Ligue 1 Superthread 2016/17

Mr.Nice Guy

Friday sees the return of the first of Europe's big 5 leagues as Ligue 1 begins with reigning champions PSG visiting Bastia.

This season PSG are of course without Ibrahimovic and Laurent Blanc, with the club hoping the arrival of Jese and new coach Unai Emery will continue the success.

The bookies think this season will be another cakewalk for PSG. Here are the title odds:

PSG 1/12
Lyon 12/1
Monaco 16/1
Marseille 33/1
Others 100/1 and over

I suppose the fact PSG last week beat Lyon 4-1 in the Trophee des Champions match helps to explain their rivals being dismissed.

What do you all think? Can any other team make a challenge this season or will it be PSG at a canter again?

Bastia vs PSG is live on BT Sport 1 on Friday evening. Coverage starts at 6:45 pm.

Mr.Nice Guy

PSG team vs Bastia: Trapp - Aurier, Luiz, Kimpembe, Kurzawa - Rabiot, Motta (c) - Lucas, Pastore, Di Maria - Ben Arfa.

Jese starts on the bench.

Mr.Nice Guy

Monaco have given a start to the 17 year old striker Kylian Mbappe against Guingamp. He was great to watch at the recent U-19 Euros. I hope he does well tonight.

Debil

Bastia should be one up.

Mr.Nice Guy

Debil wrote: »

Bastia should be one up.

Good run and cross from Saint-Maximin to create the chance. Ben Arfa is not looking comfortable up top for PSG. Jese is warming up now.

Meanwhile Monaco are 2-0 down at home to Guingamp. That would be a surprise result if it stays that way.

Debil

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Good run and cross from Saint-Maximin to create the chance. Ben Arfa is not looking comfortable up top for PSG. Jese is warming up now.

Meanwhile Monaco are 2-0 down at home to Guingamp. That would be a surprise result if it stays that way.

Yea, he dropped deep once or twice in the first half and played a nice ball through. Just a pity there wasn't a striker.

Definitely a mistake in the PSG at the back if they can create a chance.

Mr.Nice Guy

Jese making his PSG debut now with Ben Arfa subbed.

Mr.Nice Guy

Lucas getting pelted by objects as he attempts to take a corner. Bastia fans going to be in trouble for that.

Debil

How was yer man allowed sit up on the fence with a flag pole in the fist place? Ridiculous.

The ref really didn't help the situation with delaying the corner so much.

Mr.Nice Guy

1-0 PSG. Kurzawa with the goal. Jese involved with his shot being saved.

Mr.Nice Guy

It finishes 1-0 to PSG. Bastia will kick themselves over that missed chance by Crivelli in the first half.

Metz vs Lille is the next live match from Ligue 1 tomorrow at 7 pm.

Debil

PSG the better team, but you certainly wouldn't guess they cost so much more watching it for the first time.

Missing Ibra big time up top. Difficult position for the manager when I'm sure his assignment is win the Champions league.

Mr.Nice Guy

Debil wrote: »

PSG the better team, but you certainly wouldn't guess they cost so much more watching it for the first time.

Missing Ibra big time up top. Difficult position for the manager when I'm sure his assignment is win the Champions league.

I'd say they need to do a bit more business in the transfer market if they want to make a challenge for the Champions League. I don't know if they are finished for this window though.

Also I see Monaco turned it around in the last twenty minutes to finish 2-2 with Guingamp.

Debil

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I'd say they need to do a bit more business in the transfer market if they want to make a challenge for the Champions League. I don't know if they are finished for this window though.

Also I see Monaco turned it around in the last twenty minutes to finish 2-2 with Guingamp.

Even with a few new players, I'll think they'll need a lot of luck to win it.

I'm surprised Emery took the job to be honest. I would have thought other teams would be sniffing around him at this stage.

If he doesn't deliver the CL, I think it will be a lot easier for the owners to get rid than it was Blanc.

Do you think any teams could challenge them for the league this year?

Mr.Nice Guy

Debil wrote: »

Do you think any teams could challenge them for the league this year?

The only ones I think can challenge are Lyon. I read that Chinese investors have pledged to inject €100m into the club. I would still fancy PSG as strong favourites though.

In other news Bastia have ridiculously claimed that Lucas feigned injury when the whole world could see what happened on camera and the guy with the stick.

Also Jese is set to miss a month with appendicitis as he needs surgery.

