Ligue 1

PSG are well on their way to retaining the domestic title having amassed a huge 24-point lead over second-placed Monaco, but Di Maria has laughed off claims Ligue 1 is a one-horse race.

"The game in England is very physical. The intensity is crazy, loads of duels and anything can happen until the final whistle. But it's similar in France," he added.

"A lot of people say Ligue 1 is not of a high quality, but this is not an easy league.

"Barcelona and Real Madrid regularly win by four goals in La Liga, but that's quite rare in Ligue 1. Even the teams lower in the table can cause you problems."

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Teenage sensation Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat-trick as Stade Rennais FC destroyed their local rivals FC Nantes 4-1 at the Roazhon Park on Sunday.

Dembélé opened the scoring in the first minute and by half-time Rennes were 4-0 up, the 18-year-old bagging the first hat-trick of his young career while Kamil Grosicki also got his name on the scoresheet.

Nantes got a goal back in the second half courtesy of Adryan Oliveira Tavares before Rennes were reduced to 10 men when Giovanni Sio was sent off, but this was a convincing victory for Rolland Courbis' side and a first league loss since November for Les Canaris.

In a tight battle for European places, the result is a huge lift for a Rennes side who claimed a third win in their last four outings, while Nantes lose ground after seeing their 13-game unbeaten league streak ended just four days after they were bundled out of the Coupe de France in the quarter-finals by FC Sochaux-Montbéliard of Ligue 2.

The day got off to the worst possible start for the visitors as Dembélé opened the scoring inside the first minute, prodding home from the edge of the box after Alejandro Bedoya had headed out a free-kick into his path.

Rennes doubled their advantage on the quarter-hour mark as Polish international Grosicki controlled a ball forward by Romain Danzé and got enough contact on his shot to beat Rémy Riou and find the net for his second goal in as many games.

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Rolland Courbis is not famed for keeping his head down, but his post-match press conference at the weekend began with an uncharacteristic step away from the night’s main theme. “It’s not on an evening when a colleague quits that I’m going to brag,” he said after his Rennes team’s extraordinary comeback win at Toulouse, which pushed Les Violets even deeper into relegation trouble and his counterpart Dominique Arribagé into resigning. Having left Montpellier just before Christmas, the memories of such pain and such a sense of impotence are fresh for Courbis.

All power to the former Marseille boss, then, in bouncing back in such prompt and unexpected fashion, in the image of his new team on Saturday night. It has been a whirlwind month for the Brittany club and their new coach, who was appointed as president René Ruello’s adviser on January 12th and then promoted to replace the sacked Philippe Montanier eight days later.

Already, Courbis has started to build a reputation for himself in his new surrounds having dragged an extra ounce or two of fortitude out of his new charges. As the clock ticked to 90 minutes at Stadium Municipal, lowly Toulouse led 1-0. By the time Stéphane Jochem blew the final whistle, Les Rouges et Noirs had snared three points to accompany them on their return journey north.

It was the latest, and most spectacular, in Rennes’ recent series of salvage acts under the new man. After last-gasp winners at home to Gazélec Ajaccio and Angers, sandwiching an 89th-minute equaliser to snatch a point at Lille, the concept of ‘Le Courbis Time’, as beIN Sports has it, is developing a life of its own.

Another specialist in late drama was at the heart of things in Haute-Garonne, with Kamil Grosicki netting the later-than-late winner. Rennes were actively shopping the Poland midfielder to potential buyers in January, and he has started just 6 times this season. They will be glad he stayed now. Grosicki’s busy style comes into its own in the closing stages of games, and his strike that downed Toulouse was his 7th of the season – 6 of them have been scored after Grosicki has joined the action from the bench, twice as many goals as a substitute than any other Ligue 1 player.

He wasn’t the central figure in Saturday’s great escape, though. At just 18, Ousmane Dembélé has already developed into the key man for a team, and a squad, that sometimes seems to lack a clear identity. Dembélé already has the personality to stand up when it matters. After expertly poaching the equaliser at Toulouse, he was the architect of Grosicki’s winner with a wonderfully judged pass into the right channel. His man of the match rating of 8.95 was well deserved.

Coming through for Rennes at the vital moment is no longer a novelty for the youngster. He had the nerve to take the penalty for that late leveller at Lille. In the derby win at Guingamp before Christmas, it was Dembélé who scored the opener before laying on a clinching goal for Giovanni Sio. His modest, boy-next-door demeanour masks an uncommon confidence and determination.

