Accumulator No.2

I've battled through a horrific hangover to bring the people what they what - this weeks betting accumulator. This will be very short as I don't think I can stomach looking at the computer screen for much longer. For what it is worth, here is my accumulator for the weekend:

Method in the Madness

 

So this week I've started with a home win for Corsican side Ajaccio. I know they were turned over last week by Valenciennes, but I think Corsica is a tough place for an away day and last time they played at home they held PSG to a draw. Bastia v St. Etienne is a tough one to call, so I've gone with a draw. Bastia have been in good form so far this season whereas St. Etienne have been erratic at best; opening up their season with two defeats and a 4-0 hammering of Brest. Brest will be looking to erase any memories of last weekend and I've not been impressed with Ligue 1 new boys Troyes, so home win for me in this one. Again Lorient v Nancy quite a tough one to call, but Lorient are unbeaten so far this season, so another home win for me in this one. My off the wall result is a Sochaux v Montpellier draw. Both teams have had the worst possible start to the season, and this is a must win game for both sides....which is why I think it will be a draw - neither side can afford to lose. I haven't bet on the big game of the weekend between Lille and PSG because its too hard to call. But if you can, try and watch this one. I think it will be a cracking game and great atmosphere at Lille's new stadium.

Ligue 1 round-up: 3ème Journée

 

What a weekend of football! We saw lots of goals, red cards (that’s now an astonishing 15 for the season) and best of all PSG dropping points and Marseille winning - shame the game was an absolute shocker. We will start this weekend's round-up in Paris where PSG were booed from the pitch as they failed to win yet again against Bordeaux. PSG look like a team void of ideas which seems a bizarre thing to say when you look at the quality they have. Ibrahimovic looked isolated and PSG never really looked liked troubling Bordeaux’s three centre backs. Things won’t get any easier for PSG as they travel to Lille next week in search of their first win of the season! Bordeaux however remain unbeaten and move up to fourth place.

PSG weren’t the only title hopefuls to drop points, as both Lyon and Lille were both held to draws. Lyon travelled to nearby neighbours Evian, and fell behind early in the second half to a classy Barbosa finish. But Michel Bastos was at it again, scoring a cracking free kick to rescue a point for the Lyonnais. Lille, however, will be quietly pleased with their point away at Nice, as they rested key players before their must win Champions League clash this week. Nice were very unlucky not to take all three points as they were continuously denied by the heroics of Lille keeper, Landreau. 

Check out Landreau's inspired performance and Nice's lovely team goal:

Bastos scores another cracker: 

The big clash of the weekend saw defending champions Montpellier take on Marseille at the Stade de la Mosson. Now on Sunday afternoon, after I had eaten my Sunday lunch, I had the difficult task of choosing what game to watch - Marseille or Liverpool Man City? I chose Marseille and don’t get me wrong I was thrilled with the result but my God what a boring match. I was half asleep when Gignac grabbed the winner, and that goal only came about after some incredibly poor defending from Montpellier. This was a top of the table and clash and even the commentators sounded bored....I don't know.... maybe the heat had a part to play but this was not a good advert for Ligue 1 football. What makes it worse was that at the same time I was missing out on a thrilling 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Man City. Enough said. Anyway, the good news is that Marseille are now top of the league with three wins out of three and Gignac is on fire. It looks like he's got rid of his McDonald's loyalty card and now actually looks like a footballer. I'm sure it wont be long before the Marseille fans will be singing  Feed the Gignac and he will score. Happy days for us Marseille fans. The same can't be said for Montpellier who look short on ideas and I just don’t know where they are going to get their goals from this season because Herrera is just awful.

Elsewhere, Toulouse continued their good form with a 1-0 win away at Nancy, Sissoko getting the only goal. St. Etienne finally kick started their season with an impressive home win over Brest. Aubameyang got two goals in this one and my word this boy can run. I rate him a lot and he will be pivotal to St Etienne’s season. In another game full of goals, Stade Rennais beat Bastia 3-2. This could well have been M’Vila’s last game for the club with Tottenham submitting an offer believed to be in the region of 12 million pounds for the midfielder. The two promoted sides Troyes and Reims both got off the mark this weekend. Troyes held ten men Lorient to a 2-2 draw and Reims scored a last minute winner to condemn Sochaux to their third successive defeat. And finally, Ajaccio, who played so well against PSG last week, were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Valenciennes. 

Saint-Etienne hammer Brest 4-0:

On another note, I’m thinking of starting a petition to stop Barton from signing for Marseille. Horrible man, horrible player, don’t want him anywhere near our great club.  What do you think Marseille fans?

Barton says his heart is already in the Velodrome....I bloody hope not. 

