Showing posts with label French football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French football. Show all posts

Friday, August 23, 2013

Are we just waiting for the big Monday night game?

The weekend preview is here


Looking at the Premier League fixtures this weekend, I can't say I'll be desperate to tune in to Match of the Day on Saturday night (early afternoon in the US). Stoke v Palace, Hull v Norwich and Southampton v Sunderland aren't ones that really get you excited.

But no one can argue that this week at work went quicker with football back in out lives. An interesting opening weekend, some Champions League qualifiers and Europa League thumpings mean goals, saves and plenty of horrible refereeing.

Manchester United v Chelsea on Monday should be pretty lively, but we'll get to that next week. Liverpool against Villa should be good as both looked decent in their first games (with Villa seeming to have a very tough opening 3 games).

Arsenal fans want to see a few signings before the Fulham game, but Arsene Wenger knows he'll be in big trouble if they lose again.

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My weekend game to look out for in Europe is Malaga v Barcelona. With Messi out, I'd like to see if Neymar gets the start after his goal midweek. It's also the first weekend of Serie A - check out our preview here. Some French football Friday night with Monaco and Falcao in action.

In fact, it's all set up nicely, just wish it was on every day.


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Geezer of the Day

This guy would have to be in the conversation about best French striker of all time. 30 goals in 54 games for the national team. 134 in 215 games for Marseille and countless (well, not countless, just too many to list) goals for AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Bordeaux.

Loved a volley, was great in the air and was a fantastic finisher. Also gives me a reason to hum the French national anthem, which has to be one of the best there is. Today's Geezer is Jean-Pierre Papin.


And one of many tributes on YouTube...


Friday, August 9, 2013

PSG have the cash, Ajaccio may rival them for craziness



France's top division starts tonight too, and it will be interesting to see if the money spent at PSG and Monaco will separate them from the other teams.

I have to admit that I'm not an expert on French football, but used to play football with a guy called Julien Laurens (@LaurenJuliens) and he's got it all covered - check him out on twitter.

But keep an eye on Edison Cavani and Zlatan - can either see those two destroying French defenses, or arguing over who has the best hair and eventually going at it like Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer once did.

Zlatan to Manchester United in January - you heard it here first.

Monaco signed Falcao, Moutinho, Abidal and Carvalho, so should be pretty good. No-one will be there to see it (they had an average attendance of just over 5,000 last year), and Claudio Ranieri will crack under pressure if they get close to winning anything. But I can't see it being anyone but those two teams winning the league, although Ligue Un has had 6 different winners in the last six seasons.

Check out http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8860751/Ligue-Uuuuuuun for a more in-depth breakdown.

The final part of that column points out that Ajaccio are managed by Fabrizio Ravenelli and have Adrian Mutu up front! Imagine the team talks!