Mr.Nice Guy

Metz vs Lille is live on BT at 7. Teams:

Metz: Didillon, Rivierez, Milan, Falette, Jouffre, Erding, Doukouré, Nguette, Mollet, Cohade, Balliu.

Lille: Enyeama - Corchia, Civelli, Soumaoro, Palmieri - Amadou, Obbafi, Amalfitano, Bauthéac, Lopes - Eder

I wonder can Eder start off well on the back of his winning goal for Portugal at the Euros.

Mr.Nice Guy

Ha, Eder getting huge jeers when he touches the ball. The French fans still angry about the Euros.

Mr.Nice Guy

1-0 to Lille. Rony Lopes with the goal and he's been the best player on the pitch. I didn't realise he used to be a Man City player.

Mr.Nice Guy

1-1 now. Erding.

Mr.Nice Guy

2-1 to Lille now. Rony Lopes scores again with Eder providing the assist. Even more annoying for Metz since the goal came from Erding losing the ball at the other end.

Mr.Nice Guy

Penalty now to Metz. This has turned into a very good game.

And Erding makes it 2-2 from the spot.

Mr.Nice Guy

Wow another peno to Metz. And Erding has been taken off. :pac:

And Jouffre makes it 3-2. This would be a huge result for a newly promoted side.

Mr.Nice Guy

And Metz win it 3-2. Enjoyable game.

Mr.Nice Guy

I watched Marseille vs Toulouse tonight which ended in a stalemate. Looks like Marseille's fans are going to be giving their team a hard time again this season as they don't look up to much. Toulouse were pretty good though.

I see Lacazette also bagged a hat-trick for Lyon against Nancy. I hope for the league's sake they don't lose him as Lyon just might be able to run PSG close with him around. Reports are suggesting he will stay.

Mr.Nice Guy

Lacazette has scored from the spot to make it Lyon 1 Caen 0. That's Lacazette's fourth goal in two games. It's live on BT Sports 1 currently. I've half an eye on it and the Premier League game. Lacazette's playing well, as is Fekir.

Mr.Nice Guy

Lacazette scores again from the spot as the game finishes 2-0 to Lyon. They actually laboured through the game though and weren't impressive tonight.

Yann Karamoh of Caen looked good down the right hand side. Only 18 years old and looks one for the future.

Mr.Nice Guy

Results from today:

Nantes 0-1 Monaco
Angers 0-1 Nice
Lille 1-0 Dijon
Lorient 0-3 Bastia
Rennes 2-0 Nancy
Toulouse 4-1 Bordeaux

Great result for Bastia as their new loan signings Saint-Maximin and Crivelli got their goals. They look like they might have a good season as they did well against PSG last week.

I was surprised Bordeaux got smashed as I was thinking they might challenge for a top three place but now, not so much. I'm happy for defender Issa Diop to be on the scoresheet for Toulouse as he impressed me at the U-19 Euros. I heard somewhere recently that Zidane is also meant to be a fan of him.

Mr.Nice Guy

Marseille look like a shambles at the moment. They lost 2-1 away to Guingamp. PSG take on Metz tonight at 7.30. It's on one of the BT Sports channels. Here are the teams:

PSG: Trapp – Aurier, David Luiz, Kimpembe, Kurzawa – Motta (c), Rabiot – Di Maria, Pastore, Lucas – Cavani.

Metz: Didillon - Signorino, Milan, Falette, Rivierez, Mandjeck, Doukouré, Cohade, Nguette, Jouffre, Erding.

Should be goals in this one. A lot of pundits predicting PSG to hammer Metz. I thought Metz's keeper Thomas Didillon, only 20, did good last week against Lille but their centre-backs weren't great, so I'm curious how he gets on as I reckon he will be kept very busy.

Good to see Cavani back in the side too as Ben Arfa was poor up front against Bastia. I'll go for PSG to win 4-0.

Mr.Nice Guy

PSG 0-0 Metz at Half-Time which is a surprising scoreline. PSG have dominated but it hasn't happened for Cavani who has wasted a good few chances. Metz keeper Didillon has done well.

Edit: PSG 1-0 up. Lucas with the goal on 52 minutes.

Update: 2-0 now to PSG. Kurzawa follows up from his goal last week. Best attacking defender in France.

Di Maria with a beautiful strike that hits the crossbar. Cavani fluffs the rebound - he's been poor.

Update: It ends 3-0. Rivierez heads Verrati's shot into his own net.

