Ligue 1 Top & Flop: Round 13

TOP

Olympique Lyonnais 5-5 Olympique de Marseille: Okay, so it wasn’t a game of football for the purists. Some of the defending was very poor indeed, but in terms of entertainment and excitement, games just don’t get any better. OL seemed set to move to an easy victory when they twice took the lead in the first half, only for their guests to move 4-2 ahead. With 11 minutes remaining les Gones were still in trouble, but an inspired burst from Lisandro Lopez brought then level, before a superb Michel Bastos goal in stoppage time seemed to have won it. But in a game that had more twists than Spaghetti Junction, Jeremy Toulalan’s own goal meant that things ended level – which was a fair reflection of an astonishing game. To contextualise this result, this was the first time since December 1957 that a Ligue 1 game finished 5-5, and only the fifth time in history.

Toulouse: After a stuttering start to their league campaign, Alain Casanova’s men are beginning to hit some real form. After defeating Stade Rennais 3-2 on Sunday afternoon, they have now won three of their last four matches, lifting themselves up to ninth in the heavily congested Ligue 1 table. They have sacrificed their Europa League run in the process, largely playing a reserve squad in that competition, but the star men such as Moussa Sissoko and Andre-Pierre Gignac are starting to show in the league that such a decision is worthwhile. The former, a dynamic young midfielder, has six goals in 12 games – a tally surpassing the five goals he had mustered in 65 games prior to the outset of this campaign.

Lorient: Considered a minnow of Ligue 1 on many fronts, Christian Gourcuff continues to work wonders with the Breton side. Admittedly they were up against an even smaller fish in the form of Boulogne on Saturday evening, but les Merlus produced a slick offensive display to record a 5-0 success – the biggest Ligue 1 victory of the season to date. Kevin Gameiro and Marama Vahirua are continuing to look like very good strikers indeed, while the support they are receiving from a well-balanced midfield has been excellent. They may not continue such form throughout the entirety of the campaign, but if they could, it would be a terrific tale.

FLOP

Gabriel Heinze (Olympique de Marseille): Hailed as the marquee defensive signing of Didier Deschamps summer transfer campaign, the Argentine has proven to be something of a hindrance for his side in the main. Though he looked passable at centre-back, that position in the side has seemingly been won by Hilton. Didier Deschamps has shifted the former Real Madrid and Manchester United man out to left-back, where he is now keeping Taye Taiwo out of the side, although undeservedly. The Nigerian would offer far more from the full-back berth than Heinze, who looks distinctly uncertain in the position.

Le Mans: There comes a time when bad luck ceases to be ill-fortune and simply becomes poor play. Le Mans are at about that point now. The dominance that they expressed over Auxerre at the weekend should have been rewarded with a victory of some sort (probably a comfortable one), but a whole series of fine chances went a-begging. Four times the framework of the goal was struck, though Ludovic Baal, who hit the post with a late diving header that would have been flagged offside in any case. However, Anthony Le Tallec, who was notably quiet at the weekend, missed a late penalty.

Monaco: After pushing league leaders Girondins de Bordeaux the previous week, les Monegasques were expected to see off Grenoble, who before Saturday had not won a point. Without Nene at their disposal, Guy Lacombe’s side looked very poor offensively and rarely threatened Ronan Le Crom’s goal. Aside from a double-save from Yohan Mollo, the goalkeeper was never truly exerted and was able to keep his first clean sheet of the campaign as GF38 finally got off the mark, points wise. Forget the stoicism Grenoble showed in defence, Monaco were poor in attack.

Robin Bairner, Goal.com

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