This weekend saw another eventful round of Ligue 1 fixtures. Troyes finally got their first win, 1-0 at the expense of Marseille – who not only lost the match but also top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac, expected to be out for 6 weeks with a broken metatarsal. Lorient’s unbeaten run ended as their insistence on giving opponents a 1 or 2 man advantage finally caught up with them, their 9 men going down 6-1 to Valenciennes. Bordeaux continued their two impressive runs – still unbeaten and still conceding injury-time goals, as Marko Basa’s late header gave Lille a 1-1 draw and him a broken nose for his troubles. The Corsican derby almost lived up to its billing, an eventful match seeing fights on and off the pitch, but no goals to show. Nancy’s 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Sochaux mean that they now prop up the table, while PSG’s 1-0 win against Reims sees them at the top of the table for the first time this season. What are the odds of them staying there until May?
This week we could have had a new category – goal-line clearance of the week, with several last-ditch acrobatic efforts seen, half of which were made by Bastia to wind up the Ajaccio crowd. But we’ll start with save of the week. A few good contenders, including Sirigu’s penalty save for PSG and a fabulous effort from Lille’s Landreau to beat out a powerful shot from Plasil. But this week’s award goes to Joris Delle for his effort to keep out Fabien Lemoine’s curling effort (0:30 secs in).
Miss of the week must sadly go to Loic Remy, despite great efforts from two Nice players – Cvitanich hitting a penalty wide and Pied also missing the target after a peach of a pass from Cvitanich. It’s hard to be too harsh on Remy with all his injury problems and the difficult circumstances of his appearance on Sunday evening, replacing the injured Gignac early on. But an international should not be heading the ball into the ground and over the bar from 5 yards out (enjoy the highlights below, which for some reason have cut out Remy’s miss, sparing his blushes). Remy’s stats so far this season: 10 shots; 0 on target.
As for player of the week, not too many stand-out performers this week. Malbranque deserves a mention for his excellent performance for Lyon against Brest, capped by a superb assist for Gomis’s winner. But Etienne Didot wins the plaudits after setting up 3 of Toulouse’s 4 goals against Evian, as his team achieved their biggest away win for almost 30 years.
Finally, goal of the week. Just off the podium is Mevlut Erding, who slotted in Rennes’ winner against struggling Montpellier thanks to an excellent throughball from Romain Alessandrini (1:10 in).
In third place is Le Tallec’s second in Valenciennes’ 6-1 rout, a shot lashed into the top corner ending a great team move which included a clever backheel (1:40 in, with half the move cut off).
Second place goes to Franck Tabanou’s opener for Toulouse – he is beginning to make long-distance thunderbolts his trademark.
Goal of the week, however, goes to Sebastien Roudet for his spectacular half volley from 25 yards, which secured Sochaux a valuable point at Nancy (0:40 in).
Join us next week for weekday 10, with a few mouth-watering fixtures, including a derby du Nord as Lille host in-form Valenciennes, the Champagne derby between Reims and Troyes and the headline match at the Velodrome as Marseille look to get back to winning ways against Lyon.