All in all, Dembélé has 6 goals and 3 assists in his 12 starts to date, directly implicating him in 25% of his side’s goals, and that having only made his Rennes first-team debut this season. Those numbers, though, only begin to tell us about his willingness to assume leadership of the team’s attacking effort. Dembélé’s most notable characteristic is his dribbling, opening space in opposing defences – he makes 4.3 per match, more than anybody else in Ligue 1. Yet he is also judicious on the ball, making 1.7 key passes per match and keeping his shots on goal down to a relatively modest 2.1.

This effort has been hugely important in keeping Rennes in touch with the European places. Golden boy Paul-Georges Ntep has struggled with injury, limiting him to just 11 starts this campaign, and Sio hasn’t yet scored in this calendar year. Yoann Gourcuff is only beginning to take baby steps back into action, and Juan Fernando Quintero is yet to weigh in heavily, having started only 9 times (for 1 goal and 2 assists).

Yet as it stands, they are in sixth place but just a point behind Lyon in third, even after last year’s runners-up disposed of Paris Saint-Germain in fine fashion on Sunday night. The chaotic nature of Rennes’ campaign (Courbis has presided over 3 wins, a draw and 3 defeats in Ligue 1) can’t hide the fact that any sort of consistent run could see them fulfil their ambitions. Likewise, the delivery of Saturday’s victory shouldn’t obscure a more even general performance, dominating possession (56.2%) and the shot count (18-6). Maybe the real miracle would have been if Rennes hadn’t won.

While Courbis’ thoughts for his counterpart are admirable, the contrast of Arribagé’s recent fortunes to his own decisive influence are unavoidable. A loyal club man – who president Olivier Sadran has emphasised will stay at Téfécé in another capacity – was forced out by a miserable 22% win rate. Moreover, Arribagé’s erstwhile side have the astonishing record of having lost a possible 26 points this season after taking the lead in matches. It all underlines Courbis’ promising first month of work.

The past, as it turns out, is the future. Under Courbis, Rennes could yet pluck some glorious reward from this strangest of seasons.

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“He’s a boy who’s always listening, with an enormous amount of humility. He’s going to the very top.” Caen captain Alaeddine Yahia’s assessment of his former teammate Thomas Lemar, delivered to beIN Sports after the 20-year-old returned with Monaco on Friday night, came from the heart. Yahia’s words, however, were as accurate, as they were well-intended.

After all Lemar, one of the revelations of the Ligue 1 season, had just proved it first hand. Having scored the opener for Leonardo Jardim’s side with a sublime free-kick from range that again underlined his talent, he raised his hands in semi-apology to the fans at the Stade Michel d’Ornano. To complete the hat-trick of illustrating Yahia’s points, he reconvened with his old colleagues in the centre circle at the end, exchanging some good-natured joshing - but with the experienced Yahia and Damien Da Silva doing the talking, and Lemar mostly smiling and lending them an ear.

It explained a lot of what might otherwise be unclear. In his 15th start of the Ligue 1 season, Lemar’s goal made him Monaco’s joint leading scorer - beside another sensational young talent, Bernardo Silva - with five. For a player who had only made six top-flight starts before arriving at the Stade Louis II in the summer, it’s a stellar rise.

Success has hardly been handed to Lemar on a plate this campaign, either. Coming into an environment of renown, but quite mind-boggling volumes of player turnover, the midfielder has established himself as one of Jardim’s go-to men simply by his own strength of will. He has made himself a spot in the line-up simply by demanding it with his performances, taking responsibility from the off, showing for the ball in open play and bossing set pieces.

Lemar has thrived despite another strand of instability, which is that of his personal role. He has been used in virtually every role across attack and midfield this season - apart from defensive anchor and centre-forward - and thrived all over. Logically, his future is probably in central midfield, with an 83.7% pass success rate already (in the context of a side which doesn’t play a possession-based game), 1.2 key passes per game (2 in the Europa League), and 1.5 tackles. The versatility of his skills, though, is evident in his pace and his dribbling ability (1.8 dribbles per match).

It’s all evidence of the terrific work that Caen do with their youngsters, with Lorient’s Raphaël Guerreiro coming from the academy as well as the celebrated N’Golo Kanté, who left the club for Leicester last summer. Giving players like Lemar and Kanté the wings to eventually fly the nest is “part of our job,” as Caen’s philosophical coach Patrice Garande explained to Luis Fernandez after the match, but it is to his immense credit that his side have regenerated and even progressed.

