Week of December 18 - 25

SCORES

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Ligue 1

December 22

Marseille 2-1 St. Etienne

December 23

Sochaux 2-1 Nancy
Troyes 1-1 PSG
Lyon 0-0 Monaco
Bordeaux 1-0 Le Mans
Lille 1-1 Auxerre
Lorient 0-0 Rennes
Nice 1-2 Lens
Toulouse 0-4 Nantes
Valenciennes 2-1 Sedan

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A rare Friday match comes just before the Christmas Break, with Marseille playing
host to St. Etienne in the last matchweek before mid-January. Marseille had another
goalless game last week against AS Nancy, and were in the rumour mill as a possible
club to be hiring the services of former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. St.
Etienne, a healthy 3rd in the table, could conceivably leapfrog Lens into second with a win here. Fortunately for Lens it was not to be St. Etienne’s day. Liverpool
loan-man Djibril Cisse scored early in the match to take the home side into the lead. St. Etienne were able to equalize just before halftime on a strike by Marek Heinz, but Marseille finished them off in the 64th minute when Mickael Pagis blasted one in. Marseille move up to 5th on the day, but unless their form continues to improve they won’t be there long, as there are many other teams vying for the top spots.

There were two early contests on Saturday, and 9 matches to be played across the
country due to Sunday being Christmas Eve. Sochaux vs. Nancy, a battle of the 5th and 6th place teams, was one of these. These teams had opposing fortunes in the week
prior, with Sochaux being hammered by Monaco, and Nancy beating Marseille handily.
Sochaux’ home record of 4-2-2 was only slightly better than their away record, as the Stade Bonal has been less of a fortress than they might have hoped. Nancy scored
first on a goal from Sebastien Puygrenier in the 11th minute. Following a scrappy
midfield battle, Sochaux were finally able to capitalize when high scoring Karim
Ziani tied things up in the 62nd minute. Luck was on Sochaux' side when Ziani was
awarded a penalty three minutes later to wrap things up for the hosts. Sochaux move
up into 3rd with the win.

Troyes, knocked back down into 18th last week, was the venue into which PSG had to
continue salvaging their train-wreck of a season, and battle their way up that table. Troyes, with a win, could knock PSG down into the feared relegation places. PSG’s draw against Nice last week was not what they could have wanted, and nothing was going their way. Troyes, drawing with Rennes, was a point that they would not have scorned going to Brittany. Fitting then, that this fixture would end in another disappointing draw. Both sides were able to Amara Diane and Georges Ba scored for
their respective clubs, but the result keeps Troyes in 18th and PSG moves down a spot into 16th and continue to fall.

It was a battle of two offensively minded teams when Monaco visited the Stade
Gerland looking to topple the champions. Monaco has come from a dismal start to
battle hard every game, dropping only one result of the past 5. Goal-scoring has not
been a problem for the side either, beating Sochaux 3-0 last week. Lyon had another
goal outburst last week as well, beating Lens 4-0. Unbelievable then, that this one
was to end in a nil-nil draw. Monaco's Flavio Roma had an inspiring night in net,
quashing the Lyon attack, and despite few chances of thier own, Monaco were more than happy to come away with a point. The draw marks only the third time that Lyon have dropped points this season, but still sees them 15 points up on 2nd place Lens.

Bordeaux and Le Mans met up Saturday evening with Le Mans looking to improve their fortunes and possibly leapfrog a Bordeaux team that has to concentrate on their
domestic form after dropping out of the UEFA Champions League. Bordeaux’ 0-0 draw
with Nantes last week was a poor result against a much weaker side, and they have not scored a domestic goal since November 25th. Le Mans, beating Toulouse 2-0 last week, were feeling like their fortunes were improving. The match was showed consistent pressure from the hopme side until Bordeaux defender Gerald Cid was finally able to pop in a goal 61 minutes in. Bordeaux now sit in 8th, and Le Mans moves down into 10th.

The Stadium Lille-Metropole saw a visit from Auxerre, and after the shock result
last week that saw Sedan beating Lille 2-0, the home side would want to show solidly
mid-table Auxerre that they deserved to be in the 4th table position. Jacques
Santini’s men have had a lot of trouble getting results of late, with a point here
and there not being enough to make their case for any sort of position. In 14 shots
on goal, Lille were finally able to score with the help of substitute Souleymane
Youla. The hosts had little time to celebrate, however, as Auxerre's Kanga Akale came back to tie the match 4 minutes later. The match remained a stalemate, and Lille dropped to 5th on the day, while Auxerre kept their 13th place position.

Rennes travelled an hour-and-a-half to the west to play out a Bretagne derby in
Lorient. The teams are divided by only 1 point in the standings, and sit in 10th and 12th. Last weekend Rennes played out a frustrating draw with Troyes in front of the home fans, and their neighbors were narrowly beaten by Auxerre. This one proved to be somewhat of a dreary snooze as neither team had anything in the way of a good chance, and ended up nil-nil. Both teams were able to improve their positions, however, with Rennes sitting in 9th and Lorient in 11th.

Nice had a home fixture against Lens, with the teams sitting at opposite ends of
the table. Nice needed points to stay about the relegation zone, and Lens needed to
keep pace with Lyon, if sitting 17 points behind can be called keeping pace. Lens
were thoroughly trounced by Lyon at their home ground last week, and Nice held PSG to another poor goalless draw. The teams kept things scrappy throughout, but it was Nice who drew first blood, with Bakari Koné outpacing the Lens defenders to score early on. Nice looked the more comfortable side, and enjoyed their lead until the 74th minute, when Lens' Viera was awarded a penalty just after they had been reduced to ten men. Nice's day darkened some more when Aruna Dindane scored 4 minutes later to give the visitors the lead. THings went from bad to worse for Nice, as Cedric Verrault was sent off as time was expiring, dimming hopes of a comeback. This one Ended 2-1, and Lens keep pace in 2nd.

Nantes have been the masters of the draw over the past few weeks, with 3 draws in
their last five. They knew that in order to get out of their terrible bottom-feeding
table positon, only three points would do against Toulouse. Toulouse have not been
riding high of late either, coming off losses to Lens and Le Mans over the last
couple weeks, and Nantes looked like easy pickings. Nantes also confirmed the signing of Fabien Barthez over the week, and hoped that a higher-profile keeper could help with results. THough Barthez was not in the Lineup this week, Nantes were able to come up with an unbelievable result against a generally stronger team. Not only did Nantes shut Toulouse out, they popped in 4 emphatic goals. Nantes moved themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time in a long time with the victory, and know they need to keep it up if they want to stay in this league.

Valenciennes vs. Sedan was hardly a marquee match, but Sedan surprised everybody
last week by beating Lille in a thrilling match in front of their fans at home.
Valenciennes have fared little better, with only 18 points out of their campaign and
falling. The home side thought they had things wrapped up early when Steve Savidan scored on a penalty 13 minutes in. The next goal came a few minutes later when Rudy Mater made it 2-0. Sedan were hard pressed to get anything going all match, but were able to get one 20 minutes from time when Striker Joseph-Desire Job did his Job and made it 2-1. That was all Sedan could muster though, and they remain in the basement.