Winners and Losers from Week 3 in Ligue 1
During a league season, you usually can’t really judge the classification table until around Week 9 or 10. At that stage, every side has played a few games both home and away and you get an idea of the lay of the land.
But as we pick the winners and losers from Week 3 of Ligue 1 2014/15, it doesn’t look like that’ll be the case this season.
It has been a crazy and unpredictable start to the season. Sixteen of the 20 teams have lost at least one of their three opening games, and it doesn’t look like we will have stability for quite a while.
Through the 10 games this weekend, we were only blessed with 14 goals, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t drama all across France.
"14 - The number of goals scored in Ligue 1 this weekend. That's the lowest tally since Matchday 17 of the 2010/2011 season. Boredom.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 24, 2014"
Here are the winners and losers from Week 3 in Ligue 1.
Winners: Watertight Defence Saves Evian
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The most unexpected result of the weekend came in Annecy on Friday night. Paris Saint-Germain travelled to the Alps to face bottom of table Evian Thonon Gaillard, and there were few that could see past a PSG victory at the Parc des Sports.
Pascal Dupraz has never been one to follow convention, and he had a different plan for the opening game of the weekend. His side had conceded nine goals in their previous two games, including six against Rennes in Week 2. There were even PSG fans looking for a rugby score before kick-off.
"ETG coach Pascal Dupraz joked that his team could concede 12 against us at after already shipping nine goals. Would welcome that ;) #PSG
— 1970 PSG (@1970_PSG) August 22, 2014"
The Evian coach made changes, dropped his two centre-backs, changed to 4-4-2 and looked to frustrate the Ligue 1 champions. It worked to perfection. It may be classed as parking the bus, but although PSG had more than three quarters possession of the ball, they only managed seven shots—three on target.
Evian managed nine shots—two on target—but they played the way they had to play, and they won their first point of the season.
"220 - @etgfc haven't conceded a goal at home in their 220 minutes against PSG. Resistance.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 22, 2014"
The home side have a good record when PSG pay them a visit—they handed the Parisians a 2-0 defeat last season—and without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the champions struggled to breach a watertight Evian back line.
Losers: Saint-Etienne Fail to Win at Home
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After Bordeaux’s win at Nice, Saint-Etienne were given the challenge of keeping up with the league leaders at home to Rennes on Sunday.
The Stade Geoffrey-Guichard was packed and the home fans were very vocal for the afternoon kick-off, but the home side failed to match the intensity of their support.
It is a fixture that Les Verts have had trouble with in the past. In the last 10 league meetings, Rennes have avoided defeat seven times, so it’s not the most surprising result, but one that will disappoint coach Christophe Galtier.
"12 – St Etienne have drawn nil-nil 12 games v Rennes in Ligue 1, more than against any other team. Neutral.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 24, 2014"
Saint-Etienne are looking to move up from a fourth-place finish last season to a place in the Champions League qualifiers, but this will go down as two points dropped rather than one gained.
Despite starting the season with a fantastic 2-2 draw against PSG, Stade de Reims remain on one point after three games and slipped into the relegation zone this weekend.
For 83 minutes, their game against newly promoted Caen looked to be heading for a goalless draw. Then the home side slipped up and Patrice Garande’s side pounced twice in eight minutes and headed back to Normandy with all three points.
Reims were a good mid-table side last season and would have been hoping to build on that this season. The performances, except against PSG, haven’t been as encouraging. In the last two games, they have lost points late in the game. It is something Jean-Luc Vasseur will have to address in training this week.
Winners: 3 Clean Sheets for Les Dogues
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Three sides won their first game of the season this weekend. Lille took on Lorient at the Stade Pierre Mauroy on Saturday and had to wait until the 58th minute before Jonathan Delaplace scored Les Dogues' first goal from open play.
His low shot had too much for Benjamin Lecomte. The 'keeper was later beaten by Simon Kjaer’s free-kick, which took a huge deflection off the defensive wall but didn’t stop the Danish defender celebrating his first of the season.
