Team of the Week: Aboubakar helps Merlus to swim through Evian waters

Ligue 1 action returned this weekend after a week off for the small matter of Les Bleus’ World Cup qualification. And despite sending their players to all corners of the earth, PSG still appear to be on another planet to the rest of the league. On their return to the scene of their last league defeat (in March), a revamped PSG team were not entirely comfortable: Sirigu needed to pull off some great saves and some luck was ridden with last year’s match-winner Krychowiak skying a penalty over the bar for Reims. But PSG ran out 3-0 winners, with Zlatan joining Cavani and Falcao at the top of the scoring charts and Menez grabbing one – still no smile though.

They remain four points clear of Lille, who were arguably even less convincing, but they hit the net with their only attempt on target, and their impregnable defence did the rest, as they saw off Toulouse 1-0. That’s now 855 minutes without a goal conceded, a record going back to 15 September, and Vincent Enyeama has made 27 saves during that period. Monaco, in third, got back to winning ways after a month, with a 1-0 win at Nantes. No doubt about the main talking point though – Falcao substituted after a bit of a mare. And to rub salt into the wound, it was great work by his replacement – 17 year old debutant and French starlet Anthony Martial – that led to Obbadi’s winner.

At the bottom of the table, the three teams in the relegation zone are beginning to be cut off from the rest. The lanterne rouge remains Sochaux. Under Hervé Renard they are becoming harder to beat. But it’s now nigh on two months since their last win, and they failed to turn their dominance into victory in being held 1-1 at home to Bastia. They weren’t helped by the match officials, who surreally disallowed a perfectly good Sochaux goal (2:15 in) and arguably shouldn’t have allowed Bastia’s. Just above Sochaux are Ajaccio, who succumbed 3-1 at home to Marseille in the weekend’s opener. It’s all going very Pierre Tong for the Corsicans, who are bizarrely paying ex-coach Albert Emon to sit on their bench doing nothing, in order to circumvent FFF rules and allow coaching-licence-less Braccioni to coach the team. Valenciennes complete the bottom three, but should be pleased with a more-than-deserved comeback 1-1 draw at Lyon. The home team were denied a third straight win, but will take some comfort in seeing the return of Remy Vercoutre, after seven months out.

Performance of the week came from Lorient, who moved away from the drop zone with an emphatic 4-0 win at Evian. A first away win in ten – and first away points of the season – for les Merlus. And Christian Gourcuff came as close to a smile as Menez. Have they got a bet on? Lorient creep closer to Montpellier, who were held to their ninth draw in fourteen games, this time a 1-1 at home to Guingamp. La Paillade will be as annoyed with the officials as Sochaux – a shot that crossed the line not given (1:00 in), and the Guingamp equaliser coming from a dodgy penalty. 1-1 was the score of the week: as well as Lyon, Sochaux and Montpellier, Rennes was also the scene of a goal apiece as they and Bordeaux scored within 40 seconds of each other.

Finally a word on Nice vs Saint-Etienne. The match ended with a 1-0 win for les Verts but the main headline of the evening was the bad behaviour of the visiting fans, who reacted to one of the fans’ coaches being stoned with violence inside the stadium, causing most of the travelling contingent to be chucked out. The LFP’s statement has been unequivocal, Frederic Thiriez branding the supporters cretins, accusing them of ruining the image of football, and threatening a ban on all away supporters if the problem is not solved. Seems a little excessive but then, as Kurt Zouma can attest, the LFP don’t do things by halves…

This week’s player of the week is Vincent Aboubakar, who continued his Lorient renaissance by scoring a brace and earning a penalty into the bargain. Joining him in our equipe type are:

As a little amuse-bouche this week, we have a top 3 goalkeeping rickets of the week. In third place is Evian’s Jesper Hansen, whose poor clearance straight to Jouffre led to Diallo’s goal for Lorient. In second is Nice’s Luca Veronese, who let the ball slip under his foot, allowing Erding in to finally score his first goal for Saint-Etienne. And in first place is Reims’ Kossi Agassa, who threw the ball at Tacalfred, who had his back turned, the ball falling to Zlatan, who hardly needs the help! (OK, Veronese’s was worse than Agassa’s, but he’s only a baby and had a great game otherwise (see save at 1:47); Kossi should know better.)

Onto the main course of goals of the week.

In joint-third place are Cheick Diabaté’s quick-fire equaliser for Bordeaux against Rennes, and Lucas’s opener for PSG; the first for Cheick’s superb control of N’guemo’s pass from deep, the second for Zlatan’s perfect pass to set Lucas on his way to goal.

In second place is site favourite Remy Cabella for Montpellier. As the ball pinged around the midfield, around 30 metres and slightly to the left of the Guingamp goal, Cabella took a first time swing and the ball curled over the Guingamp defence and Ndy Assembe and into the top corner.

But this week’s winner is Andre-Pierre Gignac’s blinder for Marseille. Standing on the edge of the area, Gignac controlled an Abdallah cross on his chest and, with his back to goal, APG span and hit a screamer past Ochoa into the top corner. Such a great goal, Gignac even got away with smacking Elie Baup’s hat off his head, a little more forcefully than playfully…

Tune into @FrenchFtWeekly and @FFW_Live next week for Matchday 15, including Marseille vs Montpellier, a local derby as Valenciennes host Lille, and a biggie (if you ignore the league table) to finish as PSG and Lyon meet.