Week Of November 13-20

SCORES

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Ligue 1

November 18

Sochaux 0-0 Lille
Lens 2-0 Nantes
Monaco 2-2 Lorient
Nancy 1-0 Troyes
PSG 0-2 Bordeaux
Rennes 1-1 Le Mans
St. Etienne 2-1 Nice
Sedan 0-1 Lyon

November 19th

Auxerre 1-0 Toulouse
Marseille 1-0 Valenciennes

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The early Saturday action kicked off with a meeting that saw Lille looking to increase their foothold on second place. Their win the week before had been an incredible morale booster, but with Lens only two points back, work needed to be done. Sochaux on the other hand, were just interested into climbing back into the top four after a disappointing goalless draw played out the week before in Nice. Unfortunately for both teams the result didn’t improve either team’s fortunes by much, as a goalless draw was again the result for Sochaux. Lille, on the other hand, will need to work just that much harder to play catch up to Lyon.

Lens were able to keep pacey Rennes at bay last week, and in doing so kept their respectable home record. A visit from Nantes was unlikely to change all that, although Nantes needed three points to move themselves out of the relegation zone. Goals for Lens in the first minute by Adama Coulibaly and again near the end of the match my Seydou Keita in the 83rd minute sealed the 2-0 victory for them. Lens sit 3rd in the Championnat after the match, while Nantes slump into 18th.
Monaco was on something of a high after dismantling Troyes 4-0 last week, and no doubt hoped it would begin the path to recovery after an extremely dismal start to the season. Three weeks ago many would have scoffed at newly-promoted Lorient, but after successive defeats of Marseille and Nancy, they looked downright brilliant sitting in 9th place. Monaco started things off with a Yaya Toure strike 8 minutes in, but Lorient showed what they were made of by coming back and scoring two and taking the lead. Lorient looked on their way to three more points when Jeremy Menez scored for Monaco in the 50th minute. Neither team could break up the draw in the ensuing forty minutes, but played to an entertaining draw which was positive for both sides.

Nancy’s home fixture against Troyes looked like somewhat of a gimme, especially after Troyes’ inglorious defeat to Monaco the week before, and the fact that Nancy was desperate to get back up into the coveted second place behind Lyon. Troyes on the other hand had something to prove, and show that they could be giant-killers as well. Troyes came out gangbusters, but were unable to convert chance after chance, or take advantage of some key goalkeeping errors on Nancy’s part. Nonetheless they kept Nancy off the scoreboard until very later in the match when Sebastien Puygrenier headed one home for the Lorraine side. By then it was too late for the visitors, as Nancy looks to get back up into the upper echelons of the table.

Bordeaux travelled to Paris with the intention of stopping their slide down the table and getting a good result for the first time in weeks. A draw with Auxerre last week was not the result they were hoping for, as they have had all their weaknesses exposed domestically and internationally. PSG gets their firepower back with the return of Pedro Pauleta, whose absence has been clearly felt, especially last week in Le Mans where the only goal PSG managed was from a Penalty Kick. PSG’s November campaign continued its slide as Bordeaux struck gold in the 28th minute with Wendel converting a well taken pass from Fernando Menegazzo. PSG’s chances were limited to a few misjudgements by Pauleta before Lillian Laslandes sealed the deal in the 87th minutes to push the Paris side just that much further into mediocrity.

Rennes hosted Le Mans at the Orient Road on Saturday. Coming off two good weeks including a win against Lyon and a draw with Lens, Rennes’ were where they wanted to be coming into this match, on the road to recovery. Le Mans were also only able to manage a draw the week before, although their table position was slightly better than Rennes. Rennes started with a bit of bad luck with striker John Utaka sent off half an hour in. A bad defensive performance on Rennes’ behalf gave Stephane Sessegnon the opportunity to convert as the first half closed, which he did in cracking fashion. The second half played out very tenuously with the home side mostly defending until Rennes’ Sylvain Marveaux curled a well-taken free kick into the net in the 89th minute, giving them a share of the spoils. Final score 1-1.

St. Etienne wanted a chance to push up into the upper echelons of the league in their fixture against Nice, and on the surface it seemed an easy draw, with Nice sitting down in 16th place. Both teams were only able to manage disappointing draws the week before, and were looking to improve. St. Etienne made their case with two quick goals midway through the first half, but Nice’s Cyril Rool scored off a free kick in first half injury time to give the visitors a little hope. An uneventful second half kept the scoreline the same, even after 7 minutes of stoppage time. Final 2-1.

It was a mismatch of the highest order at Sedan where the 20th place home side hosted the European high-flyers in first place, Lyon. A draw could really be the only result that Sedan could honestly expect from this match, but that would not be enough to lift them off the bottom. Sedan bravely held on ‘til the very end without conceding but a bit of terrible luck saw Sedan’s Nadjim Abdou deflect a shot off his leg into the net, giving the visitors the win on a 0-1 scoreline, and both teams keep their positions in the table.

The early Sunday match featured Auxerre at home to Toulouse, who slipped up last week and ended up in 7th place. Auxerre needed a decent result from this match to pick them up a little, although the draw last week with Bordeaux was a good result for them all things considering. Toulouse were unable to get anything going with Auxerre’s Luigi Pieroni scoring early in the second half. Toulouse were also only able to manage half the shots on goal that Auxerre did, and were cautioned twice. Toulouse continues their drop in form, while Auxerre’s fortunes are rising. Auxerre 1-0 Toulouse.

Valenciennes held on bravely against Lyon at the Stade Gerland last week, losing 2-1, and not they had the opportunity to go to Marseille and take out a team in distress. Marseille were in free-fall with losses to Lille and Lorient over the past 2 weeks. Management questions and player squabbles were also haunting Marseille as they came into this match. Frank Ribery continued his absence from the Marseille squad after injuring his groin in the match against Lyon 3 weeks ago, and will likely not return until the new year. Fortunately for Marseille they were able to withstand an early battering by the visitors, holding on to a clean sheet. Marseille’s goal came at 61 minutes by Mickael Pagis, and they halt their terrible form, if just for now.