Marseille defeat Brest 3-0, find themselves back in the title hunt.

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Dave Trotter

After last week’s upsetting loss to Lyon in “The Olympico”, Marseille looked to jump back on the winning horse and run away against their next opponent, Brest. And to the delight of the fans at the Stade Velodrome, OM didn’t disappoint.

Just minutes into the match, both teams had chances on goal. Jordan Ayew was brought down in the box, which brought a number of calls from the fans demanding a penalty kick, and rightfully so. Just one minute later, Brest’s Nolan Roux made a break on goal, beating goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. Who came out of his net to challenge Roux, but was unable to catch the ball as it headed toward an empty Marseille net. This would be Brest’s only quality chance throughout the match.
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Filed under: Olympique Marseille, Stade Brestois 29 | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Losing love for Ligue 1? Are transfers killing the league or helping it?

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Dave Trotter

Remy's move to OM started the last four days of craziness. (AFP)

(I have awaken from my writing coma).

Before the start of the Ligue 1 season, there wasn’t really any transfer news to talk about. The only “real” transfers of any significance was Nene moving from Monaco to PSG, giving the Capital side a little more depth, and Jimmy Briand to Lyon. Still, most of us had a feeling Briand was moving to Lyon anyway. All the other moves were just free agents, like Sidney Govou and Marouane Chamakh making moves abroad. Again, not much of a shock.

But then the Ligue 1 season started, and it became interesting.

If you have lived in a cave the past couple of days (which I have because of work, family, a ton of other stuff), the transfer market has gone from boring to being quite lively.

The first big move of any significance was the departure of Mamadou Niang from Marseille to Fenerbahçe for 8 million euros on August 14th. Surely the seaside club could have sold Niang for a little big more cash (even with his age), but decided to go with the 8 million figure. And with the departure of Niang, Ligue 1′s leading scorer last year, there were many questions in the air. Will OM get a replacement? Will Hatem Ben Arfa become a starter? Will OM raise or fall? Honestly, we just didn’t know.
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Filed under: Girondins de Bordeaux, Ligue 1 Commentary, OGC Nice, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille, Toulouse FC | Tagged: , , , | 17 Comments »

Squad for Norway-France friendly. And, yes, no World Cup players.

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Dave Trotter

Benzema, Nasri and Mexes...three guys that should have never been off the team, are back.

Well, this is kind of the moment that we have been waiting for. After the debacle that was Raymond Domenech, supporters of the French National Team were wondering what direction new manager Laurent Blanc was going to guide the team.

And by his first selection of player for the friendly against Norway, it is still hard to tell.

But even with it being hard to tell, we are kind of seeing what personnel are maybe in and out.

One promise that Blanc made a few weeks ago is that there would be no World Cup players on this team. And this was a promise that he was able to keep. With the exception of Lassana Diarra (who was expected to play in the World Cup but couldn’t), this squad is a totally new look for those of you who either casually watch France, or watch the French on a regular basis.

So, lets dive right into the roster. Here is the squad that Blanc released today for the Norway friendly:

GARDIENS : Stéphane Ruffier (Monaco), Nicolas Douchez (Rennes).

DÉFENSEURS : Rod Fanni (Rennes), Adil Rami (Lille), Philippe Mexès (AS Rome/ITA), Mamadou Sakho (Paris-SG), Benoît Trémoulinas (Bordeaux), Aly Cissokho (Lyon), Mathieu Debuchy (Lille).

MILIEUX : Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP), Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse), Yann M’Vila (Rennes), Samir Nasri (Arsenal/ANG), Yohan Cabaye (Lille), Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan/ANG), Blaise Matuidi (Saint-Etienne).

ATTAQUANTS : Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP), Loïc Rémy (Nice), Jimmy Briand (Lyon), Jérémy Ménez (AS Rome/ITA), Guillaume Hoarau (Paris-SG).
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Filed under: French National Team | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Transfer News: Panathinaikos to get 3rd French international?

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Dave Trotter

Gallas to Greece?

First it was Djibril Cisse from Marseille. Then it was Sidney Govou from Lyon. Now Greek side Panathinaikos (god I hate typing out Greek team names) looks to be adding a 3rd French international to the roster.

William Gallas who, like Govou, had a terrible World Cup performance, looks to sign with the Greek side from Arsenal in the coming days. According to L’Equipe, Gallas, who recently became a “free agent”, would receive and income of about 1.5 million Euros a year from Panathinaikos.

Turkish club Fenerbahçe is also looking to dish out some big money in order to capture some Ligue 1 players. There is talk that Fenerbahçe would consider paying Rennes 15 million Euros for World Cup star striker Asamoah Gyan. In addition, Fenerbahçe is keeping their eyes on Marseille forward Brandao, who is being needed less and less by the team as each day passes.
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Filed under: French Players Abroad, OGC Nice, Olympique Marseille, Stade Rennais FC | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Is the EPL or Ligue 1 the best move for Loic Remy?

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Dave Trotter

According to L’Equipe in France, Nice striker Loic Remy will be making his decision on where he will be spending his footballing career.

While we have heard rumors from a number of teams in the last few months, it now looks like a transfer to the British Isles are in the cards for the on-and-off French international striker.

