to most of the criticism toward him).
Still, Lloris received four votes in our poll, closely followed by Bordeaux’s Cédric Carrasso.
So there, those are our defensive All-Star for the season (so far) in the 2009-2010 season. Here is how the voting was broken down.
Right Back
Chalmé………5 votes
Hengbart……4 votes
Sosa…………..1 vote
Jallet…………1 vote
Réveillère…..1 vote
Left Back
Cissokho……5 votes
Tremoulinas….3 votes
M’Bengue……2 votes
Tiene………1 vote
Taiwo………1 vote
Center Back
Coulibaly….5 votes
Planus…….3 votes
Ciani……..3 votes
Rami……..2 votes
Diawarra…1 vote
Spahic……1 vote
Cris………..1 vote
Sahko……..1 vote
Marchal……..1 vote
Koscielny…..1 vote
Gritching……1 vote
Bisevac…….1 vote
Nounkeu……1 vote
Goalkeeper
Lloris…….4 votes
Carrasso….3 votes
N’dy Assembé….2 votes
Pele……….1 vote
Ruffier…….1 vote
Sorin…….1 vote
Filed under: AJ Auxerre, Girondins de Bordeaux, Ligue 1 Commentary, Olympique Lyonnais Tagged: | Adama Coulibaly, Aly Cissokho, Hugo Lloris, Ligue 1 All Star Team, Marc Planus, Matthieu Chalmé
Cissokho does have an offensive side, he is an extremely good crosser of the ball.
I have to disagree with you about Lloris being better than Frey. He will in the future, but at present, Frey is considered on par with Gigi Buffon by avid Serie A fans and is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Frey, of course, is quality. But when you consider how poor the defense is in front of Lloris, it is hard to not to think he currently is the best French goalkeeper. Even when Lyon lose–the match against Lille last week is a good example–it could have been twice as bad without Lloris. Hard to believe he is only 22.
Not even a single vote to Steve Mandanda ?
: )
Look at the defense in front of Frey. It isn’t much better than Lloris’s (if at all). If Lyon’s defense is so bad, why are Cissokho, Reveillere, and Cris in the running here?
Honestly, I don’t think Cris should be in the running. I think he is one of the most overrated defenders in Ligue 1, period.
Like I said with Lloris, that is my biased opinion, and I will admit that.
As far as Cissokho, he does do a good job crossing, but I was mostly talking about directly attacking the net. I think he lacks.
But as far as Frey, I think that he is a good goaltender and makes good saves, I just think that Lloris is better at recovery which makes him tops.
I am surprised that Mandanda didn’t get a single vote, even from our OM writer.
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Thomas: I have to admit my bias. I was the only one not to have voted for Cissokho. Perhaps it was because I actually expected more offensive prowess from him coming into this year. Then again, he performs his role with Lyon well.
Reveillere and Cris, in my opinion, don’t deserve consideration this year–of yet. Cris in particular–so I agree with Dave there.
I’ll reveal my cards (hoping it will spur on others to share opinions); I picked Siaka Tiéné–who I believe has been more important for his squad than Cissokho. Perhaps that was the wrong rubric to use in choosing who to vote for. Not to mention that I knew it would be rather wasted. But a some credit seemed due for him.
I did not factor this in, obviously, but Tiéné is also very important to Côte d’Ivoire and I’m expecting him to have a big impact for his country in South Africa.
I disagree on Cris, which is why I voted for him. Let me offer my defense:
First, I think there is a tendency to look at isolated matches and overstate them. Lyon has had a large portion of their goals allowed come in a handful of matches. That distorts the record. The worst sum result you can have in a match is -3 points, whether your allow 5 goals or not.
Second, Cris has been fine most of the time, good at other, and yes – he has been sketch. He was the fourth and final player I chose at that position, but I did so knowing he has had to try and keep that back line together without having a consistent partner and while others struggle also. I then to highly favor the center back who helps organize (which is why I always disproportionately rate Ricardo Carvalho and Rio Ferdinand).
When I really study Lyon, I see Cris’s influence. Now, I’m not say that is actually there. I might be wrong. Over the weekend, as I went through the schedule and thought of the matches I watched, Cris rated pretty well, especially relative to the league. Some obvious minuses, but a good number of pluses.
Lyon has played 23 competitive matches this season (all competitions). Do you know how many times they’ve allowed more than 1 goal? Five times. That’s it. Granted, that’s two more than Bordeaux, but still. You know how many times Auxerre has allowed two or more goals? Six.
It’s not like Lyon’s shipped goals all season. I think there’s a tendency to a.) focus on isolated results, and b.) overstate their influence. There may also be an element of seeing a poor, team aggregate result and then trying to find explanations. But has the result been THAT poor, when you look match-by-match?
Then again, I could be outright wrong, but given that this was a poll, I wasn’t scared to be. I admit that my Cris pick was one of the ones that forced me to hold me ballot through the weekend before hitting Send.
Of course, Lyon can still be OK at the back and Cris can be bad, so a lot of their team metrics might be irrelevant here. I voted for Coulibaly, Planus, Ciani and Cris.
I also agree with Thomas about Lloris, although I have nothing really negative to say. It looks like I’m one of two voters to leave him completely off my ballot. I voted for Carrasco and N’dy Assembé.
Well, Cedric Carrasco did have a few votes as well. I think that he is one of the most underrated players in Ligue 1, easily.
I was the other one to leave him off. I voted Carrasso and was surprised to be the only Pele voter. Notice Toulouse allow very few goals and have an injury plagued defense. Just sayin.
Yeah, I think most people thought I would be the Pele voter, but I actually picked Ruffier.
I see your logic on Pele, Thomas. I considered him more heavily than I did Lloris, but I remain an admirer of Lloris.