It was a comfortable win for PSG as expected but plenty of room to improve. Cavani had a shocker. All the talk of him stepping up in Ibrahimovic's absence...I'm not seeing it.

diusmr8a504cvk

Lacazette with 5 goals in 2 games is some going, if he scores as many as he did last season then I don't think he'll be hanging around for long.

Headshot

Just read on the Guardian website that Biesla is being lined up to come back to Marseille

Wtf are they thinking

Mr.Nice Guy

Half-time between Marseille and Lorient with Marseille leading 1-0 thanks to a Remy Cabella goal. Match is on BT Sport ESPN at the moment.

Zinedine Machach is playing well and has shown some good skill. Gomis has come close to scoring too.

Update: Great save from Marseille keeper Pele to keep it 1-0. Lorient causing plenty of problems for Marseille.

Update 2: Gomis has scored to make it 2-0. Marseille should see this out now with 20 minutes left.

FT: It ends 2-0. Important 3 points for Marselle. They need to win back their fans as there were a lot of empty seats.

Looking forward to Monaco vs PSG on Sunday. Should tell us a lot about the season.

Mr.Nice Guy

Awful result for Lyon today losing 4-2 away to Dijon having led the game 1-0 and 2-1. Dijon got four goals despite having less than 27% possession.

To make matters worse, despite Lacazette bagging yet another goal he then went off injured, whilst Fekir was also injured and Fekir is rumoured to need surgery. Both are now now out of the French squad.

Hopefully Monaco can get a result against PSG tomorrow night as I fear PSG could wind up pulling away at this very early stage.

Bobby Baccala

What's with the state of the pitch in the Bordeaux game? Most of the grass looks dead

Mr.Nice Guy

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

What's with the state of the pitch in the Bordeaux game? Most of the grass looks dead

It was really poor for a game being played in August.


Teams for Monaco vs PSG are in:

Monaco: Subasic; Mendy, Raggi, Glik, Jemerson, Sidibé; Moutinho, Fabinho, Bakayoko; Bernardo Silva; Germain

PSG: Trapp - Aurier, Luiz, Kimpembe, Kurzawa - Motta (c), Verratti, Rabiot - Lucas, Cavani, Di Maria.


Bakayoko was great for Monaco in their Champions League win over Villareal. They'll need him to have another strong game. Silva and Germain could cause problems up top.

No Pastore in PSG's side is interesting, though he hasn't started the season well. I would have liked Marquinhos playing instead of the hapless Luiz in defence. Good to see Augustin made PSG's bench this time in case Cavani has a game as bad as last week. Kurzawa and Aurier have been brilliant for PSG bombing forward so I'm eager to see how they get on.

Should tell us a lot about how the season will pan out. I'll go for a 1-1 draw. BT Sport will be showing the game. Kick off is in 15 minutes I believe.

Mr.Nice Guy

Nasty tackle from Motta on Moutinho.

Update: 1-0 Monaco! Great goal from Moutinho. His leg's obviously feeling better.

Cavani misses another chance. I think it may have been offside but not an encouraging start from him.

Great midfield battle right now between Bakayoko and Verratti.

2-0! Fabinho from the spot.

Debil

David Luiz making sure he gave the penalty away.

Mr.Nice Guy

2-0 to Monaco at Half-Time. Good for the league if it stays this way.

Bakayoko and Fabinho have done well in midfield and their defence has been solid. It might be worthwhile for PSG to throw on Ben Arfa to add a bit of creativity in the centre. It would allow Di Maria to get wider too as he's been ineffective when he drifted into the middle. Cavani still looks out of sorts up front though. I wonder will Emery take him off and give Augustin a chance. Probably too early for that.

Johner

That tackle was such a David Luiz thing to do.

Mr.Nice Guy

Big chance for PSG there to score. Cavani and Kurzawa both had a chance.

Update: Goal for PSG. Cavani scores. Maybe that will give him some confidence now. Game on.

3-1 Monaco! Own Goal for Aurier. Unlucky.

Full-Time and it finishes 3-1 to Monaco. A deserved win. Hopefully a sign that this will be a tougher year for PSG.

- bo -

Nice one having a Ligue 1 thread, I'll be following this one!

I thought Bordeaux-Nantes was a very poor game overall yesterday, played on a woeful pitch. Nantes were terrible, some very sloppy passing, only started playing with 20 minutes to go and were unlucky in the end not to get a point. There's a fair bit of movement expected during the transfer window with Sigthorsson said to be leaving. If he played half was well for his club as he did for Iceland this summer we'd be laughing. Anyways, roll on Metz next weekend...