With 9 games of the season left, the modest Normandy club are just two points away from the third and final Champions League place. You can talk about the stasis of the league outside Paris Saint-Germain this season as much as you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that what Garande and his players have done, and are doing, is extraordinary.

This pulsating match was never in danger - even after the opening goal - of turning into The Thomas Lemar Show. Caen have far too much about them for that. Facing a side that have only lost twice away from the Principality this season, they responded with vigour after twice going behind, even without their banned top scorer Andy Delort.

In a game where they were forced out of their natural game by Monaco’s wait-and-see approach - Caen have the lowest average possession in the league, 41.5%, yet had 50.7% in this match - Garande and company used the full gamut of tools at their disposal. They were characteristically efficient with the ball, producing 14 shots (6 on target), and combative without it, winning 33 of the game’s 57 aerial duels.

Given Delort’s shoot-on-sight policy - only Zlatan Ibrahimovic (4.4) takes more shots on average that his 3.9 per game - Caen’s ability to work Danijel Subasic was impressive. The pressure told, with the irrepressible Julien Feret’s penalty leveller followed up by Christian Kouakou’s superb overhead kick equaliser late on. Picked up from Ligue 2 Tours in winter, the 25-year-old hasn’t even got an hour’s worth of top-flight action under his belt yet for his new club, but was still decisive.

Garande’s ability to think outside the box, and, crucially, to get his players to do so as well, was evident in his use of Ronny Rodelin, who has been reborn since his move west from Lille. The winger was used as a direct replacement for Delort in the centre-forward role after scoring seven times already this seaso, and although he didn’t score himself, this curveball allowed him to find space to supply others, offering two key passes, and for the excellent right-back Dennis Appiah to take up advanced positions, as seen in the player average positional report.

The energetic Lemar, it’s fair to say, would have enjoyed himself in this enterprising team had things been different. Instead, that €4m spent on him last summer looks more and more like a bargain. That Kouakou’s equaliser was scored just after he was replaced to a warm ovation by Kylian Mbappé was probably just coincidence, but it underlined two major truths - that Lemar is already a star for Monaco, and that the show goes on for Caen without him, and then some.

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There’s not been too much excitement at the business end of Ligue 1 to say the least but the weekend’s match between Lyon and runaway leaders PSG did bring to end the latter’s 36-game streak without defeat in France’s top tier, and with it the only remaining unbeaten record in Europe’s top 5 leagues this season.

It was an unexpected result that saw Lyon keep their place in third to cap an excellent month in the league for OL. It’s been a season to forget in the most part for a side that promised so much last season. Indeed at this stage a year ago Lyon were a point clear of PSG at the top under Hubert Fournier before eventually falling off the pace, but a dismal start to the current campaign saw the much heralded young manager relieved of his duties ahead of the new year.

The board made the risky call in appointing rookie boss Bruno Genesio and after a 1-0 defeat to Bastia last month it looked like a gamble that may not pay off. However, four wins from five later and OL have leapt from 11th to the top three in the space of a month, with one player in particular coming to the fore.

Indeed, where so many others have failed to reach the standards set from the previous campaign youngster Corentin Tolisso has continued to impress. The 21-year old was in fact the highest rated player across Europe’s top 5 leagues to make at least three appearances in February, taking centre stage in WhoScored.com’s European team of the month.

The midfielder saw his impact cut short due to a hamstring injury but was influential in Lyon’s return to form, making his current absence all the more frustrating for the club. Tolisso, who started all but one of Lyon’s league matches last season to play a crucial role in their title bid, has enjoyed something of a purple patch since the start of the year, culminating in what was an outstanding performance in his last appearance.

The box-to-box midfielder, who can play the holding role in the middle of the park but tends to excel given more license to attack, has had a direct hand in 8 goals (5 goals, 3 assists) in 9 appearances in all competitions in 2016. Given he scored just once and registered 3 assists in 26 outings prior to the turn of the year it’s clear that Lyon fans are seeing the best of Tolisso once more.

That was certainly the case against Caen a fortnight ago, when the youngster put in an imperious display in what was a third consecutive handsome victory for the club. Picking up an assist and man of the match rating of 8.84 against Bordeaux at the start of the month before scoring in a win by the same scoreline at Angers (3-0), Tolisso would earn his first perfect 10 rating from WhoScored.com on Valentine’s Day.

