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  • Monday 24 August 2009

    Bordeaux still 100%: Ligue 1 reviews

    Monaco 2-0 Lorient
    Auxerre 0-3 Lyon
    Montpellier 2-0 Sochaux
    Valenciennes 2-3 PSG
    St Etienne 0-1 Boulogne
    Le Mans 2-1 Nancy
    Rennes 1-1 Marseille
    Bordeaux 4-0 Nice
    Grenoble 1-2 Lens
    Lille 1-1 Toulouse

    Bordeaux are the only side left with a 100% record after the weekend in France. It's not that they rely on Yoann Gourcuff who got two of their four goals at home to Nice, just that he kind of forces the side to bend to his will. Jussie put Girondins ahead just before the break before Gourcuff's double made the game safe. His first was not a classic. Bursting into the box, he copped a massive shove in the back and yet somehow managed to divert it past the keeper and in. The second showed his striker instincts, springing the offside trap and blazing home. Alou Diarra added a third late on. Three clubs lit a couple of points behind Laurent Blanc's men, prime among them Lyon who put Auxerre to the sword. Jean-Alain Boumsong - yes, that one - scored a cheeky backheel to open the scoring and further goals from Jean Makoun and Miralem Pjanic consigned Auxerre to their third defeat and leave them bottom. Marseille dropped their first points in drawing with Rennes who went ahead through Jerome Leroy's penalty. Mamadou Niang equalised in the second half and Fernando Morientes was denied by a quite brilliant save from Nicolas Douchez as the game ended in stalemate. PSG are also tucked in on seven points with a win at Valenciennes. Pegguy Luyindula and Mevlut Erding put the Parisians ahead, Siaka Tiéné got one back, but Christophe Jallet made it safe. Rudy Mater got a consolation in stoppage time.

    Nancy fell away after defeat to Le Mans for who Thorstein Helstad and Anthony Le Tallec engineered a two-goal lead. Damian Macaluso's late goal meant little. Sochaux's decent start didn't last and they succumbed to Montpellier. Alberto Costa's penalty put them on the way and Karim Fana made it safe in stoppage time. St Etienne are in trouble after going down to ten-man Boulogne. Alexandre Cuvillier got the only goal in the first half and they coped easily with what St Etienne could muster, even after Guillaume Ducatel was dismissed. Les Verts don't look like winning anything at the moment. I wouldn't back one of their players to win the club's player of the season award.

    Lens got a second win of the season over Grenoble. Eduardo dos Santos put them in front on seven minutes with a cracking goal, but they were pegged back five minutes later by Danijel Luboja. Twenty minutes from time, Adboulrazak Boukari headed home to give the Sang Et Or the win. Lille and Toulouse played out a draw at the Métropole, Cheikh M'Bengue equalising for Les Violets after Robert Vittek's opener and first half goals from Frederic Nimano and Nene gave Monaco a comfortable win over Lorient at the Louis II.

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