Round 3 review… Top 3/Flop 3… And BONUS!

By: Evilo | August 24th, 2009

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).