Ligue 1: 2010-2011 Season Preview

Whoever said that you should save the best for last was clearly not a fan of good football.  Ligue 1 officially starts the first of the “big 5″ European leagues kicks off today (France, England, Germany, Italy, Spain).  Though the French league has been historically underrated - I can assure you that you are just as (if not more) likely to find amazing players, exciting title races and a fair share of entertaining characters playing in France this year.

So, what can you expect to see this year from a league that had two teams in the Champions League quarterfinals (with one team advancing to the semifinals) and a title race that was exciting almost until the very end?  Well, I might be biased…but I expect you will see more of that this year.  So, for those ambitious fans who want to avoid coming late to the party at the end of the season – here is a primer so you can stay on top of the action from Day 1….

THE GIANTS

MARSEILLE (OM): THE CURRENT CHAMPIONS

The reigning champions who won a double last year (Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue title) have already picked a few trophies before the season’s even started.  Earlier this summer, fans were gifted an extra Classico match between OM and Paris SG as the team teams played each other in the Trophy of Champions held in Tunisia.  Neither team could end the game in regulation time and Marseille ended up winning on penalties before beating La Liga’s Valencia in the first ever Robert Louis-Dreyfus Trophy (named in honor of OM’s late owner who passed away last summer).  Marseille have had a preseason of ups and downs – winning two trophies while dealing with a mutiny (Niang, Taiwo, Mbia and Ayew have all struggled with disagreements with the club this summer) and are struggling to get a few of the players from the World Cup match fit (Heinze wasn’t even included in the traveling group for the team’s first game).  It will be interesting to see how Deschamps pulls this team together.  The group of players at the club is impressive- Taiwo, Mbia, Niang, the Ayews (Andre & Jordan), Ben Arfa, Valbuena, Cheyrou, Lucho, Diawarra – it is a pretty impressive group thatcould make up the backbone of this team.  And I say could because the transfer window isn’t over yet – and several of these players are being circled by other clubs looking to hawk one of or two of them away!

BORDEAUX: THE REDEEM TEAM?

If the past two seasons demonstrate anything, its that Bordeaux is a mixed bag of tricks.  After coming off an amazing 2008-2009 season, they completely embarrassed themselves last season in Ligue 1.  Their loss of Chamakh to Arsenal can only be described as a complete managerial failure on the part of the President who didn’t even approach Chamakh to sign an extension until it was too late.  The dip in form of Gourcuff, the rumors surrounding Blanc’s departure to coach Les Bleus and the lack of depth on Bordeaux’s bench (again due to a complete managerial FAIL) led to Bordeaux finishing 7th in last year’s table.  That means that there is no Europe for Bordeaux this year.  So, it looks like the Gourcuff fan club will haveto watch Ligue 1 to catch a glimpse of his….playing ability! And while I can’t say that Bordeaux have completely recovered from last year’s complete collapse (this is NOT an exaggeration) – they’ve recovered nicely considering the circumstances.  Their President remained firm on keeping what was left of their squad together despite the attempts to lure Gourcuff (to a variety of clubs) and Alou Diarra (to Marseille) away.  At the beginning of the summer, it looked like Bordeaux were going to lose their captain (Diarra) for the second year in a row to Marseille, with Deschamps describing the deal as “only a question of economics.”  But despite the public encouragement from Diawara (”Diarra, get your ass to Marseille”), the last FCGB captain who jumped ship to Marseille, Alou remained faithful to the club.  And Gourcuff remains there whether he wants to or not – as Bordeaux were not tempted by the many (rumored) offers from Lyon, Arsenal and a few other clubs.  In addition to managing to retain their key players, Bordeaux have actually added a few to supplement their existing team and provide the depth they so desperately needed last season.  Perhaps the most exciting was the catch of Tigana – a member of France’s legendary “magic square” midfield with Platini, Fernandez and Giresse – as a replacement for Blanc.  And though they are both Bleus legends – Tigana brings a wealth of management experience Blanc lacked when he initially started at Bordeaux.  His resume includes tenures (not all good) at Lyon, Monaco, Fulham and Besiktas.  As a player, Tigana was able to help Bordeaux capture 3 Ligue 1 titles and 3 domestic cups.  It shall be interesting to see if he can match that record as a manager there.