MrKingsley

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

What's with the state of the pitch in the Bordeaux game? Most of the grass looks dead

Bordeaux has has temperatures of 34-38 degrees for the last couple of weeks with absolutely no rain. I imagine the sprinklers can only do so much

Mr.Nice Guy

Ligue 1 action returns tonight with PSG vs Saint Etienne kicking of at 7.45, live on BT Sport 3.

Here are the teams:


PSG (4-3-3): Trapp; Meunier, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Verratti, Motta, Matuidi; Lucas, Jese, Ben Arfa

Saint-Etienne (5-3-1-1): Ruffier; Malcuit, Theophile-Catherine, Perrin, Pogba, M'Bengue; Saivet, Selnaes, Lemoine; Veretout; Roux


Cavani and Di Maria are rested after their World Cup games and Jese returns to the side after his appendix surgery and I'm looking forward to seeing how he gets on. I also like Marquinhos and Kimpembe starting as I reckon that could be their best CB pairing.

Bit surprised Saint-Etienne have Monnet-Paquet on the bench but it looks like damage control for them tonight.

I reckon PSG will win by 3 goals.

Mr.Nice Guy

0-0 at Half-Time. Pretty poor game of football really. I know it's early days in Emery's reign but this team doesn't look to have much of an identity; the players look to be going through the motions and there's no leadership on the pitch either. Jese has been ineffective where he's played in the centre-forward role and he's probably not 100 per cent either. I expect Cavani to appear before long.

Having said all that, PSG should have had a penalty for a foul on Matuidi by Malcuit. Matuidi has been PSG's best player so far. Saint Etienne have defended well for the most part and could have got a goal on the counter had Trapp not saved well.

I'd still expect PSG to win this but Emery will need to make changes.

Mr.Nice Guy

Kurzawa gone off with a thigh problem and is a doubt for the Champions League game vs Arsenal next week. Would be a big boost for Arsenal if he's out as he's probably been PSG's best attacking threat this season.

Mr.Nice Guy

Heh, this time Matuidi gets a penalty from the same player that fouled him in the box in the first half: Malcuit.

And Moura makes it 1-0 to PSG.

Mr.Nice Guy

Late goal for Saint Etienne! Amazing.

Robert Beric with the goal.

Mr.Nice Guy

It finishes 1-1. Pretty extraordinary result; even though PSG were poor, they didn't look like they were in danger of conceding in the second half. It goes to show the problems they are having up front - they really should have got another striker in during the window.

Ben Arfa was poor. Jese didn't get into the game (though I wouldn't be too harsh on him since he needs more match fitness).

Emery has not had a good start to his PSG career. I think this is a great time for Arsenal to be playing them.

Mr.Nice Guy

Disappointing to see Lyon lose 3-1 at home to Bordeaux. Their defence is letting them down. It doesn't bode well for their hopes of a title challenge as PSG are unlikely to drop points for much longer so now is the time to capitalize. At least Monaco did the business, winning 4-1 at Lille. Monaco are the best French team at the moment. I fancy they can get a result against Spurs.

fuzzydunlop85

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Disappointing to see Lyon lose 3-1 at home to Bordeaux. Their defence is letting them down. It doesn't bode well for their hopes of a title challenge as PSG are unlikely to drop points for much longer so now is the time to capitalize. At least Monaco did the business, winning 4-1 at Lille. Monaco are the best French team at the moment. I fancy they can get a result against Spurs.

You seem to follow the French league pretty closely, how likely would it be that they finish outside the top 3??

Mr.Nice Guy

fuzzydunlop85 wrote: »

You seem to follow the French league pretty closely, how likely would it be that they finish outside the top 3??

I think they will be okay for top three but they need to figure out their best team. I saw their game against Caen a few weeks back and N'Koulou was their best defender, but they had him on the bench today. They had a Polish player, Rybus, who was a summer signing, playing at left-back that day and he did well - but today he wasn't even in the match squad. They weren't helped today by their captain Gonalons, the defensive midfielder, getting sent off when it was 1-1, but I think they have good players being left out of the team. Tolisso for example is a good young player who got great reviews for his performance for the U-21s and he was on the bench today as well.

I'm not sure the other teams in the league can challenge for the top 3 spots. Nice have started well and if Balotelli could recapture his form from Euro 2012 they could be a surprise package but that's probably a long shot. I am though looking forward to seeing if Balotelli plays against Marseille on Sunday.