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After another fun week of Ligue 1 football, the table sees PSG continue their dominance at the top of the table, they are four points ahead of Lille. While Monaco won again, this time beating surprise-package Nantes away from home. Here are the best stats from week 14 in Ligue 1.
Lille lock-out another attack at fortress Pierre Mauroy
It may not have been pretty but Vincent Enyeama’s goal remains unbeaten for the 9th consecutive game. That’s now 12 clean sheets from 14 games for René Girard’s team. Lille’s fifth 1-0 victory of the season keeps them in second place and the longer it continues the more likely they are to qualify for Champions League next season. It’s definitely keeping the LOSC fans warm on those cold northern France nights.
The goal came from an unlikely source, but actually Pape Souare joins Salomon Kalou on three goals for the season. Making him the second top scorer behind Nolan Roux on five. The Senegalese left-back has been a revelation this season and now adding goals to his game he is becoming the full package. Yesterday he finished with a Squawka score of 53 and not just because of his 84th minute winner.
Defensively he has also been very impressive. Winning all of his tackles and making all four of his clearances, but like a true Lille full-back he spent more time in the opposition half. Completing two of his nine crosses and winning one of his three headed duels, not including his headed goal. His third goal of the season was also, like the other two, scored with his head. All three have come from the left-hand side of the box, but completed with textbook technique, heading them back across the goal. Souare’s aerial prowess should lead to teams paying more attention to him at set-pieces, leading to a little more space for centre-backs Marko Basa and Simon Kjaer.
Toulouse have Zebina to thank for keeping things tight
They may have returned to Toulouse without a point for their troubles but the Le Téfécé defence will be relatively happy with their performance on Sunday night. It’s no disgrace to lose 1-0 to Lille these days, and without veteran French centre-back Jonathan Zebina it could have been a lot worse.
Playing in the centre of Toulouse back three, the former Juventus man had a man of the match type performance, posting the best individual mark of the weekend with 88 points on the Squawka Performance Score. He won 100% of his tackles, eight of his nine headed duels, made 11 interceptions and nine clearances, completed 94% of his 33 passes and even had time to complete all his take-ons.
It may not have been a vintage Lille performance, but the home side managed 16 shots on goal, and without Zebina to marshal the defence the score could have been a lot worse. It was only Zebina’s fourth appearance of the season and the second 90 minutes he has played. Alongside Aymen Abdennour and Serge Aurier, Coach Alain Casanova has the base for an excellent back line. Watch for TFC to become more and more difficult to break-down in the weeks to come.
Falcao fumbles his way around Nantes for 60 minutes
Claudio Ranieri attributed his poor performance to an injury that the Colombian had been carrying, but it won’t talk the talk of Radamel Falcao’s 63 minute horror show on Sunday night. Although he has 9 goals so far this season, there are some questions creeping into the former Porto striker’s form this season.
It definitely looks like Monaco and Falcao aren’t quite on the same page just yet. There are no doubts over the striker’s overall ability; it’s more a question of team understanding and a player trying to settle into a difficult environment. It takes a certain type of individual to go from 40,000+ crowds cheering you on, to an average crowd of around 8,000 that don’t necessarily carry that same passion as the Spanish or Portuguese fans.
Falcao managed just two shots in 63 minutes, neither troubled Rémy Riou in the Nantes net. The Colombian didn’t attempt any headed duels, he didn’t complete any of his two take on attempts and only managed 17 out of 19 passes. Finishing with a Squawka Performance Score of -10. Not a good day at the office for the €60 million striker.
Lorient end their away drought against Evian
Lorient travelled to Annecy on Saturday knowing they had yet to win a single game on the road this season; in fact they hadn’t managed a single point on their travels. Their last away win came in April last season when they beat Toulouse 1-0. So no one expected to see Les Merlus record an astounding 4-0 victory on Saturday night.
19 games had passed since Lorient last managed to score four times in one game. The 3-3 draw with Bordeaux the closest they had come this season, but the defence was a real issue against Les Girondins. Not on Saturday. They finished with a team Performance Score on 384, only behind PSG this weekend. Dominating Evian on both sides of the pitch, taking 10 shots on goals and completing eight of their 22 take-ons. Defensively they were superb too, 13 of their fifteen tackles, and 22 headed duels, 17 interceptions and 29 clearances. Amazingly they only managed to complete 68% of 280 passes. Something for Christian Gourcuff to build on for the second half of the season.
Revenge is three times as sweet for PSG in the Champagne region
Paris Saint-Germain’s last league defeat came against Reims last season, it led to a lot of criticism of then Sporting Director, Leonardo and the team’s work-rate and desire against the so call smaller teams in the league. Obviously it struck a chord and the Parisian’s 3-0 victory over Reims on Saturday afternoon must have felt like lifting a large monkey off their backs.
Finishing with a Squawka Performance Score of 445, it was certainly a professional and effective showing, one that shows how much this team has progressed under Laurent Blanc. Completing 87% of 510 passes continues there midfield domination that has been a featured this season. With Edinson Cavani travelling back late from international duty the baton was passed to Jeremy Menez and Lucas Moura and neither disappointed.
Both forwards joined Ibrahimovic on the score-sheet and helped PSG dominant a stubborn Reims side. PSG had 15 shots and completed eight of their 12 take-ons. Four of those take-ons were provided by Brazilian Moura, and along with 82% pass completion the sometimes inconsistent winger performed well for the away side. With Menez also making a successful return it is a great problem for Blanc to have going into the second half of the season. He has an abundance of options to choose from and they showed on Saturday that they can perform when called upon.
