Saturday:
Nantes v PSG
Lorient v Monaco
St Etienne v Caen
Nancy v Auxerre
Le Havre v Rennes
Toulouse v Le Mans
Lille v Sochaux
Sunday:
Nice v Lyon
Grenoble v Valenciennes
Marseille v Bordeaux
Is the empire crumbling? Lyon, reigning seven time champions, are under fire from all quarters. After St Etienne were denied a penalty that has been described by people other than me as debatable - I saw no foul - all comers have been chipping in their two cents. Lyon defended themselves from St Etienne boss Alain Perrin's chelping about the incident by recalling an interview Perrin gave to OLTV last year when he was the Lyon boss in which he said he was annoyed by referees being more "laid-back" with less strong teams. "This habit of crying wolf is annoying" said Marseille president Pape Diouf, before invoking the memory of 1982 and Harald Schumacher's assault on Patrick Battiston in relation to Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris' breaking the cheekbone of Bakari Kone. That's like invoking the Holocaust in an argument round those parts, especially as Lloris did little wrong in what was clearly a accidental collision. No matter. This week Lyon have a winnable game at Nice, though it is never easy travelling to the south coast where the fans make for an intimidating atmosphere. Should they slip up, Bordeaux, 3-0 winners over PSG in the league cup in midweek, will go top by beating Marseille at the Vélodrome. That's not easy in itself, but with Bordeaux in sublime form and Marseille consistently inconsistent, there's every chance they will.
PSG travel to Nantes in what promises to be a tight game. Mateja Kezman has already unmade friends at the capital club - he really could start a fight in a phone booth - after hurling his shirt away having been subbed in that defeat to Bordeaux, shortly after missing a glorious chance. He's likely to face internal punishment and will probably miss this one, but whether that blunts their attack is a matter of opinion. Toulouse host Le Mans with the latter on the slide and Toulouse going well. Le Mans changed coach in the week with Yves Bertucchi stepping down in favour of Daniel Jeandupeux. It's a desperate move, especially when you consider that Bertucci will still be Jeandupeux's deputy. Toulouse were poor last week, but they have goals in them - André-Pierre Gignac is on 13 for the season - and should win here. Rennes, meanwhile, travel to Le Havre where they will win. Le Havre are terrible.
Lorient host Monaco hoping to turn round their form in the chase for a European spot and they are favourites to do so. Monaco have seven absentees and doubts over more. Caen are plummeting down the league and they travel to face St Etienne. Caen rely on the goals of Steve Savidan, but it's been some time since his goals gave Caen an good start and earned him a call-up to the national side, and they're now deep in trouble. There's a proverbial six-pointer at Grenoble, also on the slide, where resurgent Valenciennes are the visitors. A win for Valenciennes should surely pull them out of the bottom three for the first time this season. Sochaux are one of the sides immediately above them and they face Lille who they will find the going tough against and Auxerre are also in trouble and they go to Nancy who are languishing in mid-table obscurity. If Auxerre are to get out of it, then this is the sort of game they need to win. We don't think they will.
No comments:
Post a Comment