Here’s a review of the latest round of L1 games and of course this week’s Top 3 and Flop 3.

U22 in bold.

Rennes 1-1 Marseille
Big tough physical game here. For Rennes, I was dying to see young Mvila’s first game. Well he didn’t disappoint. He was stunning for a first game. Extremely solid defensively, he brought danger offensively too. Leroy and Fanni were also very good and Lemoine had a decent game.
For Marseille, Ben Arfa was invisible in the first half and he didn’t see a minute in the second. Niang managed another important goal.

Auxerre 0-3 Lyon
Ndinga and Narry had a good first 30 minutes and Ndinga could (should?) have scored only to be denied by a great save by Lloris. After that though, they were dismantled.
For Lyon, Pjanic (1 goal) and Mounier (1 assist) were excellent.

Monaco 2-0 Lorient
Monaco’s front 4 was once again very good. Bakar worked hard, Nene scored a beauty on a free kick, Nimani scored a goal and Alonso was very dangerous. Mongongu had a solid game too.
For Lorient, Gameiro missed a couple of good chances.

Le Mans 2-1 Nancy
Lamah, Helstad and Le Tallec were very good up front and Goulon was dominant in midfield. Corchia wasn’t tested much.
For Nancy, Dia was the best player on his team. Not enough though.

Valenciennes 2-3 PSG
For VA, Tiéné and Samassa were the best player on their team I thought. Bong played the second half and was horrible, resulting in a goal.
For PSG, Erding was very good, Sakho was solid.

Montpellier 2-0 Sochaux
Belhanda had another good game and Aït-Fana managed to score in injury time.
For Sochaux, Nogueira had a bad game for once, while Maurice-Belay and Martin were decent on the wings. Charlie Davies had a decent game but he really lacks physical impact.

St Etienne 0-1 Boulogne
Payet is really not good enough. I’m sorry but he is a waste of a roster spot in most games. Rivière and Sanogo at least tried hard. Matuidi didn’t take things into his own hands enough. He should use his shot more. Andreu was comfortable.

Bordeaux 4-0 Sochaux
How can I say I was not impressed by Gourcuff? Well I think he isn’t at his best and yet he has 4 goals and 2 assists in 3 games. Phew… Ciani was impressive and Bordeaux was lucky to have scored first.
For Nice, Rémy was the best on his team but should have scored early in the game. You can’t blame Ospina for any goal, but it has to be said that he touches the first goal (so he could have done something) and commits too early on the second.

Lille 1-1 Toulouse
Hazard was once again the best player on the pitch. Cabaye was once again underwhelming.
For Toulouse, M’Bengué scored the equalizer after a tough game, Capoue was average and Sissoko was his team’s best player.

Grenoble 1-2 Lens
Paillot once again had a tough game. He tends to be a little heavy. Ljuboja was his team’s only threat.
For Lens, Boukari scored again, this time with his head (beating Paillot). Monnet-Paquet had a couple of nice plays, but should do more with what he has.

Top 3 :
1- Hazard : fantastic player
2- Aït-Fana : decisive.
3- Erding : goal, assist, solid game.
Honorable mention to lots of players who had good games : Goulon, Rémy, Sissoko, Boukari, Pjanic, Mounier, Nimani, Belhanda and the young Mvila.

Flop 3 :
1- Ben Arfa : horrible game.
2- Payet : horrible game Part II.
3- Bong : OUCH!

Bonus :
translation of an article in L’Equipe about Hazard :
“We don’t know how long Ligue 1 will have the pleasure to host Eden Hazard (…) but it’s hard to imagine it will last until the end of his contract, 2012. Consistently scouted by the best european teams, every game he makes everything look stunningly easy, even if his game needs polishing. Thanks to his controls, his low center of gravity and his acceleration, he creates unbalance for the other team. On the left, right or center, he was yesterday Lille’s best player offensively. Without a doubt L1’s best youngster can develop in the upcoming months as one of the biggest talents of our league. Even at 18. So let’s enjoy his rare moves in our stadiums with our own eyes before, once again, having to watch it only on TV.”

