I won’t be the first writer to tell you how different football is right now. In the space of six months, the game, just like the world, has been turned on its head. And while a lot of the confusion and disruption has calmed down now – the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season was cut short, so it has been an extended break rather than the squashed preseason you’ll find in the Premier League – there are still remains of the Covid pandemic damage. Specifically, the strange lack of fans in stadia. Some are allowed into select games, despite the rising second wave of coronavirus in France, but others are still completely empty, like you will find elsewhere in Europe’s top leagues. However, while there are difficulties, there are also opportunities. Opportunities for me, in particular, to watch more live games on TV.
I’ve watched more live football in the last week than I ever have in that amount of time. This has come form a combination of: more free time, having finished fifteen years of education and graduated as of this past July; and the wider availability of games that can be watched, specifically in the Premier League. The absence of fans has allowed the 3pm broadcast ban to be waived, to allow eager fans to still see their teams, and not have the top-flight games to be played for simply the coaching staff to watch.
However, despite the options of English, German and Spanish football to watch (I have yet to see an Italian game broadcast, although I assume that won’t be long), I have been drawn to France’s Ligue 1. The French top flight has sometimes been ridiculed by English fans as a “farmer’s league”, I think due to both the strangle-hold PSG has had on the title for the last decade or so, as well as their relatively poor performances in European competitions (both of which, for what its worth, I would argue are wide of the mark as all of France, Germany and Italy have had poor patches in Europe in that time, as well as hegemonic league winners – and in fact, PSG reached the Champions League final last season, and the likes of Lyon and Monaco have had strong showings in in the competition lately too). This perceived low quality across the board isn’t something I have necessarily seen, though, and I have found myself enjoying French football the most of those that I’ve watched.
However, I have watched half a dozen games at the beginning of a season, and no team more than twice – so I feel I don’t have credibility to deep-dive into a team or player, yet. But, I want to write, to find an angle. Instead, then, I will present my thoughts on a few teams that have left a mark on me.
Faltering French Champions
The Champions League final can be a cruel, cruel mistress. In recent memory, two English teams have lost their managers only six months after reaching a final – Roberto Di Matteo in 2012 after he won the competition with Chelsea, and Mauricio Pochettino in 2019, losing the final to Liverpool, and being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur less than six months later. And while they he is still in the job, Thomas Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain have not been faring well after their own final appearance last season. Known for winning the French league title by dozens of points each season, they lost their first two games of the campaign already, first to relative minnows Lens, and then to former heavyweights Marseille. They have since won the next two games, and are in a mid table position at the time of writing. But, I watched their second loss, versus Marseille, so that’s what I’ll talk about.
There was certainly a lot of misfortune for PSG in the game, as they missed easy chances to score by scuffing their shots wide of the post, or losing out to a superb Mandanda in goal (more on him later). Furthermore, they had been going through a bit of a covid crisis, missing the likes of Mbappe and Marquinhos who had to be isolated from the squad to prevent spreading it. Still, standout Neymar, Di Maria and Verratti started, and the rest of the team should have more than enough quality to do better than their eventual 1-0. Neymar especially was silent on the left hand side, being manhandled by Marseille left-back Sakai as he struggled to get into any rhythm According to Whoscored.com, Neymar had the most shots of the game at six – and all of them were poor and in anger. Most of the PSG play instead went down the right hand side, where new acquisition Florenzi, from Roma, was a bright spark, but he had too much to do. Di Maria up front dropped deep to effect the game, to little effect, while I’m not sure if I spotted striker Sarabia on the ball at all. The midfield three of Gueye, Herrera and Verratti did well to control the game, but it was of little use with an attacking force so poor.
Of course, the major talking points of the game came in the last few minutes. Because of an off-the-ball incident, substitutes Paredes and Benedetto got into a scrap, ending in the red cards of those two, Amavi for Marseille, and Kurzawa and Neymar form PSG. It was all great fun, watching these footballers push each other around like they arent being paid thousands on thousands to play football and try to *avoid* that sort of incident. Since then, Neymar has since alleged that it was due to a racist remark from Benedetto, which is obviously awful and takes away a bit of the innicent fun in footballer handbags.
Benoit Badiashile: Monaco’s Indomitable Defender
So, between you and me, Badiashile was, in fact, slightly domitable. But, I was so impressed with him, I thought I would run with it anyway.
Watching the first half of the Monaco vs Rennes game, it was no surprise that Badiashile, aged 19, has been rumoured as a transfer target for Manchester United. He had a huge presence in the game, keeping Rennes at bay for the first eighty minutes with supreme stops and tackles. Wissam Ben Yedder opened the scoring early by getting on the end of a corner ball and smashing it home, but from then on Monaco allowed Rennes to seize control, and they relied on their defence. Time and time again, Badiashile was there to track a player and make a vital block for a shot on goal, putting in three tackles in the game. He got himself in the way of searching crosses into the box, and he was supreme in the air, winning four aerial duels in the process. Moreover, he was a good passer to boot with a 91% success rate, although they were mostly safe, and not entirely indicative of quality passes for the side.
However, Monaco let themselves go in the last ten minutes of the fixture, due to a poor and porous midfield in front of Badiashile. Steven N’Zonzi, not known for his scoring talents, sprayed the ball out wide and advanced into the box, ready to receive a cross from left back Truffert. With no-one tracking him into the box, N’Zonzi had a free header on goal, placed perfectly for him to poke home. This was Adrien Truffert’s, aged eighteen, first appearence of the season, and he made it his own when he scored the winner in the 91st minute with a long ranged beauty from outside of the box, with no real pressure put on him from the midfield. Monaco suffered their first defeat of the season, but despite their loss Benoit Badiashile greatly impressed.
Mandanda: The King of Marseille
I watched two Marseille games of the past week, and all I could think was how good Steve Mandanda was. Despite a poor PSG side, Mandanda was probably the difference maker in that clash, who was the largest reason they kept a clean sheet, although Payet’s free-kick assist to Thauvin’s tap-in was the winner. Mandanda was there for each of the four shots on goal, from close-range to long distance, from fourteen shots in total from the French champions. The Marseille defence was kept compact, pressing from the midfield and tracking the superstar front three of PSG with a dedicated defensive system, leaving Mandanda to deal with shots that mostly came from headers, long shots and the few quality chances PSG fashioned for themselves. Increasingly more desperate, Mandanda’s Marseille remained in control throughout, until everyone lost control in the brawl at the end.
Despite the win versus PSG, Marseille were flat and toothless in the other game I watched – their 1-1 draw against Lille. Lille, frankly, deserved to win the tie, with the likes of Jose Fonte, Lucas Araujo and Buyak Yilmaz performing better than the scoreline suggests. The latter, especially, had a tough time with the linesman as the offside flag was constantly ruled against him, despite his pleas of innocence. It was Araujo that opened the scoring against Mandanda, with a strike at the beginning of the second half. However, this was only one of Araujo’s six shots, and Mandanda managed to save six shots of the fourteen against him. It was Germain, the experienced striker who has also turned out for league winners Monaco, and Nice in recent times, to equalize the game for Marseille from a cross, to save the blushes of a poor and frankly undeserving home side.
I also watched Lyon vs Nimes
It ended 0-0, and frankly I cannot remember much about the game. It was very poor, and boring. You can’t win them all, eh?
One Geo Under A Groove 