“Talent everywhere”… Why Ligue 1 is particularly exciting this season

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We don’t know you, but we really like it this “next season”. With fewer resources but a returning audience, finally when some fanatics want to leave the true supporters alone, the Ligue 1 version 2021-2022 has started off on pretty good foundations. Lots of goals, few fines for illegal bus parking in its area, great talent emerging … We take a look at the good news of this first quarter of the championship, leaving PSG aside for once, but with the lighting of Edouard Cissé, who scours the grounds of L1 this season as an Amazon Prime Video consultant.

> Stats don’t lie

Let’s start with a few figures, just to raise the debate. All indicators show an increasing spectacle on French lawns at the start of the season. The number of goals, already, with 258 achievements including in nine days (only three 0-0 recorded by our services), against 244 last season. Not to spoil anything, they were more registered in the game since there are 11 penalties less this season. The average goals per game (2.87) is thus the highest for 10 years, and – by the way – higher than that of the Premier League, for example (2.6 after seven days).

Another interesting data, noted by The team Saturday, we see an average of 40 balls played per match in the opposing area, against 32 10 years ago. Far from being trivial. And Ligue 1 does not owe all this to the PSG of Messi, Neymar and Mbappé. For now, the top scorers are called Laborde, Bayo, Gouiri or Blas, with the most anticipated Ben Yedder and David.

> Supporters in a stadium, that changes everything

What better news than the end of closed doors? To hear the chants, the applause, even the insults again, come on, that made our hair. “Playing in a full stadium motivates and transcends the players, assured Brest coach Michel Der Zakarian in August. They tend to sublimate themselves and get as far as possible in their guts. “No wonder, then, that some home teams put on a show at the very end of the match, like Saint-Etienne against Lyon or Angers against Metz, just for the last weekend. “It galvanizes the players, but it also pushes the coaches to produce games for the supporters, not to be low-income,” underlines Edouard Cissé. We take more risk in front of the public and that’s a good thing. “

> Our coaches have talent

Franck Haise in Lens, Christophe Pélissier in Lorient, Laurent Batlles in Troyes, Pascal Gastien in Clermont… With these coaches, you won’t get bored during the Sunday afternoon multiplex. The first two nominated confirm all the good that we thought of them, the last two did not go up to L1 to close the game. “Haise, he galvanizes his team, it’s very structured, with the addition of recruits that are made for this club. All this is revealed through play, in a clear system to release the energies of each one, ”analyzes Cissé, who also welcomes the“ state of mind ”of the promoted.

“It’s their DNA to play like this. Now, we just have to integrate the fact that each conceded opportunity can make a goal in the face, unlike in Ligue 2. But we can gain in rigor without denying ourselves, and it is especially important not that they do it ”, judge he does. A priori, we can be reassured. The end of talk about concrete at all costs to compete, we buy every day.

> OM and OL have well-identified projects

We can salute the work of our technicians while recognizing the quality of ideas coming from abroad – we are not targeting anyone of course. The Lyonnais are 10th with 13 points, but the general feeling is that the game plan of Peter Bosz, obsessed by the occupation of the opposing camp, will eventually bear fruit. OM Sampaoli, made of versatility and all-terrain pressing, is capable of anything, but the advantage of panache is that we remember more times when it works than the other way around.

“It took character and personality to take on these two teams. These are coaches who take their players with them, who need full membership, notes the consultant. It’s a bit of a different mentality, with that all-or-nothing side, but it’s exciting. These two coaches have in common to have managed to buy a little time to settle down.

> Youth is eternal

England or Germany will be able, each year, to come and strip our clubs of their most beautiful nuggets, nothing will help. In terms of sustainable development, Ligue 1 is a cut above. Dia gone to Villarreal? Bring in Kebbal (23) and Ekitike (19). Hilton retired? A small place for Estève (19 years old) please. Bahoken and Diony not up to par? Let’s get out of the hat Cho (17). This season, perhaps more than the others, in particular for economic reasons, the coaches of many clubs do not hesitate to trust the young people of the training center.

The former midfielder of PSG, Monaco or OM agrees with this observation, but uses his right of reserve. “I prefer not to quote them to leave them alone,” he said. But of course I have at least 15 names in mind who are under 24 and who are very good players. It goes through a confirmation in the next two or three seasons, of course, and besides, it would be great to keep them in France. Many are not in the big clubs, they can go to a more upscale team, which plays Europe, use it as a springboard and not leave until after. “

> It plays everywhere

Frankly, last season, we preferred to do “Le Jour du Seigneur” replay rather than watch certain L1 teams, such as Nantes, Angers, Strasbourg or Bordeaux. So nothing has changed for the Girondins, but for the others … Even a City-Liverpool would not make us flinch. “Let’s stop it french bashing, launches Cissé. I did a lot of work in the stadiums, I saw talent everywhere. There is material in France, and to do even better. “

The Joga Bonito of the FCN, the tiki-taka of the SCO and the Bayern of Strasbourg delight us. If we do not know by what miracle Nantes has changed at this point without changing anything (same coach, same players), Angers and Racing called on Baticle and Stéphan to guide the people, replacing the traditional Moulin and Laurey, who left in L2. And then, jugadorazos like Blas, Fulgini or Ajorque had to finally have their hour of glory.

> The big ones finally wake up

He arrived with an enormous mistrust of the supporters, after the departure of Christophe Galtier. And the first results did not help (defeat against Lorient and in the derby against Lens). But, little by little, Jocelyn Gourvennec and Losc are back in the race for Europe, carried by the rebirth of Jonathan David: one goal in eight games, then five in the last four games.

Same thing in Monaco. Apart from having recruited a colander as a goalkeeper, it was not clear why the 5-star ASM of last season, which has not changed much, had a complicated start to the championship. But Aurélien Pogba Tchouameni and others seem to be on the right track again. “Ligue 1 needs strong and regular teams. It really densifies the championship, and raises the standards for everyone. “We may not yet be in the Premier League, but for a Ligue 1 that we like to make fun of, for now we are enjoying it.


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