Le Classique

Le Derby de France 

 the the   the 

 L'Olympique de Marseille vs. Paris Saint Germain

I must admit its been a while since I last did a piece but a combination of moving back to uni, dissertation and not having the internet in my house have all contributed to the lack of contact. But don’t you fret, Virage Sud is back this weekend to preview the game we have all been waiting for; l'OM vs PSG (enculé), the derby of France! If you don't know how much this game means to both sets of fans then I suggest you take a look at the video below....

Le Classique is one of the most fiercely contested derbies in Europe, which has unfortunately led to a history of nasty incidents and has left the image of this magnificent fixture tainted with violence. In 2000, a Marseille supporter was paralysed for life after being hit by a seat from the PSG section of fans, and in 2009 open battles on the streets of Marseille led to all away fans being banned from future matches between these two clubs. However, this season the ban has been lifted and 400 PSG fans will be allowed to make the long trip to Marseille. Okay, not a large amount, but this is progress and hopefully the years to come will bring the focus back to the football and away from the tensions between the two sets of supporters. If truth be told le Classique is a relatively new derby with its popularity rising in the early 90s as Canal + owner and Marseille president, Bernard Tapie, tried to increase the importance of the game through the media. But this game is so much more than a derby, it’s a rivalry between France’s two biggest cities, a divide between the snobby Northerners and and the down to earth Southerners, and this year the game means that little bit more as for the first season in a long time both Marseille and PSG are sitting pretty at the top of the table. PSG are unbeaten all season and Marseille have won 6 of their last 7 games, their only defeat coming in a shock 4-1 loss away at Valenciennes, the only blip to their best ever start to a Ligue 1 season. So what will the result be? It’s a hard one to call with both teams having played in Europe this week, although Marseille did manage to rest a few players in their 5-1 win over AEL Limassol.  I hope SO SO MUCH it’s Marseille who get the three points but as a self-confessed pessimist I don’t think  this will be the case. I think PSG will edge this one 2-1, with Ibrahimovic getting the winner. He knows what it's like to play in these big games as he scored his fair share of goals in the Milan derby. I hope I’m proven wrong....but we shall see! Allez l’OM and PSG..on va t'enculer!

Skip to to 1.43 to see the Ronaldinho incident

Ligue 1 round-up: 5ième Journée

Marseille march on as Norwich falter

This weekend saw contrasting fortunes for my two clubs. Norwich can’t buy a win for love nor money as they played out a boring nil-nil draw, which included probably the worst second half I’ve ever I seen - long ball after long ball, but what else can you expect when you’re playing long ball specialists, West Ham. I will be making the long trip up to St. James Park next weekend and I’d bet my student loan that we wont be getting three points there. So the wait for three points looks set to continue for a few more weeks at least.... In stark contrast Marseille can’t stop wining as they made it five from five away at AS Nancy. Marseille were dominant for large periods as Valbuena pulled all the strings against a lacklustre Nancy side. Marseille will now be looking to make it 6 wins from 6 next weekend - the last time that happened was when Elie Baup was in charge of Bordeaux. Bordeaux went on to win the league in that same year, so the omens are good for the l’OM. 

J. Ayew grabs the winner

Lyon, PSG, Lorient and Bordeaux remain unbeaten

Marseille aren’t the only team to have made an impressive start to the campaign. Lyon have dropped just two points this season, as they ran out comfortable winners at home to Ajaccio. Bordeaux extended their unbeaten run  to 13 games as they earned a hard-fought point away at Valenciennes. But 4 draws from 5 may be slight cause for concern for les Girondins. The PSG machine looks like it has slowly rolled into motion as they produced another impressive performance to beat Toulouse 2-0 - Ibrahimovic making it 5 goals from 3 games....the least said about that the better. Lorient have been the big surprise so far this season and they moved up to third place with a 2-1 win away Rennes in an ill-tempered Breton derby that saw three red cards. But what a player they have in Alain Traoré, he now has four goals for the season, and the two he scored this weekend were world class....okay maybe not world class, but check them out below, they ain’t half bad..

Traoré with two stunning strikes

Shocks of the weekend 

I’m not sure if we can include Montpellier dropping points as a shock anymore, as they’ve only one win to their name all season. Despite their poor start you would still expect the defending champions to have got something from a game against newly promoted Reims..but no they were comprehensively beaten by a stylish Reims side. I maintain that Herrera is dreadful and after Arsenal’s 6-1 demolition of Southampton I really do fear for Montpellier in their Champions League opener against the gunners. But probably the biggest shock of the weekend was St. Etienne’s home defeat to Sochaux. Before the weekend Sochaux had failed to pick up points in all of their previous 4 fixtures and this game looked a formality on paper. But a combination of some heroic goal keeping and St. Etienne being forced to play 80 minutes of football with 10 men helped the Peugeot based club to scrape their first points of the season.

Pouplin was the hero for Sochaux

Elsewhere Lille dropped more points as they were held 1-1 at new boys Troyes and Nice continued their quiet rise up the table with a 4-2 win over Brest. And finally new Evian coach Pascal Dupraz got off to a winning start with a 3-0 win at home to Bastia 

Week 5

 Paris Saint-Germain 2 - 0 Toulouse FC 

  Stade de Reims 3 - 1 Montpellier Hérault SC 

  Valenciennes FC 0 - 0 Girondins de Bordeaux 

  OGC Nice 4 - 2 Stade Brestois 29 

 AS Saint-Etienne 0 - 1 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 

  Evian TG FC 3 - 0 SC Bastia 

  Stade Rennais FC 1 - 2 FC Lorient 

  ESTAC Troyes1 - 1 LOSC Lille Métropole 

  Olympique Lyonnais 2 - 0 AC Ajaccio 

  AS Nancy Lorraine 0 - 1 Olympique de Marseille 

Accumulator 3

Club football is finally back after a two week absence. I can’t put into words how happy this makes me! Friday, Saturday and Sunday of non-stop football - which means I don’t have to spend my weekend wasting away watching the Formula 1 and international football. I’m not going to beat around the bush here but international football is so dull! Give me club before country any day of the week. 

