In contrast to the past few weeks, when much of the attention in France has been on a particular match, be it the Coupe de la Ligue final or Lyon’s trip to Paris Saint-Germain, the fixture calendar did not throw up anything so compelling this weekend. Paris Saint-Germain were given the Sunday night slot, traditionally reserved for the weekend’s biggest match, by dint of their popularity but their opponents, Guingamp, have failed to score at the Parc des Princes since 2002 and that trend continued. The Bretons had beaten PSG at home earlier in the season, but their form has waned badly in 2017 and PSG duly won 4-0. But, in a surprising turn of events, there was more than enough excitement on Saturday to make up for Sunday’s series of damp squibs, and much of that excitement centred around the teams at the bottom.
Last season, the battle to avoid relegation came down to the last day, with Toulouse, on the heels of a furious fightback, staying up and Reims and Gazelec Ajaccio going down. Neither Reims, who had bizarrely changed their manager late in the season, nor Gazelec, who were operating on a minuscule budget, were likely to stay in France’s top flight. What caught the eye, though, was Toulouse’s dramatic late turnaround under Pascal Dupraz. The fiery manager had enjoyed some decent success in keeping Evian in Ligue 1, but with Toulouse badly adrift upon his appointment, he seemed a bold choice. Lorient and Bastia, the clubs that looked destined for the drop this season, were similarly cut away before the international break, but looked to have run out of options.
Changes in leadership had done little for either club, with Bernard Casoni replacing Sylvain Ripoll at Lorient in November and Rui Almeida taking over at Bastia in February, but the clubs still occupied the bottom two spots in early March. With the transfer window closed and the new managers struggling to make an impact, the relegation fight was looking rather uninteresting. Things started to shift slightly before the international break, as Lorient’s dramatic 3-2 win at Nancy gave them a glimpse of safety, but it remained to be seen whether they could gain momentum, as they were yet to win consecutive matches all season. The momentum did continue, with a win at home to Caen and then their latest, and most surprising triumph, a 4-1 away win against Lyon, whose home form has been imperious of late.
Lorient coach Casoni was effusive in his praise of his players, and rightly so, as their ambitious 4-4-2 formation worked well against a Lyon side who may have had one eye on Thursday’s Europa League clash with Besiktas. The players were brimming with confidence. Veteran midfielder Arnold Mvuemba, a former Lyon player for whom revenge might have been just a bit sweeter, said: “Offensively, we know we have the means and we have to take advantage of them.” His team-mate, Benjamin Moukandjo, whose brace gives him four goals in three matches, was similarly resolute. “We had a game plan, we executed it,” said the striker. “We knew it was necessary to try to contain this extremely attacking team but also to profit from the spaces that would appear.” With this kind of confidence and a favourable run-in (they only have to play one more top-six team in their remaining six matches), Ligue 1 may be about to witness another remarkable survival.
What makes Lorient’s bid for safety even more incredible is that they are not alone; the bottom three clubs all won this weekend, leaving the bottom five separated by just four points with six matches to play. Bastia earned just their third win away from home this season by beating Dijon 2-1. Nancy also won, scoring three goals for the first time in the league this season to beat Rennes.
The closest title race in Europe’s big leagues will continue to take centre stage in France, with most hoping for an end to Paris Saint-Germain’s hegemony. However, given how close the race to stay up is and the willingness of the clubs involved to play attacking football, one could do worse than to follow Ligue 1’s compelling battle for survival.
Ligue 1 talking points
Mario Balotelli scored his first goals away from home for Nice this season on Friday, hitting a brace in a 2-1 win at Lille. Nice are not out of the title race quite yet, just four points off of Monaco (who, alongside PSG, have a game in hand), but one has to wonder where they might be had they won matches at clubs such as Bastia, Rennes or Caen. The controversial Italian’s maddening lack of goals away from the confines of the Allianz Riviera has been, aside from serious injuries to Wylan Cyprien and Alassane Pléa, the only let-down in an otherwise superb season for Lucien Favre’s side. On the heels of Friday’s result and last week’s gritty win over Bordeaux, a third successive win, at home to Nancy on Saturday, would secure third place and with it a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds. It would be an incredible achievement, one that looked improbable after the departures of Hatem Ben Arfa, Valère Germain and Nampalys Mendy, who were all influential in last season’s push for European football. Favre’s style is not as aesthetically pleasing as Claude Puel’s diamond 4-4-2, but the manager has been superb in balancing a staggering number of absences, whether through injury (Ricardo Pereira, Paul Baysse and Younes Belhanda have all missed more than a month) or the Africa Cup of Nations (midfield cog Jean-Michael Seri). Even with Nice’s unlikely title bid now seemingly gone, they should be congratulated for what looks set to be the club’s best finish in more than 40 years.