In the last few days, there was talk about him moving to a number of Ligue 1 teams. First in the news was talk about him moving to Bordeaux. In fact, Remy said as late as last week that he would prefer a move to Bordeaux over other teams that were mentioned at the time. In addition to Bordeaux, there was also talk that he might go back Lyon, where he started off as a youth player at the age of 11.

Rennes has also been considered as a possible new home for Remy as well, being a possible replacement for Jimmy Briand or if Asamoah Gyan leaves for another team.
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Filed under: Girondins de Bordeaux, OGC Nice, Olympique Lyonnais, Stade Rennais FC | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Mercato killing some teams. Will others join them?

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Dave Trotter

Is Loic Remy Chamakh's replacement at Bordeaux?

It is that time of the year where we hear all the rumors. Ever Ligue 1 player and their mother is going to West Ham. Hatem Ben Arfa is going to Bordeaux, PSG, Turkey or somewhere else, and ends up staying at Marseille. Basically, most of what we hear during this transfer-rumor time is, well, crap.

So, instead of talking about who “might” be going where (which I will still talk about, oddly enough), we will instead look at the moves that have already happened.

There are four groups of teams in this transfer season. First, you have those who are getting better. AS Monaco is already starting to make some positive moves (acquiring Petter Hansson and Daniel Niculae) and are looking like one of the most improved teams already. We also have those teams who have made moves, but really haven’t become better or worse. Lyon fits in this group. While Sidney Govou is gone, Jimmy Briand is going to be his natural replacement (I assume). Therefore, they haven’t had any big moves to make them better (which they really don’t need).
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Filed under: AJ Auxerre, Girondins de Bordeaux, LOSC Lille | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Ligue 1 news: Remy to stay at Nice.

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Dave Trotter

After all the talk last week about star striker Loic Remy leaving Nice after the team’s 1-0 loss to Auxerre, Remy confirmed that he intends on staying with the club for the remainder of the season.

According to L’Equipe, Remy said that he has put this ‘small incident’ behind him and that he is looking forward the rest of the season. Many of you may remember that last week Remy was spat on by supporters as he was leaving the stadium after the Auxerre defeat. After that incident, Remy stated that he might consider asking for a transfer out of the club because of the fan’s reaction.

There was much talk in the last few days about Remy moving to Rennes, but both Rennes and Nice have stated that Rennes don’t have the funds to move Remy at this time. In addition, Remy stated that a move during the winter transfer could hurt his development as a player.
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Filed under: AS Monaco FC, Montpellier HSC, OGC Nice, Olympique Marseille | Tagged: , , | Comments Off

Is Nice finished? Is Remy finished?

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Dave Trotter

Remy's days in a Nice jersey could be numbered (Eurosport)

This has been a bad year for Nice.

First, the team starts off poorly. After starting the first two matches undefeated, Nice lost their next few matches by wide margins. The defeats were becoming so bad, that Nice supporter threatened team chairman Maurice Cohen during the team’s 3-1 loss to rivals Monaco. They shouted at Cohen and started throwing objects in his direction. Angry supporters were only inches from the chairman as they continued their rant. Still, they were successful in his removal from the chairman position, as he was replaced by Gilbert Stellardo just a few days later.

After that display, the team started to pull together. At one point, Nice put together a string of five wins in six matches, defeating Lyon, Toulouse and PSG. But since their win against Toulouse, which was on November 19th, Nice has yet to win again.
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Filed under: OGC Nice | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

Ligue 1 All-Star Team: Strikers

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Dave Trotter

Lisandro is our top vote-getter. Are you really surprised?

For years, Ligue 1 has been known as a defensive league. With 1-0 scores being common, hat tricks were far from common.

Last year, Andre-Pierre Gignac scored an unheard of 24 goals. Both Karim Benzema and Guillaume Hoarau where seven goals behind. And in the last year, and especially how this year is going, fans and observers alike are starting to ask if Ligue 1 is starting to become the next big scoring powerhouse.

And while the defense is strong in Ligue 1, the offense has improved quite a bit in the last few year. One can easily make the argument that Ligue 1 has become the most complete league in the world, accommodating to both sides of the ball.

So, with that said, here is our choices of strikers for our Ligue 1 All-Star team. While the vote was very close, and there was a tie for second place, there was no doubt about who was considered number one in the eyes of our voters.
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Filed under: Olympique Lyonnais, Stade Rennais FC | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Preview: Dec. 12th Ligue 1 matches

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Dave Trotter

Recently, Ligue 1 matches look to be predictable before the start of the game. But there have been a number of lopsided matches held in the last 2 months, like Grenoble being on a 4 game unbeaten streak, while playing Monaco, Lyon and Toulouse.

Unlike the EPL, where many matches are predictable, many of these matches haven’t been going exactly as planned.

This Saturday, we get back to a to a bit of normalcy as we have a number of evenly match teams taking on one another. So here is our preview for today’s matches.
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Filed under: AJ Auxerre, AS Nancy Lorraine, Boulogne Côte d'Opale, FC Lorient, Le Mans UC 72, Ligue 1 Commentary, OGC Nice, Olympique Marseille, RC Lens, Stade Rennais FC, Valenciennes FC | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

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