Week 3

Paris Saint-Germain 0 - 0  Girondins de Bordeaux

Montpellier Hérault SC 0 - 1  Olympique de Marseille

AS Saint-Etienne  4 - 0  Stade Brestois 29

OGC Nice 2 - 2  LOSC Lille

Stade Rennais FC 3 - 2  SC Bastia

Stade de Reims 1 - 0  FC Sochaux-Montbéliard

Valenciennes FC 3 - 0  AC Ajaccio

AS Nancy Lorraine 0 - 1  Toulouse FC

ESTAC Troyes  2 - 2 FC Lorient 

Evian TG FC  1 - 1  Olympique Lyonnais

Betting: let's make some money

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European round-up

This week saw three French teams in action, with Lille, Marseille, and Bordeaux all looking to book their places in Europe. Lille are hoping to join Montpellier and PSG in the Champions League group stages, but their campaign got off to the worst possible start as they lost 1-0 away at FC Copenhagen. A very disappointing result for the Lillios but they should be able to turn this round at the Grand Stade Metropole. Fingers crossed. Marseille and Bordeaux both got off to good starts in their quest for the Europa League; Bordeaux secured a 0-0 draw away at former European giants Red Star Belgrade and a double for A. Ayew was enough to give Marseille a 2-1 win away at Sheriff Tiraspol. Despite the win Marseille looked poor defensively and Baup will be hoping for an improvement before their clash with Montpellier at the weekend.

I do like to go on about Marseille's amazing fans but it looks like I might have to eat my own words....

Let's make some money....

Anyway, the main reason for this post was betting related. I wouldn’t call myself a betting man but every weekend I do like to put 1 or 2 pounds on an accumulator. I’m sure most of you know what an accumulator bet is, but for those who don’t:

 "an accumulator bet allows two or more selections to be combined into a single wager. By doing so, the successful linked selections will return higher odds than they would if they had been bet on individually."

 In simple terms it is when you place a bet on a list of results. These accumulators aren’t going to make me a millionaire but they do help spice up the weekend. In fact my record, on these accumulator bets, is pretty terrible. I think I’ve been doing them for about three years and in that time I have won a measly 30 pounds. In my defence I do like to pick some "off the wall" results which help increase the odds....but unfortunately I'm still waiting for one of these "of the wall" results to pay off.  So I thought this year I would try my luck on the French Ligue 1 and see if this will change my fortunes. Every week I will be posting my selection of results for Ligue 1, but like I said I never seem to win so please feel free to comment below with your ideas and hopefully together we can win some money. You know how the saying goes, two minds are better than one….

My bet this week:

            Nice  vs. Lille                  Draw: 17/8
Stade Reims vs. Sochaux          Reims win: 23/10

         Nancy  vs. Toulouse          Draw: 2/1

  Troyes AC   vs. Lorient             Lorient win: 9/5

  Montpellier vs. Marseille          Draw: 21/ 10

                             

                                                   Total:    173.96/1

Method in the madness

My off the wall result is a Nice Lille draw. I've gone with a draw because I think Nice will be up for this game in front of their home crowd and Lille will be tired from their mid-week CL game. I understand if you don't want to copy me on this result but I'm pretty confident about the rest; starting with Ligue 1 new boys, Stade Reims, to beat Sochaux. Why? Well I saw them at home to Marseille and I was very impressed with their performance and they were unlucky not to get a result that day. Sochaux have also been poor so far this season and I don’t think their luck will change this weekend. Nancy and Toulouse have both had solid starts so I’ve gone with a draw in this one. I fancy Lorient to beat newly promoted Troyes after their two outstanding results against Montpellier and PSG. The big game of the weekend sees Montpellier take on Marseille. Montpellier have been below par this season, whereas Marseille have two wins in two. But I can’t see Marseille wining this one away from home and after their game on Thursday night. A one pound bet could see me win 174 pounds. Let me know your thoughts before I place the bet on Saturday morning.

Ligue 1 - 2ème Journée

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Those more observant will have noticed the phrase at the top of this blog’s page; "French football with an English twist", what this basically means is that every now and again I will be writing a few lines venting my frustrations about Norwich City. This weekend marked the opening day of the Premier League season, and every year at this point I’m filled with hope and excitement for the season ahead. This hope was dully crushed by Fulham of all teams, as Norwich slumped to a 5-0 defeat. We were truly awful, abysmal even, managing just two shots on target all game. I don't know what Hughton has been doing all pre-season but the whole team looked like they were still on holiday and this season looks over before its even started. Yes I’m a massive pessimist but I think relegation is very much on the cards. Right, rant over and time to look at the results on the sunnier side of the channel.

It is only fair to start the round-up at Lille as they marked a momentous moment in their history with the opening of their magnificent new stadium, the Grand Stade Lille Metropole. The 50,000 seater stadium is state of the art and boasts the first retractable roof in France and Lille finally have a stadium worthy of their ambitions. Unfortunately Lille were unable to christen the stadium with a victory as they were held to a one all draw by a plucky AS Nancy side, ex Chelsea star Salomon Kalou grabbing the equaliser for the les Lillois.

Highlights:

Lyon however made easy work of newly promoted side Troyes. A brace from Gomis helped Lyon on their way to a thumping 4-1 victory, but the goal of the game came from Brazilian Michel Bastos who scored a spectacular overhead kick from the edge of the area. That’s two wins out of two for Lyon, the only negative coming as Gourcuff limped off early in the first half.

