Re: Ligue 1 Orange 07/08
I still have faith in Dean Ashton and think not even England or the Premier League has seen the
best of him. I don't think he's anything special but I do think, his best is yet to come and he can become a pretty good and useful forward even at a high level like the EPL.
Bellamy, Zamora, Henri Camara and Carlton Cole however... I don't have as much hope for or faith in so yeah West Ham could use at least one more high quality striker. Whether that should be Cavenaghi or not, I don't know.... I think there are potentially more suitable targets who would see it as a bigger opportunity and hence be more hungry, motivated and eager for that move than Nando.
I think he's only just settled now in Bordeaux and France and his career is once again looking promising when it hadn't been for awhile and he had endured some difficult times in Europe and he's keen to make it last and stay there.
He speaks fondly of Bordeaux and French football and with a CL place a possibility once again, he may well want to stay and be part of Les Girondins where he has already done the hard part (settling in) and feels important and relied on.
As for Eric Gerets, I've always liked the guy and am so glad, he took over from Mr. Emon :roll: and has helped OM this way.
At least with quality coaches like Laurent Blanc and Eric Gerets in charge of the likes of Bordeaux and OM, there's some (Even if small)
hope that it might be a possibility if OL indeed fuck up a lot and drop points as they did last weekend against Le Mans. Where as if it's the likes of Albert Emon, you don't even have that glimmer of
hope.
I therefore hope that Gerets stays there, and OM manage to keep all current important players (Cana, Taiwo, Mandanda, Valbuena, etc.) and invest in some more players as well and challenge for title next year. This is the most supported team in France and one of the most all over Europe and around the world.
It'd make sense for it to once again become a regular title challenger and CL participator.
Allez lille... i just love the french league..the level of attacking technique is just immense for example... le pen's goal... mama mia
After months of being too busy with life to get my usualy highly dosage of European football needed, I finally found the time to catch some Ligue 1 action last weekend and boy am I glad I did it. I realized after watching the 2 Setanta games, of what I had been missing.
High quality football and high quality players minus the over-inflated egos, massive hype and over-blown reputations.
Athletic players yet not poor technically since in fact much of the flair and skillfulness of other leagues also comes from former Ligue 1 players. Think guys like Pires, Giuly and Malbranque as just 3 few and small examples of guys who add technicaly and creative quality to the 3 most famous leagues respectively. Tactically, it's no Serie A but the players do have good understanding and aren't baboons or blind.
So you have a good healthy mix of athleticism, technical quality and tactical understanding of coaches and players which makes it still one of the world's top leagues despite the huge number of exports each year and one that a true football fan would follow and watch if they had the time.
The ref that gave psg the penalty vs Lom is fooking blind..... my highlight of the weekend was Prince Albert's gestures after seeing obertan smash in number 6 and how Le verde thumped their opponents and seeing PK score 2 goals!!!
Thank you setanta!!!!
Thank you Setanta indeed! :applause:
I heard there is a rumour take-over bid for them :-s by the way. Is that gone away now or is it a possibility? That could change things... but for the better or worse?? we shall see I guess....
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As for Prince Albert obviously fuming at Monaco's 2nd half performances, I thought that was so funny! :mrgreen: :lol:
And yeh the ref got the penalty wrong in the classico match. Not only did the tackle happen outside the box, Laurent Bonnart could not have possibly made a better challenge given his position, angle and situation.
one question i ask my self... this has to be the most athletic and fastest(in terms of player speed) league in europe? what do you guys think
It still is #1 in the athletic sense but I'd say, it's now
not alone at the top anymore. I'd say, now EPL is just as athletic as Ligue 1 with just as many fast, strong and high energy/stamina players. So now the two share that top spot.
It is of course, no surprise that Ligue 1 has always been an incredibly athletic and physical league mainly because of the huge African influence it's always had and still does. Many of the players are either African by birth or by origin and ethnicity through parents.
But EPL is in that regard now joint #1 as well in my opinion because they too have invested hugely in African players over recent years and much of that is of course largely due to the huge yearly imports from Ligue 1 which has transferred some of French Leagues' athleticism to England.
Essien, Gallas, Adebayor, Drogba, Clichy, Lassana Diarra, John Utaka, Benjani, Chimbonda, Faubert, Sagna, Evra, Malouda and many many more were all brought over from France.
Only a handful of athletic imports came from other places (Sulley Ali Muntari from Serie A / Udinese for example), the majority were here.
And I wouldn't be surprised if next year we see the likes of Aruna Dindane, Baky Kone, Rod Fanni and Taiwo there.
tuta said:
Exclusive Video of the new stadium in Lille. It's really going to happen now.
http://www.loscwebtv.fr/?r=1,1,,2,258
Very nice. It can be used as a basketball pitch
What's the capacity confirmed then?
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Oh well... I gotta go now.
It's been a long time since I had the pleasure of chatting with all you folks though. Hope life's going well for all.
Adios.