Ligue 1, 2009-10

The new season begins this weekend in France and with Lyon finishing third last season and having gone through a rebuilding project this summer, losing it's top two players from last season, Juninho and Karim Benzema, this is the first season in years where Lyon will not start as favorites. In fact in a poll of first division managers Marseille were voted the title favorites.

Here is a list of new signings this season:

http://www.betinf.com/france_transfer.htm

Auxerre
Midfielder Alexandre Licata from Monaco.

Bordeaux
Czech midfielder Jaroslav Plasil from Osasuna for a fee of €3m; Goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso from Toulouse for a fee of €10m; Midfielder Yoann Gourcuff (permanent signing) from Milan for a fee of €15m.

Grenoble
Japanese midfielder Daisuke Matsui from Saint-Etienne; Goalkeeper Jodi Viviani from Saint-Etienne; Defender Sandy Paillot from Lyon.

Le Mans
Portuguese defender Joao Paulo Andrade from Porto.

Lille
Ivory Coast forward Gervinho from Le Mans for a fee of €6m; Goalkeeper Mickael Landreau from Paris St. Germain; Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on loan from Milan.

Lorient
Forward James Fanchone from Strasbourg; Defender Maxime Baca from Le Havre.

Lyon
Forward Bafetimbi Gomis from Saint-Etienne for a fee of €13m; Defender Aly Cissokho from Porto for a fee of €15m; Brazilian defender Michel Bastos from Lille for a fee of €18m; Argentinean forward Lisandro Lopez from Porto for a fee of €24m.

Marseille
Argentinean defender Gabriel Heinze from Real Madrid for a fee of €1.5m; Midfielder Fabrice Abriel from Lorient for a fee of €2.5m; Spanish forward Fernando Morientes on a free transfer from Valencia; Midfielder Cyril Rool from Nice; Brazilian goalkeeper Elinton Andrade from Rapid Bucharest; Cameroonian midfielder Stephane M'bia from Rennes for a fee of €12m; Midfielder Edouard Cisse on a free transfer from Besiktas; Senegalese defender Souleymane Diawara from Bordeaux for a fee of €5m; Cameroonian defender Charley Fomen from Panthere Bangangte; Argentinean midfielder Lucho Gonzalez from Porto for a fee of €18m.

Monaco
Defender Sebastien Puygrenier on loan from Zenit St. Petersburg; Malian defender Djimi Traore from Portsmouth.

Montpelier
Defender Cyril Jeunechamp from Nice; Midfielder Geoffrey Dernis from Saint-Etienne; Midfielder Romain Pitau from Sochaux.

Nancy
Goalkeeper Reynald Lemaitre from Caen.

Paris SG.
Goalkeeper Willy Grondin from Valenciennes; Midfielder Christophe Jallet from Lorient; Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet from Atletico Madrid; Forward Mevlut Erding from Sochaux.

Rennes
Guinean forward Ismael Bangoura from Dinamo Kiev; Japanese midfielder Junichi Inamoto from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Sochaux
United States forward Charlie Davies from Hammarby; Defender Jeremie Brechet from PSV Eindhoven.

St. Etienne
Senegalese midfielder Guirane N'Daw on loan from Nantes; Goalkeeper Vincent Plante from Caen.

Toulouse
Portuguese midfielder Paulo Machado from Porto; Goalkeeper Yohann Pele on a free transfer from Le Mans; Midfielder Antoine Devaux from Boulogne; Cameroonian defender Dany Nounkeu from Pau; Brazilian midfielder Luan from Sao Caetano.

Valenciennes
Midfielder Renaud Cohade from Strasbourg; Midfielder Fahid Ben Khalfallah from Caen.


And for a complete list of arrivals and departures:

http://www.lfp.fr/ligue1/transfert.asp

They won't win the league title but a team to watch this season I think will be Lille. Marseille and Bordeaux look the best prepared to fight for the championship but you have to wonder how both clubs would handle the double duty of playing league and Champions League matches.

That is a lot of turnover at Marseille and while they've brought in some good players you always wonder how long it will take to get everyone working together? A club like Bordeaux is more intact from last season and perhaps most important they were able to permanently secure the services of Yoan Gourcuff, the league's best player. I think Bordeaux are my pick to repeat as champions.

nkono has come up with a good choice of Lille as the season's revelation but they will miss Michel Bastos a very underrated player who is now with Lyon. Will this be the season where PSG becomes a legitimate contender?

Good starts for Bordeuax, 4-1 winners over Lens with 2 goals from Gourcuff and one each from Cavenaghi and Chamakh, and Marseille, 2-0 victors over Grenoble. Lyon needed a late goal from Lisandro Lopez to earn a 2-2 draw with Lemans while Ludovic Giuly scored PSG's goal in their 1-1 tie with Montpelier.

