Ligue 1 Preview – Part 3

Where would a Ligue 1 preview be without me talking about Lille OSC, thinking of starting a Separate blog for Lille so I can talk about them as much as I want.

Lille OSC – 5th place

Last season proved a great season Les Dogues went on a run of 18 games unbeaten, this was enough to secure a Europa League place not bad for Rudi Garcia’s first season in charge. You wouldn’t think this would be followed by Rudi being sacked after a fall out with a director. The rumour was Paul Le Guen was going to take over, then the director in question was sacked and Rudi Garcia was back in charge.

His first action was to bring in French International Goalkeeper Mikael Landreau, a big name signing for the northern club, then in true Lille fashion in training he ruptured his knee and will be out for 3 months.

Michel Bastos was first to go his €18m move to Lyon was expected, and Lille couldn’t afford to not accept the offer. Garcia moved quickly to find a replacement, eventually a deal was agreed to bring in Le Mans winger Gervinho, the Cote D’Ivoire player has previously been linked with Arsenal, and will add pace and trickery down the Right-hand side of Lille.

Some rebuilding work has been done, with Tafforeau, Malicki and Souleymane Youla all being allowed to leave, Piere Aubameyang a talented forward has come in from Milan on loan with the option to buy him at the end of the season, and because of Landreau’s injury Gueugnon’s keeper Barel Mouko has been signed to give cover.

I expect a similar season to last for Lille, If Striker Tulio de Melo can stay fit and the talents of Cabaye and Hazard continue to grow, a Champions League place could be a target but more realistic a Europa League place would be a success.

PREDICTION – 4th Place



OTHER NOTABLE TRANSFERS

PSG
Antoine Kombouare has made a couple of interesting signings for his first season in the capital, Turkish striker Mevlut Erding is joined by Lyon Legend Gregory Coupet and Lorient defender/midfielder Christophe Jallet adding to a talented squad.

SOCHAUX
Jeremie Brechet returns to France from PSV and an interesting move up and coming American striker Charlie Davies moves from Hammarby to Ligue 1, I like this guy, and more to come on him later.

Most other interesting transfers have been players leaving Ligue 1

Kahlenberg moves from Auxerre to Wolfsburg, joined by Karim Ziana, Djibril Ciise also moves away, off to Greece with Panathinaikos, Cedric Kante of Nice joins him at Pana.

Ligue 1 Preview - Part 2

Lyon - 3rd Place

Claude Puels first season was in Lyon's eyes, a failure, no trophies, and they will have to qualify for the Champions League.

This has been followed in the off season with some swift action from Jean-Michel Aulas: Aly Cissokho, Michel Bastos and Lisandro Lopez all joining Les Gones for a combined €57m.
3 moves that could all add so much to the side, but also each of them could fail, Bastos follows the footsteps of Bodmer, Makoun and Ketia moving from Lille to Lyon, Keita has been a disappointment and has now moved to Galatasaray, Makoun has been a great success, making the DM position his own, the jury is out whether Michel will be HIT or MISS, if played in the advanced LW position I think he will succeed.

Lisandro Lopez has been a goal machine with Porto, not only in the League but the Champions League, I would be very surprised if he wasn't as successful, a very dangerous striker, has pace and power, not alot of weaknesses a worthy replacement for Karim Benzema.

Cissokho is a player I've not seen alot of, but he comes highly regarded and has shown for Porto in the last season, following the production line of quality fullbacks from Porto (Paulo Ferreira, Boswinga etc).

Lyon will bounce back this year, whether Puel is in charge by the end of the season, I would question.

Edited to add: It looks like Bafetimbi Gomis will be signing from St-Etienne, this makes a tasty partnership with Lopez or a trio of Bastos, Lopez and Gomis upfront as Puel doesn’t have a history of playing 2 strikers.

PREDICTION - 2nd place.

Toulouse - 4th Place

The best piece of news for TFC is that Andre-Pierre Gignac will still be playing his football at the Stadium Municipal this season, for now..... Lyon and Bordeaux have made their interest clear but with Lyon already signing up Gomis and Lopez I’d be surprised if they made a move for Gignac, Bordeuax could still make a bid if Chamakh moves to the Premiership.

Coming into the side are two talented players in Keeper Yohann Pele and Paulo Machado, the later became a big fan favourite for St-Etienne last season and will be a very effective player in Toulouse midfield, Pele is a keeper I have always liked, and he will now have his chance at a bigger team.

The loses of Jeremy Mathieu to Valencia could be noticeable but Toulouse have a lot of talented youngsters Sissoko, Capoue, Ebondo to name a few, and if the team can add more goals to Gignac’s tally European football will again be Toulouse’s aim.

PREDICTION – 5TH Place

Upcoming Season - Ligue 1 - Part 1

The new season is only 16 days away, and of course the transfer window will remain open 20 days after the season starts, I wanna write now about the teams chances.


BORDEAUX - The Champions
The biggest news for Les Girodins is the permament signing of Midfield genius Yoann Gourcuff, the inspirational and very very gifted midfielder took Bordeaux from Champions League qualification contenders to French Champions.

He light up the wine region with his superb touch, vision and also banged in some goals in the process, the "new Zidane" has grown since his days at Rennes, and even though he didn't get much playing time in Milan, he has improved as a player.

Jaroslav Plasil has also been added to the midfield signing from Osasuna, Jaro can play in the middle and also out on the left, and has a cultured left foot, not very fast but is skillful enough to play wide, he will replace Gabriel Obetan's place in the squad after his move to Man Utd.

The #1 Goalkeeper shirt has changed hands too, coming in is ex-Marseille and Toulouse keeper Cedric Carrasso, he will undoubtedly replace Ulrich Rame as the man between the sticks, and with Souleymane Diawara leaving to Marseille.

I get the feeling the title will not be returning to the Stade Chaban Delmas next May, a Champions League place will still be a great season.

PREDICTED FINISH - 3rd


MARSEILLE - Runner Up
L'OM mean business, letting go Cisse, Givet, Ziana and Zubar raked in about €22m and they have spent big, a major coup in bringing Lucho Gonzalez in from Porto, usually players like Lucho move from Porto to a big club in Italy or Spain, but it shows Marseille's intent, he is a world class midfielder, and worth every penny of the €18m paid for him. Souleymane Diaward has came in from Bordeaux the big centre half has improved massively from his time at Charlton, a title with Bordeaux can he make it 2 with Marseille, Stephame M'Bia comes in from Rennes, a player I really like, Cameroon international can play anywhere, better in the midfield or defence, more a DM for me.

With Didier Deschamps in charge it's hard to know the style Marseille will play, playmaker BenArfa has moved from #20 to #10 so he will be in Deschamps mind, it is a very talented team, that could easily win the title, and I think they will.

PREDICTED FINISH - 1ST

more to come later

The 2nd coming

I know it's been a while, but i'm resurrecting this blog.

My aims are to increase people's knowledge of league they probably don't watch, air my views on them, and just give general tid bits.

I will be concentrating on Ligue 1, the SPL, La Liga, and anything else I come across.

I am gonna stay away from EPL cause everyone in britain already watches this if they like football, so don't see the point covering it, I'm sure there are loads of places you can find EPL info.

So probably another post coming later on, this time actually saying something.