Pele has only played half of the year. He was red carded and suspended. Olivier Blondel has been just as important to Toulouse as Pele.
Richard: Great points in your defense of Cris.
First, I have to admit to my act of ignorance. I should not have said Cris doesn’t deserve consideration. Of course, as the captain of a team in their position he certainly falls into the list of top center backs in the league. For me it is just a matter of where exactly on that top list. My words were unnecessarily harsh, I could have been a bit more judicious.
Cris has obviously had better years though, and that was what effected my judgment. That said, I probably do fall into that category of person you have isolated, Richard, who have placed too much emphasis on the few poor results.
But besides the obvious poor performances (against Nice, OM, and Lille last weekend) there were some key matches where Lyon’s defense gave away points unnecessarily: the draw against Grenoble despite having the lead and Grenoble having gone down to 10 men, the draw against Rennes, the loss to Sochaux, the draw against PSG that Lloris—literally—saved.
But a club can’t win every game, of course. I realize I’ve been overly critical of Lyon, perhaps because I expect more consistency from them. Regardless, after going back and looking at the slips in defense in those crucial matches, Cris certainly doesn’t deserve the brunt of the blame.
Anyways, at the risk of embarrassment: I voted for Planus, Marchal, Koscielny, and Rami.
Planus I think is the easiest to justify. But besides what has already been said about him, I’ll admit that when first setting out to choose 4 center backs, one thought I had was to preliminarily choose who I considered the best defensive player on the best defense in the league. That was Planus for me, and after considering his individual performances that I’ve seen it was easy for him to retain the spot.
Next, I voted for two Lorient center backs! That certainly needs to be justified, especially since I did so with the assumption that no one else was going to vote for them.
First justification, somewhat similar to Richard’s point about Lyon only having 5 matches where they allowed more than 1 goal: Lorient have only allowed 2 goals in 3 matches this year—and never more than 2. Of those 3 games they only lost one, and drew the other two. While Lorient haven’t played in European competition, thus playing in less games then Lyon or GdB, I still think that is impressive. For me, they have perhaps one of the most consistent and impressive defenses (of course, I’m not forgetting about GdB and Toulouse).
But it is the individual performances from the two Lorient center backs that have been most impressive. When you look at those 3 games where 2 goals were conceded, not one of the goals let through can be attributed to an error made by either Marchal or Koscielny. Marchal’s performance becomes even more impressive when you factor in that he did not play in Lorient’s 2-2 draw against Monaco (his replacement, Benjamin Genton, committed errors that led to both Monaco goals).
Even in the cases of the one goal Lorient allowed to Lyon and PSG (they were unfortunate to lose to Lyon 1-0, and drew against PSG), neither of the two central defenders were at fault. Left back Jérémy Morel, however, has made critical errors that cost the club points. Back-up keeper Lionel Cappone flubbed a free kick against Grenoble that cost them 2 more points in that match. Bottom line: Marchal and Koscielny have been unbelievably solid. If Lorient had a little more strength in the midfield they would be going to the Champions League next year.
And, finally, I voted for Rami. Lille’s defense has not been the best—perhaps it is no more than average to decent, but Rami is anything but. He is certainly the rock of that back line, and continues to impress me with his efficiency. While there have been several slip ups this season, often with Lille’s aggressive style leaving them open to counterattacks, Rami has steadied the ship. There was the low point of his mistake against Sochaux, Rami was absolutely vital in Lille’s defeat over GdB. But, I know I know, I shouldn’t invest too much in one-off performances.
Awesome comment, Andrew.
Just one more thing on Cris: I can’t blame anybody for leaving him off. He was fourth on my list, a ways behind third, and if he was lower for others … I can’t honestly say that’s wrong.
I admit that Andrew has given me good reason to give some of this player more consideration in the next vote. Maybe I missed something with them? That’s why I like this idea, Dave – we’re getting people to share their views, and hopefully that will help inform mine.
Great discussion there guys. Here is my point of view on Cris ; and bear in mind that I am a Lyon supporter.
He remains one of the best defenders of L1. His aggressiveness and tackling skills and never-give-up attitude make him the great player he is. Nonetheless, in the past two seasons, forwards have started finding ways around him, something that didn’t happen before. He is capable of amazing matches (the home game against Fio, for example) bur he is also capable of the worst games (Lille, as of recently).
He is declining and I can’t see him getting any better than he was and that he is now. I’d also expect leardership from the guy, who is, after all, the captain. Lately Lloris has been speaking up. This is not normal : the guy may be a beast but he is shyest person ever, and he is 22. What does that say of the captain? The guy needs to step up and show that he can be the leader of the defense. Of course it is not easy for him because he’s had as many as 3 other players pairing up with him.
So we need to expect more from him. If there is one player the club needs to expect more from, it is Cris and only Cris because we know how good he can be. But he hasn’t shown it this season, or only flashes.
I think Maritn’s comment is great. And I think that’s why it makes it difficult to evaluate Cris’s current year performance. Against the rest of the league, I obviously feel he’s in the discussion. Against his potential and past, of course his form is disappointing.
I love Mandanda and all that he has done for OM for the past few years, but I couldn’t justify him being in the top 2 goalkeepers in the league this year. I did give him an honorable mention though in my email.
Afterall, you asked me to evaluate this objectively– I didn’t even put Ben Arfa on the list (and that still hurts and I have tremendous guilt). Only two OM players made my list – Niang and Cheyrou.
Andrew – I also voted for Rami, and I’m shocked he didn’t get more votes.
Hey, like I said, that is why I couldn’t in my right mind put Gignac on my list.
Only three Toulouse players made my list: M’Bengue, Capoue and Sissoko.
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