Round 2 review… Top 3/Flop 3…

By: Evilo | August 18th, 2009

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.