This week, U22 players have had a word in 10 out of 27 goals (Pjanic’s goal, Mounier’s assist, Nimani’s goal, Goulon’s assist, Erding’s goal, Erding’s assist, Aït-Fana’s penalty created, Aït-Fana’s goal, M’Bengué’s goal and Boukari’s goal), better than last week (8/30) and Week 1 (6/27).

Here’s a review of the latest round of L1 games and of course this week’s Top 3 and Flop 3.

Prospects in bold.

Sochaux 2-3 Bordeaux
For Sochaux, Nogueira has another solid outing though not as good as last week’s. Martin (who played wide) and Maurice-Belay both were dangerous, mostly in the second half and this will please US fans, Charlie Davies came in at halftime and managed to score 2 goals and was man of the match for his side.
For Bordeaux, Gourcuff anf Chamakh worked their magic on set plays twice and that would kill any team.

Nancy 4-0 Monaco
Dia (goal, penalty obtained for the second week in a row) and Alo’o Efoulou worked their magical speed in this game and finally we saw what they’re capable of. Féret was once again very impressive.
For Monaco, Mollo, Nkoulou, Bakar and Mongongu were all underwhelming and Pino was the only Monaco player to play half decently.

Lyon 1-0 Valenciennes
Lisandro was once again impressive and Lloris and Cissokho got the job done very well. Pjanic had a solid game and Gomis scored a very nice goal on a nice team play after a Bastos pass.
For VA, Samassa weighed heavily on Lyon’s defense, and Tiéné made some good plays.

Lorient 2-2 Montpellier
Lorient came from 2-0 down after another goal from Gameiro from the header, and a Koscielny late goal.
For Montpellier, Costa scored a beauty (and had an assist) and Jourdren had a solid game.

Toulouse 3-1 St Etienne
Gignac scored another great goal, as did Moussa Sissoko. Capoue had an underwhelming game and M’Bengue had a solid game.
For Les Verts, Andreu, Matuidi and Payet had decent games and Rivière scored his first goal of the season.

Lens 2-0 Auxerre
Both goals were scored by prospects : Boukari and Monnet-Paquet. Both had decent but not great games, but scored important goals. Ndinga was arguably the best Auxerre player.

PSG 3-1 Le Mans
Erding scored a beauty on a solo effort. Sessegnon was dangerous all around but Sakho and Traoré didn’t play well together. Coupet made some nice saves late in the game.
For Le Mans, I thought Maiga was very good (and he got one assist), he worked hard, espeically defensively. Coutadeur wasn’t as good as last week and Goulon was once again a tough customer. Corchia has some trouble but did well. I also liked Lamah’s play when he came in.

Marseille 1-0 Lille
For OM, Ben Arfa had an average game but managed an assist. Abriel-Cheyrou-Cissé was once again very good, and Mandanda saved OM late in the game. Heinze was horrible.
For Lille, Garcia made a weird choice and put Aubameyang and Obraniak and kept Hazard and Gervinho on the bench. Well bad move. Lille was nowhere to be seen in the first half and when the two playmakers came in, they were immidiately dangerous with Hazard toying with OM’s defense. He almost scored and Chedjou missed the easy chance very late.

Boulogne 2-1 Grenoble
First L1 game, 1st L1 goal and 1st L1 win for Boulogne. Thil scored twice and Boulogne totally deserved the win against a very weak Grenoble squad.
Paillot had his worst pro game by far I’d say. Only Ljuboja had a decent game (and he scored a goal).

Nice 1-1 Rennes
Rémy had a decent game, Ben Saada scored a beauty and Mabiala once again was solid for Nice. Ospina did what he had to do with calm and poise.
For Rennes, the central defense was very good (Mangane-Hansson) but the rest of the team was average. It’s worth noting that Kembo came in the last 20 minutes and got fouled in the penalty area. The ref miraculously didn’t see anything.