Another boring weekend watching England

Anyway, this post is about the weekly accumulator. So far this season, its played two and....come nowhere near to winning either of them. I thought this week i’d spice things up a bit and mix a few Ligue 1 results with some Premier League results. So here goes....

There's no method in my madness - just madness... 

Lille have had an average start to the season but I was impressed with the way they went about playing PSG last time out. They didn’t try and pack the midfield like most teams do against PSG, but instead went all out for the three points. I think they will be too strong for Troyes this weekend, who have only picked up one point so far this season. Evian’s match against Bastia will be Pascal Dupraz’s first in charge, so the players will all have a point to prove to the new gaffer, but Bastia are no pushovers, so I think this one will be a draw. In the match between St. Etienne and Sochaux, I can’t see any other result than a win for les Verts - Sochaux haven’t picked up a point all season whereas St. Etienne have looked very good in their last two games. My off the wall result this week is a Valenciennes  home win. They take on a Bordeaux side who are unbeaten in 12 games, but all good runs have to come to and end some time and Valenciennes have an impressive home record - so yes I’ve had a bit of punt on this one.

The bet in full:

Troyes AC vs. Lille - Away win: 1/1

Evian TG vs. SC Bastia - Draw: 11/5

Saint Etienne vs. Sochaux - Home win: 1/2

Valenciennes vs. Bordeaux - Home win: 13/8

Arsenal vs. Southampton - Home win: 4/11

Aston Villa vs. Swansea - Draw: 9/4

Total: 110.68/1

Ligue 1 round-up: 4ème Journée

 

 

PSG up and running

This weekend saw PSG and Montpellier secure their first wins of the season. The big clash of the weekend saw Ibrahimovic at his brilliant best, as he scored a double to help Les Parisiens on their way to victory against Lille. Lille will argue that their mid-week exploits against Copenhagen (the game going to extra time) had a big part to play in their defeat, but PSG looked a classy outfit right from the first minute when Ibrahimovic finished off a brilliant team move. I can’t help but think that PSG only turn up when Ibrahimovic does; he was immense all evening and the second goal was all Ibra. He won the ball on the half way line and then played a neat one two with Pastore before finishing with aplomb. PSG have now scored 4 goals this season….all by Ibra. They better hope he doesn’t get injured…. 

Ibra at the double (click the photo for all the goals)

Montpellier will also be relieved to have their first three points of the season after a comfortable victory over Sochaux. Belhanda opened the scoring on his 100th Ligue 1 match and further goals from Herrera and Cabella made the game safe. Sochaux have now slumped to 4 defeats in a row and the pressure is mounting on coach Eric Hely.

Happy days for Marseille

Les Phocéens continued their 100 per cent record with a 3-1 win over Rennes. The club looks a whole world away from the problems of last season; the stadium is full, the atmosphere is good, the team are winning, and the feel good factor is back at the Velodrome. The only dark cloud (for me) is the arrival of Joey Barton. But, apparently, not many Marseille fans share my view, as he was welcomed with the banner "welcome sweet and tender  hooligan ", in reference to the song by the Smiths -  Barton’s favourite band. The love story continued with Barton tweeting "Bonne nuit les gens de Marseille à partir de votre douce et tendre voyou ", meaning "good night Marseille, from you’re sweet and tender hooligan". All a bit soppy if you ask me. So like it or not it looks like I’m going to have to get behind Joey….

Joey's welcome....

Feed the Gignac and he will score

Elsewhere, Lyon started life after Lloris with a win over Valenciennes. New number 1, Vercoutre, did little to settle his pre-match nerves when he found himself in no-mans land as Valenciennes took a surprise lead. But  a combination of some lovely football from Lyon and Bastos’ third goal in as many games, saw Lyon run out eventual winners. Lorient moved up into third place with a 3-0 victory over Nancy. On the score sheet was the familiar name of Ludovic Giuly. Remember when he was terrorising Chelsea in the 2004 Champions League semi-final? I don’t know about you but that feels a life time ago…I must be getting old.

 

 

First managerial casualty of the season

Saint Etienne look like they have well and truly put their poor start to the season behind them as they ended Bastia‘s remarkable home record of 42 consecutive games unbeaten. Les Verts have now scored seven goals in their last two matches. Evian and Troyes are still looking for their first wins of the season as they were both beaten at the weekend. Evian’s 2-0 defeat away at Ajaccio proved to be Correa’s last match in charge as he was dismissed on Monday morning. Ridiculous decision to sack a manager after four games. Pascal Dupraz has been announced as Correa’s replacement, I wonder how long he will be given to turn around the club’s fortunes….. And finally, Bordeaux extended their unbeaten run to 12 games with a 1-1 draw at home to Nice, and Stade Reims grabbed a vital point away at Toulouse.

Correa lasted just 4 games into the new season

Week 4

LOSC Lille 1 - 2 Paris Saint-Germain

 Olympique de Marseille 3 - 1 Stade Rennais FC

 Girondins de Bordeaux 1 - 1 OGC Nice

Olympique Lyonnais 3 - 2 Valenciennes FC

 AC Ajaccio 2 - 0 Evian TG FC

 SC Bastia 0 - 3 AS Saint-Etienne

 Stade Brestois 29 2 - 1 ESTAC Troyes

 FC Lorient 3 - 0 AS Nancy Lorraine

 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1 - 3 Montpellier Hérault SC

 Toulouse FC 1 - 1 Stade de Reims