Marouane Chamakh is reportedly a target for Arsenal but if Bordeaux can keep him this season he will pay dividends, he's already doing that this season, scoring last weekend and now again this week with two more goals as Bordeaux are unbeaten after beating Sochaux 3-2. New signing from the US Charlie Davies with both of Sochaux's goals. Another new player Bafetimbi Gomis got Lyon's only goal in their win while yet anothe rnew signing Caeroonan Paul Alo'o Efolou scored twice in nancy's 4-0 win over Moanco, a win which moves Nancy to first place on goal difference over Bordeaux.

Man, Gourcuff is a straight stud. Wonder if Los Jefes @ Milan are regretting their decision to let this guy go. He is all that & a bag of chips

Gourcuff really is a good player, Bordeaux did the right thing in buying him this summer. Just read the Italian threads and see the Milan fans worrying about their midfield, you know they would love to have Gourcuff now. But they aahd him before and didn't use him properly. His staying with Bordeaux is the best thing for him, and for France.

Bordeaux also have stated that Marouane Chamakh will stay with the club this season, so the Girondins should be quite a fun team to watch this season. And after seeing Lyon destroy Anderlecht in the Champions League qualifying game, they too will be worth watching this year too. Looks like a good season ahead of us in Ligue 1.

St Etienne are using some of the money they got for selling Bafetimbi Gomis to Lyon and are buying Gonzalo Bergessio, a forward from San Lorenzo in Argentina. That is a good buy for them as Bergessio is a hard worker with good skill who can both score goals and set up others.

A disappointing game between Marseille and Bordeaux ended 0-0. Both teams played with a lot of respect, maybe too much, for their rivals and ended up neutralizing each other. Since it was a Marseille home game you have to say the champions had the better result. The tie keeps Bordeaux even with Lyon and PSG, yes PSG in first place with 10 points from 4 maches. Marseille and surprising Montpelier are next on 8.

As I was just writing in the English Premier League thread about Tottenham, and it also applies to PSG, pretty soon they remember who they are and revert back to their standard inconsistent form!

But Lyon are the team who really look good now as Lisandro Lopez, Michel Bastos and Aly Cissokho are all looking liek inspired summer buys. hard to believe Milan turned Cissokho down because they felt a dental problem with him would effect the way he runs and make him susceptibel to injuries.

Personally, L'OM is still undefeated. This was a huge task for them. They almost pulled it off. Smaller posts & easily the scored could have been 2-0 in their favor. Remember they have made some huge changes. Playing for a new coach & getting rid of the heart of the midfield in Cana. Also, Lucho hasn't stepped onto the pitch yet. Just imagine what would have happened if he played. It will take a while for this team to achieve glory. I think their best bet is to win a domestic cup first, then aim for Ligue 1. Oh yeah, they have a pretty tuff CL group too. R Madrid, Milan, & Zurich. All of those teams can roast L'OM buns.

Looks like World Wrestling smack talk is coming to French football!

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=afp-...v=afp&type=lgns

Paris Saint-Germain coach Antoine Kombouare said that Christian Gourcuff "deserves a smack in the mouth", after the Lorient manager claimed PSG midfielder Claude Makelele was "past it".

Lyon quickly disocvered what you do in Europe does not mean anything at home, after impressively winning during the week at Liverpool, today Lyon lost 4-1 at midtable Nice! Complacency, fatigue all probably played a role but so did an inspired Nice club led by Loic Remy. So Bordeaux regained the league lead with their win today as unlike Lyon they followed up their European win with a domestic championship victory over Lemans. And passing Lyon into 2nd place is surprising Monaco led by league scoring leader Nene. Remember last season Monaco were worried about avoiding relegation!

Sunday is PSG-Marseille, always a passionate match but PSG will be missing several players, including Ludovic Giuly with the H1N1 flu.

If Montpellier had won yesterday over rennes they would have taken over the league lead. Even more than Monaco, it is Montpellier's early season form which must be categorised as the surprise so far in Ligue 1.

I believe nkono is right there are a multiplicity of factors in why Lyon lost big to Nice, not least of all was complacency after winning at Anfield. But Nice's victory is good for the balance in France.

PSG-Marseille was postponed due to the flu outbreak at PSG. First game in Europe that I know of where that has been the cause of a postponement. I do not think it will be the last either.

It's a complete mess. In addition to the postponement, violence in the city centre between groups of PSG and OM fans resulted in 16 arrests, and the SNCF has complained that the TGV it used to take PSG fans to Marseille was vandalized.

Reuters report here.

L'Equipe is reporting that the three PSG players affected are Ludovic Giuly, Mamadou Sakho and Jeremy Clement.

As if to prove your point, La Gazzetta is reporting that two Blackburn Rovers players have also been diagnosed with H1N1.