Top 3
1- Erding : spectacular AND important goal !
2- Dia : goal and another penalty obtained.
3- Sissoko : spectacular goal !

Flop 3
1- Paillot : horrible all game long.
2- Sakho : no big mistake but shaky all game long with Traoré.
3- Monaco’s youngsters : Pino aside, they were all horrible

It’s worth noting that U22 players scored or created 8 goals out of 30 this weekend (Erding, Dia’s goal and penalty, Sissoko, Boukari, Monnet-Paquet, Rivière, and Ben Arfa’s assist). Up from 6 out of 27 goals last week.

Here’s a quick review of the last two sunday games and of course this week’s Top 3 and Flop 3…
Prospects in bold.

Lille 1-2 Lorient
Obviously Gameiro scored the all important first goal and was a poison all around. The guy is so smart with on the pitch. He plays very well with Vahirua and could benefit from Monterrubio’s crosses.
For Lille, Hazard and Obraniak were the only players to create anything dangerous. You see guys like Balmont and co give up the ball quickly to these two playmakers. Gervinho was suspended, we should see him next weekend. I was really disappointed by Cabaye. But it’s just one game.

Bordeaux 4-1 Lens
Gourcuff is really on a class of his own in Ligue 1. 2 goals, Bordeaux with a 12th straight win. Wendel with a beauty, Chamakh with possibly his last Bordeaux goal.
Lens wasn’t ridiculous though and Boukari scored a goal that could have changed everything if the ref had taken the right decision, but he decided to wave it off instead. Monnet-Paquet didn’t show anything valuable.

Top 3
1- Rémy : dominant performance, features in both of his team’s goals.
2- Sakho : dominant all around performance.
3- Nogueira : what an inspired game for the oft-injured prospect

Flop 3
1- Erding : too many missed opportunities.
2- Mirallas : yet another poor game.
3- Payet : ditto, poor game.

Grenoble 0-2 Marseille
OM had a dominant performance that could have turned bad on a missed kick by Mandanda. Abriel showed his class, and Niang was the Player of the Game.

Le Mans 2-2 Lyon
Gutsy but not inspiring performance from Lyon. They didn’t show much movement and talent nor much imagination. But they did show commitment to come back. When Gomis came in Lyon became really dangerous with two forwards (Lisandro is quality no doubt, goal and assist for his first game). Govou and Ederson were especially bad I thought. For Le Mans, Lamah was interesting, Coutadeur had some really good plays and Le Tallec was once again extremely impressive. Corchia was the best defenseman on the pitch. Not bad for an 18 year old. Louvion did OK and Goulon was a rock in midfield, extremely impressive.

Montpellier 1-1 PSG
Guess who was the best player of that game? Mamadou Sakho of course. Totally dominant performance, which is surely a sign of things to come this season. Erding missed his opportunities but his presence is still a threat to any defense. For Montpellier two youngsters had a really good game : defenseman Yanga-Mbiwa (89) and midfielder Younes Belhanda (90).

Rennes 3-0 Boulogne
Sylvain Marveaux was impressive and finished with two assists. Bangoura scored one of the most impressive goal of the season already (7th minute!). Lemoine had a solid game, as usual.

Valenciennes 1-3 Nancy
Féret was the man of the match. He finished one goal, one assist and an assist on a penalty (he sent Dia who was fouled in the box). Dia had a good game and used his speed smartly.

St Etienne 0-2 Nice
What a game by Loïc Rémy. He’s starting this season the way he finished his last : at an international level. He played a key role on the first goal, scored the second on an impressive solo effort and had a great game all around. Former PSG prospect Mabiala was really good. Traoré scored a blast. Matuidi was yet again the best player on his team. Rivière had one opportunity but missed it.

