French Football 2016/17

[greenbay]

Simple story: Nice, 1st in Ligue 1, was outplayed at home by Schalke, 18th in Bundesliga. Nuff said about Ligue 1...

[nemesys]

Supermario will do it !

Mario Balotelli is arguably the most talented Italian player of his generation. The fact that he plays in Nice, and this said with maximum respect to such football club, tells a lot about his attitude limits conditioning his career.

If Nice relies only on SuperMario to achieve results, then good luck with it. Also, if it is true that a single superstar player can bring an average club to top level in such league, this is not very promising about Ligue 1 average level.

This being said, it is also possible that to play for Nice could be for Balotelli the correct balance and the perfectly right dimension, and that they can be good for each other: there are tons of examples of players unable to be regulars on top clubs, being for many years a legend in a club less acclaimed by media, offering a lifestyle more relaxed pressure wise. Several players deliberately prefer such solution, to be a star in a good club rather than the one in many others in a top club, with less pressure to handle in case of negative results, and a less extreme professional dimension: an example is Antonio DI Natale, who, few years ago, kept on playing for Udinese, refusing a move to Juventus in the summer.

Finally, about Ligue 1 clubs results in Uefa football competitions in recent seasons, there is to underline that in the '90 and the first years of this century, a final involving a French side was quite common:

Code: Select all

1991 Marseille
1992 Monaco
1993 Marseille
1996 PSG, Bordeaux
1997 PSG
1999 Marseille
2004 Monaco, Marseille

while in the last dozen (12!) seasons it never happened again. So it is hard to justify the claim of a positive trend: Ligue 1 was more competitive in the recent past than today.

About the future, we don't know. Soon or later, a French title could happen, of course.
However, to claim in every September that it will be an awesome or a winning season for the French sides, it doesn't win the matches in the next spring.

[BurningStorm]

Not to feed anyone's issues, but I'd prefer to see Nice advance over Schalke too. Schalke are dull.

Nice were dull against Schalke... like a 3rd level team in German cup. Even Malko agrees that Schalke were better technically and tactically and they were all but "dull" in that game with many pretty combinations and attacks, so it sounds a bit disrespectful. Especially after buying some interesting players.

In the Bundesliga they are awful so far, no doubt

[Lyonnais]

whoscored marks - MD7

Top performances

9.66 Lois Diony (Dijon) for his performance vs. Rennes (home win 3-0)
8.90 Benjamin Lecomte (Lorient) for his performance vs. Lyon (home win 1-0)
8.84 Mehdi Abeid (Dijon) for his performance vs. Rennes (home win 3-0)
8.53 Jordan Marié (Dijon) for his performance vs. Rennes (home win 3-0)
8.21 Bafétimbi Gomis (Marseille) for his performance vs. Nantes (home win 2-1)
etc.


Lois DIONY
Forward, 23, Dijon, France
Career: Nantes - Mont-de-Marsan - Dijon (2014)

I have to admit that I don't know much about this forward who scored 2 goals and provided an assist in his game vs. Rennes. So as per wikipedia, he was raised in the academy of Nantes but was denied to sign a professional contract. He then came back to his native city of Mont-de-Marsan (playing in 4th level!) before signing his first professional contract with Dijon 2 years ago. Note that he was named in the Team of the Year in L2 last season (11 goals and 4 assists in L2 + 3 goals in the Cup of the League).
His career shows that he has a strong character because it should not be easy to make such a rebound when you fail at the stage of the academy and given his performances in the last 2 seasons, it is very possible that he makes the headlines again.

[nemesys]

His career shows that he has a strong character because it should not be easy to make such a rebound when you fail at the stage of the academy and given his performances in the last 2 seasons, it is very possible that he makes the headlines again.

Yep. Nice story. He should be credited for his tenacity. Two little anecdotes:

1. Beppe Baresi (older brother) was accepted to Inter, while Franco Baresi (younger brother) was rejected (too skinny); so, despite being an Inter fan, he made a test for AC Milan.

2. Kobe Bryant gym teacher in school (he was living in Italy up to high school age, so I know few guys who played mini basket with him when kids) told him something like: "don't bother with basketball: your father is good at it, but this does not mean that it is the correct sport for you; in fact, basketball is not the right sport for your physical skills, just pick another sport which you are more suited for".

We all know how these stories ended up.

Bottom line: yes, sometimes, selectors make evaluation mistakes; and yes, sometimes, you make the difference after a refusal, because you work harder to catch up, while instead after reaching your goal easily, the risk is to relax too much.

[Malko]

Well burningstorm, more and more i think it was the fault of Favre, who really had Nice "falsch eingestellt". They should have pklayed like they play in the league...it's nopw too late to do it in that match, but there is anotherone. I hope Nice and Favre learned of the mistake.

[Lyonnais]

His career shows that he has a strong character because it should not be easy to make such a rebound when you fail at the stage of the academy and given his performances in the last 2 seasons, it is very possible that he makes the headlines again.

Yep. Nice story. He should be credited for his tenacity. Two little anecdotes:

1. Beppe Baresi (older brother) was accepted to Inter, while Franco Baresi (younger brother) was rejected (too skinny); so, despite being an Inter fan, he made a test for AC Milan.