The 21-year old showcased his full repertoire of skills in a thumping 4-1 win, first registering an assist having jumped highest in the box to knock down for Samuel Umtiti before laying on Lyon’s third with a sumptuous pass with the outside of his boot to find teenager Maxwell Cornet. Tolisso completed the rout himself, albeit via a heavy deflection from range, but there was no deflecting from his dominance on the day.

The French youth international won 3 aerial duels - ranking 13th for the season in terms of the total number he has won (75) - created 5 chances, produced 5 tackles and was accurate with 5 out of 5 attempted long balls. It's his range of passing that has perhaps most improved as he begins to take more chances in possession, and understandably so given that of the 90 outfielders to attempt 100 or more long balls this season only five are more accurate (75.3%).

Indeed, last season, despite averaging 56.3 passes per game, only 0.6 were key passes on average and only 2.9 were accurate long balls. This season those figures are up to 1.1 and 4.2 respectively as he has taken on more responsibility, averaging a considerable 62.9 passes per game in total. He is the player that makes things tick for Lyon but is no longer restricted to simple balls played sideways.

The fact that he leads the club in tackles (80) - ranking 7th in the league - highlights just how important Tolisso is to OLs present, as well as their future. It’s little surprise that ahead of the season they tied him down to a new five-year contract - along with fellow sought after prospect Nabil Fekir.

Nevertheless, if when Tolisso returns to action this month he picks up where he left off there is little doubt that Lyon will be fielding calls for a player that has proven to be among their most pivotal this season. The player himself will no doubt still dream that he could yet be answering one a call of his own from Didier Deschamps ahead of Euro 2016.

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17 year old attacker Kylian Mbappé has signed a professional contract with AS Monaco until 2019.

Mbappé is an extremely exciting young talent, recently becoming Monaco’s youngest ever Ligue 1 goalscorer.

Arsenal, Liverpool and PSG had all been in contact with the player before he eventually decided to agree to professional terms with the Principality outfit.

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Alphonse Areola has carved a niche in the history of Villarreal CF. The French goalkeeper managed to overcome yesterday against Celta (0-0) unbeaten record in the Primera Division Villarreal to accumulate 590 minutes without conceding a goal, a record that had Galician Diego Lopez from the 2007/08 season to 540 minutes.

The young goalkeeper, 23, has been undisputed starter since his arrival in the summer, starting in all league games with a spectacular performance. The French keeper of Filipino descent, played two seasons in the quarry of Paris Saint-Germain until it became part of the first team. The last three seasons had militated, in addition to the Parisian set in the RC Lens and SC Bastia on loan. Last summer, again on loan, arrived at Villarreal CF.

This campaign, Areola accumulated 2,430 minutes in 27 League games (all starts) in which it has just been punched his goal on 18 occasions (0.6 goals per game). With him in goal, Villarreal is the second fewest of First Division team, only surpassed by Atletico Madrid (11 goals against). Throughout this season, Areola has been able to keep a clean sheet in 14 league games of 27 played. Awesome.

UEFA Europa League, Areola has also played with Villarreal CF corresponding to the two parties round knockout final against SSC Napoli, conceding just one goal in 180 minutes Hamsik work.

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Marseille striker Michy Batshuayi has been quoted by Foot Mercato as saying that he intends to stay with the French club, despite interest from Tottenham and West Ham United.

"For me, the future is with Olympique Marseille," said Batshuayi. "I like it here, there's a magnificent stadium, good players that I love. I want to stay, I love the club as a whole: the club, the supporters, the joy. Whether in Europe or not, it will not change. I began my story with OM, and I find that my story with OM is still far from over," he added.

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Jair Ventura said:

http://www.ligue1.com/ligue1/article/dembele-bags-hat-trick-as-rennes-win-derby.htm




https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/...e-Decisive-for-Rennes-in-Hope-Versus-Hopeless

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barcafan161 said:

Looks to be on alot of people's radar now. Need few more years in france before making the big jump?

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Jair Ventura said:

I don't know, he has a Messi/Neymar type of brilliance going on right now in terms of being so good, so young. Barcelona has already sent their scouts to see him, never mind all of the English clubs. If he keeps it up, someone will buy him as soon as this summer.

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Sometimes I find boots for 30 Euros. These are good deals for comfortable boots. Boots are currently expensive. To be fashionable is expensive, but you can distinguish yourself by being retro. I prefer to be free rather than whoring myself out for a sponsor. In all honesty, when you are an African player it is not incentivising to have a sponsor. When you are European, it is better because their business is done in Europe.

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