LYON (OL): THE CONSTANT FAVORITES

Lyon start the year having scooped up Jimmy Briand on a free transfer from Rennes this summer- and its a good thing because their first-choice striker (by a mile), Lisandro Lopez, is out with an ankle injury.  But, other than Briand and a few loan returns (Mensah from Sunderland, Pied from Metz), most of Lyon’s transfer action was in the opposite direction.  A master at selling players at the right time, Aulas let go of Mathieu Bodmer (PSG), Sydney Govou (Panathinaikos) and Jean-Alain Boumsong (Panathinaikos).  While Lyon is accustomed to playing without Bodmer due to his many injuries, Govou and Boumsong leaving signaled an end to an era.  Previous to his transfer, Gouvou was on the list of “1 club men” and the last remaining member of the team who had been part of Lyon’s epic 7-consecutive Ligue 1 title wins.  Boumsong, though only at the club since 2008, became a fast leader at the club.  And though he made some mistakes, he’s also had more than a few bright moments for the club – its unfortunate that the split was rumored to be under acrimonious circumstances (forced departure).  While a lesser team would be devastated by such departures, Lyon are a deep squad and can turn to their academy to help give their bench depth.  Five of the players who won the UEFA U19 European title this summer for Les Bleuets play for Lyon. If the stuff we saw this summer from Tafer, Lacazette, Grenier, Reale and Faure are any indication, Lyon are in good hands.

THE NEW FACES

ARLES-AVIGNON: THE SIDESHOW TEAM
Arles are nothing if not entertaining – and they’ve been faithful to that motto since they hired their current coach (Estevan) in 2005.  In a nutshell, Arles have been promoted 4 times in the past 5 years.  Essentially this means that in 5 years, Arles have needed to  transform themselves from an amateur club playing non-league football in France’s 5th division to a club that can compete with the big boys of Ligue 1 who were beating up the biggest teams in Europe last year (Bordeaux beat both Bayern and Juventus in the group stage while Lyon beat Liverpool in the group stage and Real Madrid in the Round of 16).  They’ve managed to overcome seemingly insurmountable logistical obstacles to meet the requirements to become a professional club and play in Ligue 1.  Last year, they managed to seal a deal allowing them to use a neighboring city Avignon’s stadium to triple their stadium’s capacity to 7,000; change their name to incorporate the new relationship to Avignon; and win an appeal to play after being suspended for financial problems in their transition to professional status.  Estevan also managed an impressive loan deal with Marseille by retaining the services of Andre Ayew (one of my 5 players to watch in Ligue 1 this season).  Their luck continued, despite the constant pitfalls in their path, and they sealed their promotion to Ligue 1 on the last day of Ligue 2 in May.  Of course, a club with such a flair for the dramatic couldn’t stop there.  This summer, the club descended into chaos as the club’s President was voted out for recommending a new contract for the coach (who had led them to 4 promotions in 5 years)- a punishment for trying to broker a financially infeasible deal.  The new co-chairs then fired the coach who had led them to Ligue 1 with a budget of only 5.2M Euros last season before turning around and rehiring them.  Simultaneously, the club is struggling to meet the stadium requirements to play in Ligue 1 which include increasing their stadium capacity to 17,000 as well as adding boxes for the media, security, adding amenities, appropriate lighting etc. Their deadline is August 14, Arles’ first home game of the season.  The safety inspection for the stadium is August 12th. And there are questions over the integrity of the stadium- how such a club that is strapped for resources could have managed to accomplish such a renovation in a short amount of time.  The club remain firm that they will be ready to welcome their opponents come August 14th, but rumors of contingency plans to play at Marseille’s Velodrome or Montpellier persist.  But, regardless of which stadium Arles play in – the quality of their team has been dramatically reduced with the return of successful loan players to their clubs.  Whats left isn’t exactly inspirational – and the team will struggle to compete with no Ligue 1 experience in their club’s history.  But, miracles have happened before – and they seems to have a knack for happening to Arles.

