34th round prospects performances… Top 3/ Flop 3… Highlights

By: Evilo | May 4th, 2009

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

Marseille 2-2 Toulouse
For OM, Ben Arfa (5) came in at halftime and was the impact player Gerets hoped he’d be. No idea why he’s marked so low, because he was the reason for OM’s comeback.
For Toulouse, Sissoko (5) was impressive physically. He really is tough to contain.

St Etienne 0-0 Nancy
Audreu (5) played a solid game, on both sides on the field. Benalouane (6) was once again very solid. My favourite brains (or not) Kévin Mirallas (5) had a decent game, but played out of position as usual. Payet (6) had a good game with a goal that was wrongly ruled offside.
For Nancy, N’Diaye (5) once again made his physical side do the talking. Dia (6) once again was very active without any end result.

Valenciennes 2-0 Lyon
Mounier (4) didn’t create anything worth noting and Benzema (5) spent more time whining about his teammates than trying to get a decent ball.

Caen 3-1 Le Mans
Gervinho (3) sucked ONCE again, and in a big game to boot. Frustrating. Lamah (5) was decent, but didn’t make the good choices. Goulon (5) was half-decent, with good physical impact, but low awareness in offensive plays.

Lorient 3-1 Lille
Ayew (4) managed to shoot the crossbar on his only opportunity. Gameiro (6) didn’t score but you could see in this game how a forward can contribute for his team even if he isn’t on the scoresheet. This guy is really a good player.
Hazard (5) played in a weird position, alone up front. And he still managed to do well, as he almost scored (nice save from Cappone).

Grenoble 0-0 Nice
Paillot (6) had another very good game, extremely solid on his position, he doesn’t back down from any contact. He was once again easily the best Lyon player this week. Except he’s playing for Grenoble for another 3 weeks.
Ospina (6) made a couple of huge saves and was thus IMO the man of the match. Rémy (5) tried a lot without much success. But as I’ve said lately, I’ve liked his mindset since his NT callup.

Monaco 0-1 Auxerre
Nkoulou (5) had a very solid game. I like when his mind set is agressive enough. Mollo left early with an injury and Gakpe (4) moved a lot without making any impact.

PSG 0-1 Rennes
Sakho (4) was obviously disappointed with his deflection on the only goal of the game. His game was still above average.
For Rennes, Lemoine (7) was very active defensively, but he always slows things down offensively, and I’m fed up with that.

Nantes 1-2 Le Havre
Placide (6) was excellent and made a couple of nice saves, especially on Da Rocha’s shot. Kana-Biyik was struggling until he injured himself.

Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux
Sertic (7) made his second consecutive start in less than a week, and he manages a splendid shot for the opener. Franky, he didn’t do much after that, but his efforts all along the game, his constant running, allows him to be our player of the week.
For Sochaux, Boudebouz (6) was the most dangerous player for his team, always a threat with the ball and he also hit the crossbar cleanly with a nice header. Erding (6) is always dangerous and he’s proving it week after week. With more support, he could score 15+.

Top 3
1- Sertic : nice start to his pro career.
2- Placide : goalie of the future for Le Havre most likely
3- Ben Arfa : really lifted his team.

Flop 3
1- Gervinho : same old, same old.
2- Benzema : stop whining like your hero Henry.
3- Mirallas : just because he’s my favourite target.