Monaco, playing a heavily rotated side before their match in Dortmund on Tuesday, managed to scrape a 1-0 win at the newly renamed Stade Raymond Kopa. Hosts Angers were more than up for the task, though, even with their own injury concerns. With the hosts superb on the break and powerful in midfield, Monaco owe their continued place at the top of the table more to goalkeeper Danijel Subasic than goalscorer Radamel Falcao. The Colombian had been snatching at his chances all afternoon, but the goal that earned Monaco three points was a thing of beauty, with Nabil Dirar running on to a beautifully weighted ball from Kamil Glik before playing it back to the striker, who tapped in. The result, much like a recent win over Bordeaux, set the nerves jangling, but it also showed Monaco’s overwhelming quality and their ability to make something from nothing. The win keeps the leaders’ cushion at three points (and goal difference). Leonardo Jardim’s team have approached the league with an unremitting focus and that focus now is tantalisingly close to bearing fruit, and, with seven matches remaining, becoming a potentially massive testament to the manager’s bravura.
Angers may have lost to Monaco but the result was not Alexandre Letellier’s fault. The 26-year-old goalkeeper made his first appearance of the season midweek in the Coupe de France, and a string of late saves were key in seeing off Bordeaux in that match. He had waited patiently for his chance since joining Angers, and had seemingly got it with the club’s sale of Ludovic Butelle last winter, but a cruciate injury cruelly intervened, forcing the club to sign Nimes’ Mathieu Michel as cover. A long recovery period was difficult, but Letellier kept his perspective, modestly remarking of his midweek heroics: “In those moments, you think back to all those moments of difficulty that you experienced during the rehabilitation process. I received a lot of support during my injury, and I was keen to help my friends.” Surprisingly picked instead of Michel for this match, the lanky Letellier was once again superb, turning in a near-unbelievable set of close-range saves from a pair of Monaco corners as his team pressed for an equaliser. He also did well to take the ball off the feet of the speedy Almamy Touré in stoppage time, showing no reticence to test his surgically repaired knee. Angers’ surprising form in 2017 (only four sides have won more points in the calendar year) has been largely down to an improvement in attacking play, but that offensive nous, when combined with the play of an in-form goalkeeper, now looks to make them a tricky proposition over the next six weeks. Angers will face an equally stern test against Paris Saint-Germain on Friday, but on this form, one would be wary of putting anything beyond the reinvigorated Letellier.
Marseille kept up their impressive unbeaten run in the league, stretching that run to five matches with a scoreless draw at Toulouse. However, with Bordeaux winning again, that result saw Rudi Garcia’s side lose more ground in the race for European places, even as Lyon and Saint-Étienne both failed to record three points. There is still a good chance that sixth place will bring European football, but Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain have been drawn together in one semi-final of the Coupe de France, which means that the winner of that match will face a potentially awkward opponent in the final: both Angers and Guingamp are capable of troubling the best the league has to offer. Even if Marseille’s league place does yield European football, that would mean their season would start in late July, a far from ideal situation given the club’s plans for player movement come the summer. Games against Bordeaux on the penultimate matchday and Saint-Étienne next week have now taken on an outsize importance; despite the odd encouraging display, Marseille have been poor in attack too often, and frequently required saving by their outstanding veteran goalkeeper, Yohann Pelé. He was at it again yesterday, denying Andy Delort from six yards to preserve the result against his former club. A long-term injury to Bafétimbi Gomis was a part of the team’s attacking issues, but Marseille’s lack of coherence and intent in attack was once again their undoing. More than personnel, Garcia needs to focus instead on instilling a combative mentality to earn results at crucial times. Knowing that Lyon had lost and Sainté were to face in-form Nantes, this weekend presented an ideal opportunity to steal a march on their rivals, but the chance went begging. If more gumption is not shown in the next few weeks, the struggles of Marseille’s project will surely increase without European football on offer.
Memphis Depay’s childish antics in the build-up to Lyon’s match against Lorient have earned the winger no plaudits in France. The former Manchester United winger tweeted an image of a lion’s paw stepping on a fish (Lorient are known as Les Merlus, the hake) before the match with the caption “fish on the menu.” Given the subsequent result, a 4-1 thrashing for the hosts, the Dutchman is better advised not to give an in-form opponent, even one battling against relegation, any additional motivation. One can have some sympathy for his desire to connect with Lyon’s fans on social media, but until Depay delivers on the pitch with some degree of consistency, he is perhaps better served by keeping quiet.
Ligue 1 results
Lille 1-2 Nice, Angers 0-1 Monaco, Bordeaux 3-0 Metz, Caen 0-2 Montpellier, Dijon 1-2 Bastia, Lyon 1-4 Lorient, Nancy 3-0 Rennes, Toulouse 0-0 Marseille, St Étienne 1-1 Nantes, Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Guingamp.
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