27th round prospects performances… Top 3/ Flop 3

By: Evilo | March 9th, 2009

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

Lille 2-0 Lyon
Hazard only came up late after his world class performance in Cup action in the middle of the week. Against the same opponents, he finished with 1 goal, 2 assists and a dominant performance at age 18!
For Lyon, Benzema (5) left early because of his injury. It’s worth noting that Yannis Tafer, Lyon’s deadly young striker played a few minutes and missed an opportunity (he won’t miss many).

Lorient 0-1 PSG
Gameiro (6) hurt PSG defense and showed a lot of will. But he couldn’t score that important goal.

Nice 0-0 Monaco
Ospina (6) made some good saves in the second half. Traoré (5) didn’t show much once again. Rémy (5) missed what he tried. He lacks focus in key situations.
For Monaco, Mongongu (5) was sent off for two yellow in a minute. Ridiculous. Haruna (3) had his first start, but I hope he manages to forget it. Mollo (5) got back to his bad habit : play for his own and forget his teammates. It seems every time he scores a goal, he forgets this the following week. Nimani (4) was alone in front and never got good balls.

Toulouse 3-0 Bordeaux
M’Bengue (6) had another solid outing. Traoré (3) didn’t exist on his side. Capoue (7) was a rock and managed Gourcuff quite well. Sissoko came in late and scored the 3rd goal.

Grenoble 2-1 Caen
Paillot (7) was once again wonderful and scored yet another goal (his 3rd). Grandin (5) tried a lot without much success.
For Caen, Yatabaré came in late and on his first touch, 2 seconds after his sub, he managed a nice assist. Nice.

Marseille 0-0 Valenciennes
Ben Arfa (6) had a solid game but his teammates seemed to sleep.

Nancy 2-2 Le Mans
Helder (5) had a good game, always useful in offensive situations. N’Diaye (4) is partly responsible for an opponent goal. That’s never good. Corchia (4) managed an assist on Helstad’s goal, but the rest of his game was forgettable. Bouhours (5) was IMO doing well until his sending off, which was harsh. Lamah (5) was dangerous a couple of times, but should do more with his ability.

St Etienne 2-1 Nantes
Matuidi (6) played a solid game as usual, the guy’s on a mission. Payet (5) was invisible IMO.

Le Havre 2-1 Sochaux
Kana-Biyik (5) was good until a huge mistake late in the game that luckily for him didn’t turn into a goal thanks to Erding’s (5) putrid finish. Boli came in late and seemed to try as much as possible to make the bad choices. Le HAC needed to keep the ball and he would start dribbling 5 guys even though Sochaux was a man down. Boudebouz (6) was very interesting offensively. He’s gaining confidence and trying nice moves.

Rennes 2-0 Auxerre
Lemoine (6) was very good this time, always important defensively, but bringing danger offensively. Nice complete game. Narry (4) was lost in the Rennes domination and couldn’t weigh on the game.

Top 3
1- Yatabaré : First touch in his first L1 game = assist!
2- Paillot : he’s on a roll baby!
3- Matuidi : true leader.

Flop 3
1- Traoré (Bordeaux) : awful performance
2- Mollo : he’s frustrating. Needs maturing.
3- Erding : this is a game he should have dominated.