How long can Montpellier keep the big guns off the top of Ligue 1? PLUS: the week in French football
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Thursday is Ligue 1 day, and here's French Football Weekly 's Andrew Gibney with his take on events across the Channel.
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With three weeks gone in this season's Le Championnat we have a clear leader at the top of the table. Tipped by many to struggle this season Rene Girard’s Montpellier side are the only team in Ligue 1 hanging on to a 100% record. Not only is this the first time since 1992 that La Paillde have started with three straight wins but it is also the first time in the club's history they have been outright leaders in France.
After a tough away trip to Belgrade in the Europa Leage, the much-fancied Rennes side were easily dismissed by the inform team from the south of France. Younes Belhanda opened the scoring from the spot; Geoffrey Dernis made it two early in the second half. It was then left to substitute Soulyemane Camara to fire two goals past Benoit Costil.
Not the sort of warm-up game Rennes would have wanted before Thursday night’s second-leg with Red Star. The Brittany side have a 2-1 lead from the away leg but will need to work on their defence or the tie could be far from over.
How long can Montpellier continue this form no one knows. In the next five fixtures they face Lyon, Nice, Brest, Ajaccio and PSG. There is nothing stopping MHSC collecting nine points from a possible fifteen, opening a gap between them and the relegation places.
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Across the coast at the Stade Velodrome everything is not well with Didier Deschamps' title contenders. Marseille have only managed three draws from three games, twice they have thrown away leads and there seems to be a lack of communication in the defence.
Facing a tough St-Etienne side it was always going to be a difficult match. Deschamps will be without defender Stephane M’Bia for at least six months and to compensate this he choose to play with a very defensive central four. Nicolas N’koulou, Souleymane Diawara, Alou Diarra and Charles Kabore controlled the middle of the park but Marseille seemed determined to stop ASSE scoring rather than playing their own brand of expansive football.
Midfield dynamo Lucho Gonzalez had his worst game this season; maybe the on-going rumours of a move to Arsenal affected his performance. Front-man Loic Remy struggled to find any service and only managed two shots on goal. The in-form striker was replaced with 23 minutes left after tweaking his groin.
One positive for L'OM was the appearance of striker Andre-Pierre Gignac. The former Toulouse man hadn’t featured since a brief stint on the last day of the season but injury plagued most of last year. The powerful striker has just returned from an Italian weight-loss clinic, it looks to have worked well all he needs now is match-fitness.
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Lille and PSG picked up their first wins of the season. Lille broke their August bad luck with a 2-1 away win against the previously unbeaten SM Caen. Benoit Pedretti opened the scoring after getting on the end of an Eden Hazard cross. Pedretti then turned provider as he slipped in Mathieu Debuchy for the second.
The three points looked assured until Ludovic Obraniak handled the ball inside the Lille penalty box. Benjamin Nivet made it 2-1 and Caen then sent attack after attack towards the Lille defence. With seconds remaining it took a superb instinct stop from Mickael Landreau to secure the three points for the Champions.
Up in the capital PSG stuttered to a 2-1 win over Valenciennes. Javier Pastore made his home debut in the second half, with the scores tied 1-1 he showed some nice touches and looks to be slowly finding his fitness and form. Nene made it 2-1 from the penalty spot with 25 minutes left and the home side held on for their first win of the season.
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This week four French teams continue their European adventure. Lyon made hard work of Rubin Kazan, with a 3-1 lead from the first leg they draw 1-1 again coming back from losing the opening goal. Recent signing Bakary Kone headed home his first goal for Lyon which was enough to see then in the Champions League Group Stage.
On Thursday night PSG have a 4-0 lead over Luxembourg side Differdange and should have no problems completing the task at the Parc des Princes, it will be interesting to see how much playing time Pastore gets and how many fringe players are given a start.
After a goalless draw away in the Ukraine, Sochaux welcome Metalist Kharkiv to the Stade Auguste-Bonal and will hope to build on this weekend’s result. After being outplayed by Nancy in the first half Mehmet Bazdarevic’s team talk seemed to work wonders as Sochaux played much better in the second half.
Mathieu Peybernes volleyed home after a corner was poorly cleared and then ten minutes later Slovan Privat headed home a Marvin Martin free kick and put his side 2-0 up. Nancy pulled one back from the spot after Carlao was sent a straight red. The away side held on and picked up their first win.
With Lille and Marseille already qualified for the Champions League group stage it would do the league wonders to have six teams competing at a European level for the next few months. With Ligue 1’s increased profile it would be a massive boost to see a team go far in either competition.
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Follow Andrew Gibney on Twitter @ gibfootballshow and at French Football Weekly .
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