BREST: Brest are the less Hollywood version of Arles – they lack the resources to compete every weekend with the likes of Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux but have some real gems in their team.  Brou Apanga, fresh off the U19 European win, will be making his way to Ligue 1 with Brest- but the team will need more than him and a few other secret weapons to have a shot at staying in Ligue 1 next year….

CAEN:  Caen is the most experienced of the three newly promoted clubs and can claim both Ligue 1 and European experience.  Their last time in Ligue 1 was a short visit – a one season appearance in the 2008-09 season.  But after a single season in Ligue 2 – where they placed first (69 points) just ahead of Brest (67p) and Arles (60p) – they are back.  But not necessarily better.

THE CONSTANT UNDER-PERFORMERS

PARIS SG:   THE SIDE SHOW…WITH MORE MONEY AND MORE FANS

Ah, Paris.  The team that always finds a way to spit in its own face – despite its massive potential.  The team is the 3rd richest in the league, it could limit its scouting network to just the city limits and surrounding suburbs and probably create a dream-team, it has the allure of the capital – all of which should add up to a PR dream.  But, year after year, they always find a way to maintain their mediocrity (and bad reputation)- whether its the club’s fans, business practices or the inability to harness the truly talented players they did manage to scoop up.  To see players like Mamadou Sakho, Stephane Sessegnon and Guillaume Hoarau squander their talent is painful for any football fan (even a Marseille one).  This year, PSG have at least started the year off with some ambition.  After getting a reputation for taking in legends who have passed their best (I love you Makelele, but its just true)- they’ve gone and signed some true talent who may have their best years ahead of them.  One of them being  Mathieu Bodmer from Lyon who (when healthy) can be a real asset in defense.  At the other end of the pitch, they’ve attracted Nene from Monaco – who scored an impressive 9 goals in 10 games at the start of Ligue 1 last year.  For a while, he seemed destined to win the title of the league’s top scorer – and he might have had he received more help from his team.  Adding these players in lieu of signing aging players such as Gallas gives them a better chance of breaking their mold of constant disappointment – but like I said, Paris SG always finds a way to destroy itself.

MONACO: THE KAMIKAZES

Take everything I said about Paris (minus the restricted scouting network) and apply it to Monaco.  Now take away all the stuff about (possibly) turning things around this season.  Well, their fans aren’t that bad…but Monaco are basically a team that has achieved great heights (Champions League final in 2004 and a series of Ligue 1 titles in the late 90s) that has found itself satisfied with constantly underachieving.  There is an argument to be made that Nene didn’t really change his team so much as his surrounding city.  And their transfer activity has mostly been restricted to selling players and welcoming back players who were loaned out last year.  They didn’t even manage to broker a good deal for Nene (in my eyes).  5M Euros seems like a steal given his potential.  But the players they did bring back do have some potential – including Serge Gakpe who I’ve had my eye on for a while.  Hes an incredibly talented midfielder who was loaned out to Tours in Ligue 2 last year after returning from Togo’s nightmare at the African Cup in Angola in January.

Add NICE, SAINT-ETIENNE, and TOULOUSE to this group and you’ve got a reasonable end-of-season prediction for the middle of the table.

THE UNDERDOGS

Add to this list a host of underdogs such as LILLE, AUXERRE, RENNES, MONTPELLIER and LORIENT with some great players (some of whom I’ve talked up before) and it should be an entertaining season!

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF LIGUE 1? In addition to The Offside-Ligue 1 blogs – here are a few resources to keep you satisfied…

Who owns Ligue 1 teams?  An interactive Map with facts and figures by Bertrand de Volontat (in French)

Ligue 1 Talk podcast – Hear Dave Trotter, Martin Michelot and myself defend our preseason predictions (in English)
Ligue 1 Kick Off- Get to know the major players (as defined by Etienne Michon)

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Category: French Ligue 1, Leagues, Transfer Talk, World Football