After three games, Lille are still the only side yet to concede a league goal this season. They managed 21 clean sheets in the league last season, and Rene Girard’s side are looking a strong unit once again.
"0 - Lille are the only team yet to concede a goal in Ligue 1 in 2014/15. Wall.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 23, 2014"
Lille now need to take that momentum into their Champions League qualifying second-leg match against FC Porto on Tuesday. They are 1-0 down from the home leg, and it will take a huge performance to see them make the Champions League group stage.
Neighbours Lens picked up their first points of the season with a great counter-attacking performance at the Stade Gerland as Lyon’s early season woes continued.
Lalaina Nomenjanahary tapped in Lens' first Ligue 1 goal of the season after great work from Adama Coulibaly and Yohan Touzghar put the chance on a plate for the Madagascar international.
"1- L. Nomenjanahary is the first Malagasy player to have scored in Ligue 1 since Hervé Arsène with … Lens v Bastia in October 1996. Unusual.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) August 24, 2014"
They could have easily made it two or three nil with a number of good chances but Touzghar missed some excellent opportunities in the second half.
New Lyon coach Hubert Fournier will be gravely disappointed in his team’s results. That’s three defeats in a row after Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Romanian side Astra. They now travel for the midweek away leg, before facing Metz at the weekend.
If they end next week with another defeat after being knocked out of the Europa League, Fournier’s could soon find that his job is already on the line.
Losers: PSG Lacking Leadership Against Evian
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It seems odd that we get to include PSG here again this season, but it has not been an ideal start to the season for Laurent Blanc’s side.
There is no disgrace in failing to beat Evian at home; they had a great record at the Parc des Sports against the big sides last season. They beat PSG 2-0, beat Monaco and drew with Lille, so when the big boys come calling, Les Roses step up to the occasion.
However, what is worrying for the champions is how they performed with one or two of their superstars missing from the starting line-up. Ibrahimovic was unable to play and PSG looked toothless in attack.
They were also missing Thiago Silva and Thiago Motta, and one worry for Blanc will be the lack of leadership shown by the rest of the players he picked for Friday’s game.
Edinson Cavani once again failed to pounce on the opportunity to be PSG’s main striker. Former Newcastle United man Yohan Cabaye saw red after 63 minutes after picking up a second yellow card on a rare start for PSG.
Blanc would want Cavani and Cabaye to step up and show why they should play those roles every week, but their performances were far from ideal.
Ibrahimovic was able to take part in some light training at the end of last week, and Blanc will hope he is back sooner rather than later, although it must make PSG fans worry about a future without the talismanic Swede.
Winners: A Weekend for Firsts
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One new coach who is doing tremendously well this season is Bordeaux’s Willy Sagnol. He has guided Les Girondins to the only remaining 100 per cent record in Ligue 1, and his side sit proudly top of the table after three matches.
Once again, they went behind away from home, but some favourable decisions and goals from Cheick Diabate, Nicolas Maurice-Belay and Gregory Sertic gave the away side an impressive 3-1 away win.
Sagnol became the first Bordeaux coach to win all of his first three games. The former Bayern Munich defender couldn’t have wished for a better start to the season.
In a weekend for firsts, Monaco managed to pick up their first win of the season. Coach Leandro Jardim stopped the rot and avoided losing the first three games of the season with a 1-0 win over FC Nantes at the Stade de Beaujoire.
It wasn’t a vintage performance, but they got the job done thanks to a goal from Colombian striker Radamel Falcao. The striker may have only touched the ball 31 times, according to WhoScored.com, but one of his two shots hit the back of the net.
The goal came after Layvin Kurzawa whipped in a wonderful left-footed cross, and the Colombian ghosted in at the back post to head past Maxime Dupe.
Falcao is not there to be the playmaker or a hard-working forward. He is there to score goals, so no matter what else he does, he put the ball in the back of the net and gave Monaco all three points.
