Monaco, chasing PSG, with OM and Lille on their heels, get to sit around this weekend thinking what sh!te going scoreless Friday night at home, losing to a bottom-dweller.
Was at Lille/Lyon on Friday evening and it was a decent enough watch. Maitland-Niles is proper gash though and most of Lille's chances in the 1st half were thanks to him. Lyon woke up 2nd half and deservedly equalised in stoppage time. We beat Lens yesterday apparently not playing very well. Atletico on Wednesday will be tough.
Can’t say I remember a play quite like the one Nantes central defender Nicolas Pallois just made near the end. He will not enjoy the Lens night. He’ll be up all night.
Lyon have been handed a provisional Ligue 2 relegation at the end of the season if their finances dont improve. x.com
Is there any connection between Lyon’s finance troubles and the miraculous 2nd half run last season that took them from dead last to a spot in Europe? (Did unwise expenditures aid that near-miraculous charge up the table?)
Just poor management and owners spending money they don't have. Simple. Nah. Sage came in mid-season and steadied a sinking ship. There was sympathy for Grosso (Lyon's previous manager) who almost lost an eye down in Marseille but really, he was shite. Sage got the players motivated and played some good stuff. Lyon aren't playing that badly this season to be fair, just lack the finishing touch to score goals. They should be top 5 come May. About the provisional relegation thing, this is handed out by a government-backed entity called DNCG who have the thankless task of reviewing the clubs' budgets. Truth is, 99% of the clubs are ran poorly and should go bankrupt if they were ran like any given company (with wages, equity and all that) so the DNCG has to be nice most of the time otherwise there wouldn't be any professional football clubs left in France. Several examples come to mind when the DNCG should have refused promotion to said club or should have ran other said club to the ground but didn't because of the sheer size of the club. I sincerely doubt they'll relegate Lyon as things stand (even though Textor really is playing with fire swapping cash from Botafogo to Lyon back to Botafogo etc). It could end sourly but I doubt it'll end like Bordeaux (who have had NOTHING going for them since winning the title 20 years ago).
PSG winning in Monaco and taking a 10-pt lead into January surely ends all doubt and douses any Ligue 1 drama for the season’s remainder, no? (Perhaps pigs will fly?) These two playing again in Qatar in early January (so-called Super Cup match) hardly piques my interest now.
The fact that we may get knocked of the CL (and European football altogether) tells you everything you need to know about Ligue 1's quality. We don't even have to try to win games just bloody turn up on the day.
A merging of Ligue 1, Jupiler, and Eredivisie would be so more attractive from a pure sporting perspective. Of course, one would have to work out promotion/relegation from the separate “B Leagues” in France, Belgium, and Netherlands. And, I’m sure it would upset those who highly value having their own national “top flight” league.
Hilarious really. Bourgoin Jailleu is one of two big places in the county next to Lyon (the other being run-down get-stabbed-in-the-street Grenoble) and them beating one of the biggest clubs in the country sets a real precedent. They host Reims now looking for another upset. It could happen you know! I actually enjoyed a 7-hr car ride down to Clermont's rugby stadium to witness our win vs Espaly. Still defending terribly and still reckon City will beat us 3-0 or something.
Official: Kvara bought for 70M€. Happy with that, one of the best LW in the world. Don't really get why he was so keen to change club in January instead of the off-season but money well spent I reckon. Now, we need a DM and some cover for the full-backs.
What a bonkers competition It seems inevitable that PSG are going to win it with so many lower league sides remaining but hopefully some of them can maintain the cup run as long as possible.
Even a Reims victory today gets Ligue 1 to only 50% of the survivors. (And if so, half of them are bottom half.) French Football February Fever
