By Shai Mamou
Important facts of the weekend:
Paris-Marseille: 2-1
Always expected by French fans, the “clasico” between Paris and Marseille occurred on Sunday night in the French capital. Paris broke the spell and finally won (2-1) six years after their last win at home against their rivals. Thanks to two early goals of Mevlut Erding and Guillaume Hoarau, the guys of Kombouaré surprised their opponents, probably not well awoken. The two strikers clearly lacked confidence in the past few weeks and found their talent back at the right moment. Far from their best level (they are still searching for it by the way), the Southerners did not manage to threaten Apoula Edel enough. The only goal scored by Lucho Gonzalez is due to a mistake of the goalkeeper (so is the goal of Erding where Mandanda is not beyond reproach). Kaboré had his worst game since he signed in Marseille and the last recruits Gignac and Remy where quite inoffensive. On the other hand Paris showed a great collective behaviour emphasized by the technical skills of Nenê. The Brazilian is definitely the playmaker of his team and one of the most difficult player to defend on in this championship. Thanks to this win, Paris overtakes Marseille. Momentarily because Valbuena and co still have a delayed game to play versus Rennes, probably in December. A win would make them retrieve the first position.
Rennes-Lyon: 1-1
If Lyon gets better, Lyon is still stuck in the middle of the rankings. The draw versus Rennes (1-1) is promising but also quite worrying due to the numerous defensive mistakes they made. With a more efficient striker (Kembo is a good player but more at ease on a wing) Rennes would probably have beaten Lyon. The powerful free kick of Michel Bastos allows the team of Claude Puel to hope for best tomorrows in championship. But the next weeks will be decisive in order to know if Lyon is a believable candidate for the title.
Saint-Etienne-Lorient: 1-2
Thanks to the relative weakness of the French championship, Saint-Etienne is not completely out of the European pretentions. The loss versus Lorient is another proof that the Greens are off form. Even if the Bretons are the most difficult team to host due to their counter-attacking style, Payet and co are not as efficient as a few weeks ago. Good news for Lorient, Kevin Gameiro is back at his best level. The freshman of “l’Equipe de France” scored twice at Geoffroy Guichard Stadium and is able to make his team aim a better position.
Lille-Brest: 3-1
Leader before this week end, Brest is the surprise of the first part of the season. But the Bretons were too soft to contain Lille’s armada. With Eden Hazard at this level (the Belgian is potentially the best player of the championship), Lille has nothing to fear from teams like Brest. With their usual offensive mood, the Northerners proposed a nice show to their fans. The goals of Sow, Hazard and Gervinho can be showed in soccer schools. If the Rudy Garcia’s guys keep on playing this way, they clearly won’t be far from the first seat.
Other games:
Sochaux 1 – 1 Auxerre
Bordeaux 1 – 1 Valenciennes
Arles-Avignon 3 – 2 Caen
Nancy 0 – 4 Monaco
Lens 2 – 0 Montpellier
Nice 2 – 0 Toulouse
1 Brest 21pts
2 Rennes 20pts
3 PSG 19pts
4 Marseille 18pts
5 Lille 18pts
