Virage Sud: 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.