Auxerre 0-1 Sochaux
Really poor performance from Auxerre, while Sochaux youngsters proved solid and imaginative. Long time injured prospect Nogueira was very impressive and was arguably the best player on the pitch. It’s worth noting that he started instead of Boudebouz. Marvin Martin played up front and was very good and Maurice-Belay once again showed his quality. Sverkos obviously was key, scoring another important goal.

Monaco 1-0 Toulouse
Monaco’s front 4 (Nene, Bakar, Park, Pino) was very good, and the play of the game was Park’s pass to Nene for the goal. Nkoulou played DM without leaving much of an impression, and Mongongu played CB without impressing either.

lequipe.fr reports young starlet Damien Le Tallec is about to move to Borussia Dortmund.
Le Tallec is only 19, and a very hyped striker who draws comparisons with Dimitar Berbatov.
With the U16, U17, U18 and U19 selections, he’s scored 24 goals in 35 games.
A few years ago, before signing his first pro contract, Le Tallec denied Real Madrid and Arsenal.

Fighting against relegation :

Boulogne : a team with a lot of will, but lack of talent.

Grenoble : again, lack of talent is obvious.

Le Mans : lost some key players (Pele, Gervinho) yet again.

Lens : only a few game breakers up on the team.

Lorient : lost Ciani and Abriel, that’s a lot.

Montpellier : more individual talent then the other two promoted teams, but still will it be enough for L1?

Nancy : lost a few veterans leaders (Biancalani and N’Guemo for instance), a team searching for a new identity.

Valenciennes : Loss of Kambouaré will hurt.

Mid-table :

Auxerre : average team in ever sense of the word.

Monaco : too young to play a top spot, lack of offensive impact as well. Still some individual talents.

Nice : didn’t lose anything huge this offseason, but lack of offensive talent outside Rémy.

St Etienne : should be better than last year, but still some question marks all over the place.

Sochaux : loss of Erding will hurt, but the quality of play will still be there.

Top 7 :

Lille : Adding Gervinho will ease the loss of Bastos. Hazard could take this team in the top 3 though.

PSG : Some game breaking talent no doubt. Should be a tough team to beat.

Rennes : Lateral moves again this season.

Toulouse : should be tough to crack again, but still too limited to play a top 3 role.

Top 3 :

Bordeaux : basically the same team as last year.

Lyon : Lots of changes, big question marks all over the place. Still the individual talent should secure a top 3 spot.

Marseille : Great transfer period really, adding big profiles like Diawara, Mbia and Lucho has helped a lot, but adding key guys like Abriel, E. Cissé, Bocaly will also help. They only lost Ziani and the leadership of Cana. Heavy favourites in my opinion.

Complete rankings :

1- Marseille
2- Bordeaux
3- Lyon
4- Lille
5- PSG
6- Toulouse
7- Rennes
8- Auxerre
9- Nice
10- Monaco
11- Sochaux
12- St Etienne
13- Nancy
14- Montpellier
15- Le Mans
16- Valenciennes
17- Lens
18- Lorient
19- Grenoble
20- Boulogne

L1 top scorer : Hoarau
Cup winners : PSG

50- André Ayew (45), OM, RW, 89, Ghana
Rating : 8D, S. Kalou
Talent : Ayew is a very fast dribbling machine that has a lot of maturity and works well defensively. Still very raw offensively.
Season : He was loaned to Lorient where he scored a couple of important goals. However, he has yet to establish himself as a L1 player.

Main transfers concerning the U22 players :

Bakary Sako from Chateauroux to St Etienne
Gabriel Obertan to Manchester United from Bordeaux (4M€)
Guillaume Borne to Boulogne from Rennes
Sandy Paillot to Grenoble from Lyon
Gervinho to Lille from Le Mans (6M€)
Aly Cissokho to Lyon from Porto (15M€)
Karim Benzema to Real Madrid from Lyon (35M€+bonus clauses)
Larrys Mabiala to Nice from PSG
Mevlut Erding to PSG from Sochaux (8M€)
Chris Mavinga to Liverpool from PSG
Youssouf Mulumbu to West Bromwich from PSG

