Author: DELEITURAS

Speaking in an interview with Téléfoot, Manchester United’s central midfielder Paul Pogba fixed his aims for 2017.

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“To win the Premier League, as many trophies as possible and that things go well with the French national team. Next year, the World Cup!”

Serie A side Atalanta have rejected an offer with €25m plus bonuses in the last 48 hours from PSG for Ivorian midfielder Franck Kessié, according to Sky Italia.

Atalanta have also rejected another offer from Chelsea for the player, according to the report, and have since decided to take him off of the market, believing that they can get more for him in the summer transfer window.

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Monaco have completed the signing of Flamengo left back Jorge on a five-year-deal for an €8.5m fee.

The young Brazilian could be yet another good buy from Monaco, as the 20-year-old could well be nurtured into a top full back in the near future.

Jorge, who had previously worked his way up from the youth set ups at Flamengo, leaves his boyhood club in search of making a name in mainland Europe and in one of the top leagues in Europe.

The full back managed to make 49 appearances in all competitions for his old club, managing three goals and three assists in his short time at the club.

T.S.

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Nathan Staples is joined by Mohammed Ali and Eric Devin to discuss Dimitri Payet’s arrival at Marseille, PSG 1-1 Monaco, final days of the January window and more.

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Speaking to BeIN Sports last night, PSG President Nasser Al Khelaifi discussed his side’s astronomical Champions’ League 1st leg win over Barcelona.

“It is a crazy thing. Magnificent for us, the club, the players, the manager, the staff. It was a magnificent match, I felt it. Everyone was ready, I looked at the players in their eyes and I believed. It is not finished but we can celebrate this win. I am proud of everybody.”

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“You’re dirty kids! You’re dirty kids!” was the cry of a joyous Pascal Dupraz as his Toulouse side returned triumphantly to their dressing room. His charges had just beaten perennial champions PSG at the Stade Municipal, having been relegation fodder just six months earlier. The win, and the 3-1 defeat of Monaco a fortnight later, marked the peak of an astounding rise for the unfashionable southern outfit as their violently charismatic coach continued to remould the club in his own image. After a considerable trough this winter to follow the peaks, the signing of striker Andy Delort has propelled Toulouse back to their compelling best.

A shaped finish from Rennes’ Ousmane Dembélé, an arrowed shot from colleague Kamil Grosicki and it was done. Their lead had been wrestled away at the death and after their final fixture of February 2016, Toulouse found themselves 10 points from the safety mark with just 10 games to play. They were all but down. A meandering, limp campaign led by the aloof Dominique Arribagé had finally flickered and died. With Arribagé sacked just minutes later, the Frenchman unable to repeat his heroics in saving the club from the drop a year earlier, Les Violets were coachless, rudderless and hopeless. Club president Oliver Sadran stated in the aftermath that “there was no plan B”.

But by Wednesday lunchtime, although it was far from clear at the time, a solution had been found in the shape of the erratic, prickly and equally unfashionable Pascal Dupraz, who was unveiled as head coach. “We must fight against fatalism. We must find, or at least increase the collective qualities of the team, pour in enthusiasm and love” was the balding 53-year old’s message to the club and his players. Dupraz previous’ experience of relegation scuffles was mixed, keeping Evian (his only other notable appointment) in Ligue 1 at the climax of the 2013/14 season before taking them down two years later, his tenure proving unpredictable and, at its end, exasperating.

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Dupraz’s reign at Toulouse got off to a concerning start. Within days he was hospitalised. Chest pain that had been evident during his time with Evian, cutting a training session short and forcing Dupraz to watch his first game as manager from bed rather than prowling around his technical area as is now the norm. Nevertheless, the effect of his arrival was immediately evident, the hard fought 1-1 draw with Marseille preceded the 4-0 dismantling of Garonne derby rivals Bordeaux as Dupraz finally made his touchline debut, ending Willy Sagnol’s spell at Les Girondins in the process.

The glorious run continued, 15 points from Dupraz’s first nine games miraculously had them on the brink of survival. Where before they had appeared wayward and disinterested, Toulouse were now bombastic and intense. Prize asset Wissam Ben Yedder, now of Sevilla, having flitted in and out all season was cajoled into landmark performances, scoring eight in the ten games he played for Dupraz.

While Danish international forward Martin Braithwaite, handed the captaincy in virtually Dupraz’s first act as coach, marauded down the left flank in support and netted on four occasions himself. However, it was the faith placed by Dupraz in a burgeoning generation of youth products, his ‘dirty kids’ as their coach playfully referred to them, that proved crucial.

Desperate for points as far back as November 2015 with just a sole win all season, Dominique Arribagé threw in sixteen-year-old keeper Alban Lafont and rangy teenage centre back Issa Diop to his starting eleven for the first time. The debutants joined technical midfielder Yann Bodiger, 20 years of age, and holding player Alexis Blin, 18, in helping Toulouse beat Nice and spark a mini-rival that arguably did just as much to keep Les Violets in Ligue 1 as Dupraz did.