2. Kobe Bryant gym teacher in school (he was living in Italy up to high school age, so I know few guys who played mini basket with him when kids) told him something like: "don't bother with basketball: your father is good at it, but this does not mean that it is the correct sport for you; in fact, basketball is not the right sport for your physical skills, just pick another sport which you are more suited for".

We all know how these stories ended up.

Bottom line: yes, sometimes, selectors make evaluation mistakes; and yes, sometimes, you make the difference after a refusal, because you work harder to catch up, while instead after reaching your goal easily, the risk is to relax too much.

nice stories too.

There are also the famous examples (in France) of Ribery and Valbuena who both failed at the academy stage and finally made rather decent careers ...
Griezmann also who was refused by 6 academies in France (including my beloved OL whereas he's from the region and he was a fan of OL) because too short and too skinny but fortunately for him (and for France!) Real Sociedad had a better judgement.
This kind of stories finally is very common.

I remember one coach saying once that out of 10 kids in the academy, you are sure that 1 of them will become professional, 3 or 4 of them will never turn professional and in the middle there are 5-6 players for whom you don't really know.

[Malko]

.where did Ribery fail ? He came from Boulogne sur-mer to Metz, and when he had some good matches, went away after a few months to...Galasaray, who promised him 4 times his salary of Metz....but where he did not see any money at all......if fernandez , his former trainer in metz, did not take him to Marseille, where Fernandez was coach then, ....nobody would have ever heard of Ribery again....to say thank you to fernandez, Ribery left Marseille sooner as exspected ...for having more money in bayern, where he saw the money this time....Ribery failed everywhere, even in the National Team (world Cup with Domenech),...but i do not think at the acadamy stage....

[spoonman]

Ribery left Marseille sooner as exspected ...for having more money in bayern, where he saw the money this time....Ribery failed everywhere,

He's been playing in Munich for almost 10 years now (and wants a new contract), and he won the Champions League. What an utter failure.

[Zarastro]

Ribery left Marseille sooner as exspected ...for having more money in bayern, where he saw the money this time....Ribery failed everywhere,

He's been playing in Munich for almost 10 years now (and wants a new contract), and he won the Champions League. What an utter failure.

I'd argue that Ribery was the best French player of his generation.

[nemesys]

Ribery left Marseille sooner as exspected ...for having more money in bayern, where he saw the money this time....Ribery failed everywhere,

1. He's been playing in Munich for almost 10 years now (and wants a new contract), and he won the Champions League. What an utter failure.

I'd argue that 2. Ribery was the best French player of his generation.

Bold part 2: Likely to be true.

Bold part 1: And, btw, that season Bayern won the CL, that midfield Robben, Ribery, Schwainstainger (whatever it is spelled), and Muller, was really impressive! So, not just a player, but also a main protagonist in such top club!

[bugylibicska]

Schweinsteiger - Steiger= stepper/climber
So his name is Pigstepper or Pigclimber. In German, most surnames were given to people in accordance to their profession (eg. Schneider=Tailor, Bäcker=Baker, Bauer=Farmer), so in German, a Schweinsteiger used to be the person who would hold down the pig, while the Butcher killed it. In German "besteigen" is the verb for "climb onto". This job literally entailed the person climbing onto the pig in order to hold it down while the Butcher did his handy work. Interesting job huh?

[Zarastro]

Schweinsteiger - Steiger= stepper/climber
So his name is Pigstepper or Pigclimber. In German, most surnames were given to people in accordance to their profession (eg. Schneider=Tailor, Bäcker=Baker, Bauer=Farmer), so in German, a Schweinsteiger used to be the person who would hold down the pig, while the Butcher killed it. In German "besteigen" is the verb for "climb onto". This job literally entailed the person climbing onto the pig in order to hold it down while the Butcher did his handy work. Interesting job huh?

Not sure if this is true. I've heard that Schweinsteiger is also the name of many villages in Bavaria, which were known for their many pigs. The second part "Steiger" comes from "Steig" which can depending on the dialect either mean "way" or "stable."

[bugylibicska]

Schweinsteiger - Steiger= stepper/climber
So his name is Pigstepper or Pigclimber. In German, most surnames were given to people in accordance to their profession (eg. Schneider=Tailor, Bäcker=Baker, Bauer=Farmer), so in German, a Schweinsteiger used to be the person who would hold down the pig, while the Butcher killed it. In German "besteigen" is the verb for "climb onto". This job literally entailed the person climbing onto the pig in order to hold it down while the Butcher did his handy work. Interesting job huh?

Not sure if this is true. I've heard that Schweinsteiger is also the name of many villages in Bavaria, which were known for their many pigs. The second part "Steiger" comes from "Steig" which can depending on the dialect either mean "way" or "stable."

Well, surely I`m not in a position to argue with an echte German, so might claim only the silver medal.

[Malko]

About Ribery...France had a good team with Platini, a mediocre team with Papin, a good team with Zidane, a mediocre team with Ribery, and again a good team with Griezmann..Ribery is one of the worst players France had the last decade. also Micoud failed totally in the national teameven in Ligue1 he was medium.........and was a big-one in Bremen.....then he says that in France Bundesliga was underestimated, when he played Paris and Bremen got some 10 goals too......Micoud and Ribery, same combat....not good enough for Les Bleus.