Lyon Stop Marseille Winning Run: Winners and Losers from Week 11 in Ligue 1
Record tumbled this weekend in Ligue 1. Lyon stopped Marseille setting a club record, Paris Saint-Germain had a man sent off at the Parc des Princes and Carlos Eduardo of Nice did something that hadn't been achieved in 30 years.
"5 - Lyon have won their last 5 home league games for the 1st time since March-May 2012 (5), best current run. Fire.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 26, 2014"
Lyon were the biggest winners of the weekend, the 1-0 victory over Marseille takes them up to third in the league. Hubert Fournier's side has now won three straight and the confidence is flowing all-around the Stade Gerland.
Before Guingamp against Nice kicked off, we had only had 17 goals in Week 11 of Ligue 1, but the incredible 7-2 away win for OGCN plus goals from Saint-Etienne and Lyon took the total to 28.
Here are more winners and losers from Week 11 in Ligue 1.
Winners: RC Lens
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Newly promoted Lens travelled to Toulouse for Friday night’s game with a whole host of players missing. Antoine Kombouare was without goalkeeper Rudy Riou and striker Yohan Touzghar through injury and then trio Jerome Le Moigne, Ahmed Kantari and Jean-Philippe Gbamin all missed out through suspension.
It meant a debut for 19-year-old goalkeeper Valentin Belon and the first start for 20-year-old Abdoul Ba. Not to mention the other young players already playing their part in the Lens first-team.
The first eleven had an average age of just 22.6 years old. With only four players over 25 years old starting the game. Every player worked extremely hard in Lens’s 2-0 win over Toulouse. They used their pace and power to hit on the break, with Alharbi El Jadeyaoui heading in the opener then Benjamin Bourigeaud drove forward from midfield to score the second and seal the win.
It was a wonderful away win for Les Sang et Or, and a huge moment for Kombouare and his team. They have shown so much togetherness this season and performances like that, will help keep them up.
Losers: SC Bastia
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Once again, it was another defeat for Claude Makelele’s SC Bastia, losing 3-1 to the every improving AS Monaco.
It was 1-1 with just under 15 minutes to go, but Monaco struck twice to pick up all three points. The former Chelsea midfielder put it down to small errors and having a young team., when speaking after the game (in French). “The team is young, sometimes you learn to be content with a point, as this would have grown our success after Nice”
The defeat leaves Bastia 18th in Ligue 1 and they are one of the favourites to face relegation to Ligue 2. Makelele is struggling with being a head coach, and he will find it difficult to last the season if the team doesn’t start winning.
Winners: Carlos Eduardo
3 of 7Brazilian midfielder Carlos Eduardo made 30 appearances for Portuguese club FC Porto last season. After scoring five goals, he joined Nice on loan this summer to try and get games and a new start.
On Sunday, Carlos Eduardo was a one-man wrecking crew, equalling and then passing his Porto goal record in just one game.
"3 - Carlos Eduardo is the 1st Nice player to score a hat-trick in Ligue 1 since Victor Agali in October 2004. Unusual.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 26, 2014"
After going a goal down away at Guingamp, Eduardo then scored a first-half hat-trick to pull Nice back ahead. He becomes the first player to score three for Nice in 10 years. The Brazilian wasn’t finished there, scoring twice in the second half to complete the 7-2 destruction of Guingamp.
"5 - Carlos Eduardo is the 1st player to score 5+ goals in a single Ligue 1 game since Toni Kurbos (6) with Metz in 1984. Historical.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 26, 2014"
That was Nice’s third win in five games and takes them up to seventh, four points off Paris Saint-Germain in second.
Losers: EA Guingamp
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After the 2-1 win over Lille last week, and the clean sheet against Dinamo Minsk in the Champions League, things were starting to look up for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team. That was until Nice came to the Stade Roudourou.
The home side took the lead when Claudio Beauvue headed in from Sambou Yatabare’s cross, but that was the only highlight of the game for the home side.
Nice ran rampant, scoring seven times and embarrassing the Guingamp defence. Reims late 1-0 win over Montpellier and Sunday’s defeat now has EAG rock bottom of the Ligue 1 table and the defence will need to forget about that game as soon as possible if they are to have any chance of recovering.
Losers: Lille OSC
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In the same day that Guingamp and Nice got together to score nine goals, Lille failed to find the back of the net as they lost 2-0 at Rennes. That means that Lille have only scored eight times in the opening 11 league games, a fewer amount of goals than we saw at the Stade Roudourou on Sunday afternoon.
Without the 16 goals that Salomon Kalou scored last season and a lack of creativity, Lille are struggling to create a large number of chances and it is putting pressure on their usual superb defence.
The opposition now know that Lille are struggling, and that lets them attack more and take some chances at the back. Leaving the defence under more pressure and they are taking the hit.
"2007 - Lille have lost 3 away league games in a row for the 1st time since April-May 2007 (4). Surprise.
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 26, 2014"
Lille are now down to 11th in Ligue 1, they only have one victory in the last six games and it doesn’t get much easier. In the next four games Les Dogues face Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain, even the away trip to 14th placed Reims will not be easy.
Rene Girard has a lack of creative options to try and change things around, putting the pressure on 19-year-old Liverpool loanee Divock Origi. Without goals, this team will continue to slide down the league table.
Winners: Paris Saint-Germain
6 of 7
Laurent Blanc is slowly turning things around this season. Paris Saint-Germain are unbeaten in the last six games, three of those were victories and Saturday’s 3-0 win over Bordeaux made it two-in-a-row.
All of this has been done amidst a host of injuries and suspensions to some of PSG’s best players.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed out again through a troublesome heel injury, Edinson Cavani was serving his suspension after being sent off last week and the game against Bordeaux was only the second time in the league that David Luiz and Thiago Silva were able to play together.
Lucas Moura scored twice from the spot as both sides also had a man sent off, but PSG were much the better team and are finally playing with some of the class you would expect from the Ligue 1 champions.
It’s all gearing up beautifully towards PSG’s clash with Marseille on Sunday November 9 at the Parc des Princes, where it will likely be first against second in Ligue 1.
Losers: Olympique de Marseille
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There was a chance on Sunday night for Marseille to set a new club record and make it nine wins in a row. 16 years on from the last time they had the chance, OM were thwarted by a young and very talented Lyon side.
It puts a dent in Marcelo Bielsa's title challenge, and asks some questions about his methods.
This was Marseille's first real test since they lost 2-0 at home to Montpellier, and although they missed a couple of good chances during the game, for the last 15 minutes, Marseille looked void of ideas.
To rub salt in the wounds, they lost Brice Dja Djedje through injury and yellow cards to both Jeremy Morel and Andre Ayew means they will miss Le Classique against Paris Saint-Germain in Week 13.
Bielsa and Co. have Rennes in the Coupe de la Ligue and then RC Lens in the league before they travel to Paris, but it is going to be a very interesting and eye-opening test for just how far Bielsa has taken this team in the opening four months of the season.