Bastos' spectacular overhead kick:

Defending champions Montpellier are having a nightmare start to their season, as they went down 2-1 away at Lorient. In fact they led for most of the game after Herrera opened the scoring in the 36th minute, but they never looked comfortable and Lorient dominated for large periods of the match. Lorient were finally rewarded with two goals in stoppage time sealing an astonishing comeback. It was that man Jérémie Aliadière again who got the winner. That’s two goals in two games for him now and Lorient have taken 4 points from PSG and from the reigning champions.

Highlights:

So what of PSG? Well they failed to win again! They were held to an nil-nil draw away at Ajaccio which saw Lavezzi sent off and Ancelotti sent to the stands. PSG were without Ibrahimovic but even with all their other talents they never really threatened apart from Menez missing an absolute sitter from 4 yards out. I know its early days but could PSG be over reliant on Ibra? One man team….surely not.

Marseille moved four points clear of bitter rivals PSG with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Sochaux. This game was postponed by three hours to avoid the intense Mediterranean heat!  If only England suffered from the same problem. But when the game finally got underway the OM were far too strong for Sochaux and goals from Gignac and Fanni sealed the three points. I’ve been really impressed with Gignac so far this season and I think he’s back to his best after the problems of last season. I’ve backed him at 22-1 to be top scorer this season….As for Sochaux that’s two defeats on the trot and next weekends game against Ligue 1 new boys Reims is a must win game.

Highlights:

Elsewhere Bordeaux extended their Ligue 1 wining streak to 8 games with a 1-0 win over Rennes and Bastia came out on top in battle of the promoted teams, beating Reims 2-1. A great start to the season for the Corsican club. Saint Etienne’s poor start to the season continued as they went down 2-1 away at Toulouse with highly rated Ben Yedder and Capoue getting the goals for Toulouse. There was also a first win for Stade Brestois and Valenciennes and Nice shared the spoils in a nil-nil draw at the Stade du Hainaut.

Ligue 1 round-up: 1ère Journée

the the the

 The Ligue 1 season finally got underway on Friday night as defending champions Montpellier took on Toulouse at the Stade de la Mosson. An uninspiring 1-1 draw was livened up by three red cards, with Toulouse finishing the match with nine men. The dismissal of Montpellier’s Saihi was their 23rd red card since their return to Ligue 1 in 2009; more than any other club. Despite all this red card drama  both teams will have been happy not to lose their opening game of the season. 

But I can happily say that the real drama of the weekend took place in Paris, as red hot favourites PSG slipped up on day 1!! I promise I’m not gloating….much. Lorient, who avoided the drop by one point last season, raced into a two-nil before half time. If anyone was wondering where ex-Arsenal and Sunderland forward Jérémie Aliadière was these days, well he was scoring the second goal at the Parc des Princes.   Aliadière scoring?!? Crazy I know. Unfortunately, Lorient couldn’t hold on as a brace from Ibrahimovic salvaged a point for Les Parisiens. But Ligue 1 can take heart that PSG do look beatable, especially in defence where they looked very vulnerable. The only worrying sign is that Ibra has already found his scoring boots. 

By contrast the mighty Marseille opened up their season with a 1-0 win away at Reims, who were celebrating their return to Ligue 1 after a 33 year absence. In fairness Reims were slightly unlucky as Mandanda was at his brilliant best to keep Marseille on level terms when Ghilas found Madanda’s outstretched leg with the goal gaping. Top flight football is all about taking your chances and Reims were taught a lesson when Be. Cheyrou buried a brilliant far post volley. The last time Marseille won their opening game of the season in 2009 they went on to win the league. But worrying times still lie ahead for the OM as they desperately try to reduce their wage bill and the following weeks could see the departure of Cesar Azpilicueta, Stephane Mbia, Loic Remy and Andre Ayew. 

 Check out Cheyrou's cracking volley and the other top 10 goals of the weekend:

The other two promoted teams suffered contrasting results, as Corsican side Bastia overcame a seven hour delayed journey to beat Sochaux 3-2 in a thoroughly entertaining game. A brace from Maoulida takes him to the top of the scoring chart along side Ibrahimovic. Troyes however will be disappointed to have lost their opening home game (1-0) to Valenciennes.

The other results saw away wins for Bordeaux, AC Ajaccio, Brest, Lille and Lyon. Lille will be very happy to have opened up a two point lead on PSG but they left it very late against Saint-Etienne, Pedretti scoring the winner in the 90th minute.

The opening day of the season saw 6 red cards, 7 away wins and PSG going 2 goals down at home, not too bad if you ask me…..over to you Premier League.

Week 1

Montpellier HSC		1 - 1		Toulouse FC
Evian TG FC		2 - 3		Girondins de Bordeaux
AS Nancy Lorraine		1 - 0		Stade Brestois 29
OGC Nice		0 - 1		AC Ajaccio
Paris Saint-Germain		2 - 2		FC Lorient
Stade Rennais FC		0 - 1		Olympique Lyonnais
AS Saint-Etienne		1 - 2		LOSC Lille

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard		2 - 3		SC Bastia
ESTAC Troyes		0 - 1		Valenciennes FC

Stade de Reims

0 - 1

Olympique de Marseille