Main loans concerning the U22 players :

Steven Langil to Caen on loan from Auxerre
Yacine Brahimi to Clermont on loan from Rennes
Lynel Kitambala to Dijon on loan from Auxerre
Jérémy Pied to Metz on loan from Lyon
Yohann Lasimant to Sedan on loan from Rennes
Maxime Jasse to Dijon on loan from Auxerre
Cheick Diabaté to Nancy on loan from Bordeaux
Floyd Ayité to Nancy on loan from Bordeaux
Bira Dembele to Boulogne on loan from Rennes
Fabien Robert to Boulogne on loan from Lorient
Pierre Aubameyang to Lille on loan (with buying option) from AC Milan
Jean-Philippe Sabo to Ajaccio on loan from OM
Anthony Modeste to Angers on loan from Nice

All players returning from loans, especially the excellent Garry Bocaly back to OM and Malaury Martin back to Monaco.

Expect it in the first few days of july at the latest.

Here’s a round up of the U22 performances in this weekend of Ligue 1 action.

Nancy 1-2 Marseille
Dia (4) as usual worked a lot for no end product.

Bordeaux 1-0 Monaco
Nkoulou (5) had a very solid game against Chamakh. Too bad he couldn’t handle him on the goal. Mongongu (6) was very good as well and sound defensively. Mangani (4) stuggled more but overall did a good job. Nimani (3) was invisible. Haruna (6) came at his place at halftime and was really impressive. The guy is 19 and has a great future. Too bad he managed to get a red card ATFER the final whistle. Pino (5) was very good, I know idea why he’s rated so low. He was fantastic at times, made a few bad choices sometimes, but overall, he was the best offensive player on the pitch yesterday and that includes Gourcuff and Chamakh.

Lyon 3-1 Caen
Benzema (7) was yesterday the REAL Benzema. Strong with the ball, dribbling with ease, always a threat. He scored two goals, but one was disallowed for offside.
For Caen, Yatabaré may or may not have touched the ball on the goal. In any case, it was his presence that created the goal.

Valenciennes 2-1 PSG
Sakho (6) was the best PSG player yet again. His physical impact and leadership are really difference makers. And he’s 19!

Nice 0-2 Toulouse
Ospina (4) was beaten twice, and you can’t blame him too much. He didn’t make any great save either. Rémy (5) missed a few plays, but tried a lot. Modeste (5) was more of the same, lots of will, no impact.
For Toulouse, Sissoko (6) and Capoue (6) were ruling the midfield all night long.

Sochaux 2-1 Nantes
Martin (6) had a good game and finished with two assists thanks to his precious set plays. Erding (7) scored a beauty to open the score.

Le Mans 1-1 Grenoble
Bouhours (4) struggled all night long. Goulon (4) was tough to play against but made some bad choices in his passes. Gervinho (7) was the most dangerous player on the pitch with Le Tallec (who has 3 goals in 2 games and also hit the bar).

Auxerre 1-0 St Etienne
Andreu (5) had a good game defensively. He didn’t bring much otherwise, but he did what he had to do. Benalouane (5) featured in the lone goal, but you can’t really blame him. He also tried to bring the danger up front. Mirallas (4) and Payet (4) disappeared as the game progressed.

Rennes 3-1 Lorient
Lemoine (6) had a solid game defensively. Could still bring more offensively. Kembo (5) scored a brilliant goal.
For Lorient, Gameiro (5) tried a lot but didn’t feature on the score sheet.

Le Havre 0-1 Lille
Kana-Biyik (6) had a solide game, talking with his size and muscles.
Hazard (6) was technically the best player on the pitch once again. He’s 18.

Top 3
1- Benzema : strong game for Karim, like he’s capable of doing.
2- Erding : key goal in a key game on a beautiful diving header.
3- Pino : good performance against a big opponent.

Flop 3
1- Mirallas : no end product when his team needs some.
2- Payet : ditto.
3- Nimani : you have to wonder if he was on the pitch.