Lyon, Marseille, Monaco: Can Anyone Realistically Challenge Paris Saint-Germain?

Anytime Zlatan Ibrahimovic falls below his own extraordinary standards for Paris Saint-Germain, it dominates French football’s news agenda, and it was no different this weekend as his team struggled to a draw at Reims.

Talk of the imposing Swede being on the slide from the peak of his powers is growing in France after a 421-minute goal drought in competitive matches, with his astonishing open goal miss on Saturday (see below tweet from BT Sport) prolonging the misery.

Speaking after the match, Ibrahimovic seemed pretty confident he’d rediscover his old nick sooner rather than later (via L’Equipe, in French), while admitting he should have scored the goal(s) to see PSG to a win.

Until the 'real Zlatan'—as per BT Sport journalist Julien Laurens’ description on The European Football Show—returns, the chatter will not abate.

There are two reasons for that. Firstly, Ibrahimovic has genuinely gripped the nation since arriving in 2012, to the extent that he quickly had his own puppet on the daily satirical news show Les Guignols de l’info shortly after his arrival. A sketch from Les Guignols also spawned the morphing of his name into a verb back home in Sweden (as recounted here by Reuters).

The second is the feeling that all that can stop PSG is, well, themselves. The subsequent results this weekend did little to dispel that notion, with Monaco stumbling to a ragged home defeat to lowly Lorient on Sunday afternoon before Marseille and Lyon cancelled each other out in a thrilling clash of Les Olympiques in the weekend’s final game.

There was more than a touch of déjà vu in events at Stade Louis II. It was in this very fixture last season that Leonardo Jardim made his debut as Monaco coach, with a similarly disappointing result. That loss in August 2014 reflected badly on the new boss, with the ill-advised high line of Monaco’s defence and the team’s lack of physical conditioning particularly coming under the microscope.

It looked even worse the following week, when Jardim’s team tanked 4-1 at Bordeaux, again taken apart by efficient, physically strong counter-attackers orchestrated by the excellent Wahbi Khazri (who continues to perform a vital role for Willy Sagnol’s team). Yet Monaco and Jardim have been through so much since then, both in Ligue 1 and the Champions League. It seemed as if they’d wised up.

So it was a surprise to see the same old mistakes on Sunday. After Monaco mounted a stirring comeback from 2-0 down, they had chances to get their noses in front before—again—they were exposed by a lack of dynamism in central defence, with Andrea Raggi lost against the returning Benjamin Moukandjo, who scored Lorient’s winner.

Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press

There are extenuating circumstances, with the revolving door at Louis II leaving Jardim battling to get a new crop of players to understand his credo, even if the quality reinforcements include Real Madrid loanee Fabio Coentrao, Stephan El Shaarawy and the excellent teenage midfielder Thomas Lemar. Jardim will hope his men recover in the same manner as they did last season.

While the level of intensity was even greater at the Velodrome—in the stands as well as on the pitch—there was little sense that there was a ready challenger to PSG in our midst there either, at least not yet.

The invective from the stands directed towards Mathieu Valbuena, returning to Marseille with his new club, mirrored feelings not only about the diminutive French midfielder, but a sense of frustration around the club itself.

Those famously passionate fans have had to put up with a lot in recent years, with the whirlwind of Marcelo Bielsa’s reign set against a financial restructuring of the club.

The belt-tightening has seen not only Valbuena but Andre-Pierre Gignac, Andre Ayew and Dimitri Payet leave among others. There is little sign of it stopping, with goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and star defender Nicolas Nkoulou both set to leave next summer when their contracts expire.

New coach Michel has talent at his disposal, but the first-half display against Lyon, when the players seemed to take turns in attempting to wreak physical retribution on the unpopular Valbuena, suggested many under the Spaniard’s charge may lack the emotional maturity to be part of a successful Marseille team.

David Vincent/Associated Press

It’s a very particular demand in a club that is always a tinderbox. Plenty of good players have been overwhelmed by the passion or simply by fear, and there is little at present to suggest players like Remy Cabella and Romain Alessandrini (who was red-carded for a disgraceful challenge on Valbuena) have the ability to conduct the orchestra as past greats like Valbuena or Didier Drogba did.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press

So where does that leave Lyon, the other (and, possibly, the main) challenger to PSG? Hubert Fournier’s team showed their sang froid in the first period, mastering the occasion far better than their hosts.

Alexandre Lacazette, who gave Lyon the lead with a first-half penalty days after missing a vital spot-kick in the Champions League against Gent, reminded us of his bravery, as well as his aptitude.

It wasn’t enough. The 20-minute delay in the second half, after Valbuena and Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes were pelted with objects from the crowd, saw Lyon switch off at the back and allow Karim Rekik an equaliser in a game that last season’s runners-up really should have won.

Lyon are the opposite of Monaco, having tied Lacazette and a host of other young talent like Lopes, 24, Corentin Tolisso and Samuel Umtiti, both 21, to new deals this summer.

That should have been good news, but instead these young men are now experiencing their growing pains in public, fettered with expectation with the world and his wife knowing about their big new contracts. Even with new blood like Valbuena and Sergi Darder added, they look inhibited for now.

Fournier’s team had an even worse start last season, so they—as well as Monaco—have the track record as well as the personnel to come back. The difference last season was that PSG started slowly too, drawing six of their first nine.

Laurent Blanc’s side are showing little of the same benevolence this time, despite two successive draws halting the winning run.

There will need to be plenty more Parisian stutters, as well as phoenix-like rises from Lyon and Monaco, to make Ligue 1’s title a true contest.