With his faith placed in all four men, Dupraz has moulded them into premier talents now essential to the way in which the team plays. Consistency, a commanding presence and lightning reflexes have seen Lafont emerge as one of the league’s best keepers; Diop’s pace, power and intelligence will likely see suitors forming a less than orderly cue come the summer, while Dupraz was quick to highlight the persistent heel issue of Blin during the side’s winter slump as a key cause.

However, decisively holding this disparate group, and the club as a whole, together was Dupraz himself. His boundless passion, intensity and ferociously bold outlook was swiftly embodied by his players on the pitch, morphing them into a compelling, aggressive and effective unit. As the side’s results improved and displays along with them, Dupraz rapidly endeared himself to the “TFC” (Toulouse Football Club) faithful.

Toulouse is not what you might call a ‘footballing hotbed’. Predominantly a rugby town, attendances had dipped below 9,000 as Arribage’s tenure petered out but, after criticising the vivacity of the support and accusing the fans of ‘wearing mittens’, Dupraz ensured that the pivotal final home game with Troyes was a sell-out, and the Stade Municipal a cauldron. A Tinder themed display before a home game in August featuring Dupraz and the phrase ‘It’s a match!’ served to illustrate his popularity and ascension to cult hero status.

Dupraz’s management style is an unusual, perhaps old fashioned one. He routinely harangues his players, often delivering instructions in an alarmingly aggressive manner. Crucially, however, this is clearly not to his players’ detriment but positive in sentiment and supportive in theme. He is rarely interested in plugging gaps with too many new signings, preferring to fashion a more effective, cohesive unit from what he has. Anyone that could destabilise the group this is cast aside.

His treatment of Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro being a case in point; stripped of the captaincy and swiftly dropped, while the promising Zinédine Machach was sent to the reserves after a disagreement during his first week in charge. Dupraz, however, insists: “A coach has to love his players.” Having beaten Troyes, Toulouse knew that a win on the final day at Angers would keep them up but Dupraz had saved his best trick for last.

On the eve of the encounter with Angers, the Toulouse players sat in a small, poorly lit room. The staff gathered around the walls and their manager stood before them. With the fire in Dupraz’s eyes verging on the maniacal, he unleashed a tirade of affection upon his players: “You deserve to stay up. For two and a half months I have been saying that you will stay up. The problem is not whether or not I will look like an idiot it is to see whether you have the mental, physical and technical capacity to do it. It is now that you have to do it. Not tomorrow, not yesterday. It is now! I have realised that I am not the only one who loves you. The staff, they love you. The fans have chastised you but they have shown you that they love you. What we will see here is undeniable. What we will see are people who love you.”

This was followed by emotional messages of support from the players’ loved ones projected onto the wall behind the coach. As the lights came up and the players dried their eyes, Dupraz ended with a simple “bon match.” It is difficult not to be moved by the full 117 seconds of unbridled passion, whether you speak French or not. The Toulouse squad were inspired. With rivals Reims ahead against Lyon, a win was essential and, having been 2-1 down, an 83rd minute free kick from Yann Bodiger, one of Dupraz’s ‘dirty kids’, won the game and kept Toulouse in Ligue 1.

Nevertheless, the revolution would soon falter. This season started as the previous one had ended, devastating home form proved too much for Monaco and PSG and had Toulouse as high as third during the autumn but the turning point came during the visit of Lyon in October. A clumsy afternoon from Lyon full-back Rafael saw him dismissed with the visitors 2-1 up but with over half an hour still to play. But instead of roaring their side home, as had become their custom, an air of quiet expectancy descended upon the Stade Municipal, as if a result against one of the league’s best was now a formality.

The fight had vanished. Toulouse were unable to make any meaningful inroads into the Lyon defence and the contest finished, anticlimactically, 2-1. Although injuries to Blin, Diop and Trejo were destructive, the intensity, courage and tireless enthusiasm that Dupraz demanded from his players dissipated in the following weeks and TFC proceeded to lose nine of their next 13 games, now appearing brittle and timid.

With once bright European hopes fading and the side dissolving into mid-table obscurity, it was time for Dupraz, outwardly admitting his side looked ‘sacred’, to break with tradition. The somewhat organic additions of Ola Toivonen and the towering Christopher Jullien aside, the acquisition of Swedish international winger Jimmy Durmaz was the club’s only real attempt to add some flair and guile during the summer to an otherwise bullish and workmanlike squad. A transfer that has met with varying results. But it had become clear Toulouse were in need of a sizeable shot in the arm to wake them from their deepening slumber.

Andy Delort’s dozen goals for Caen last term, subsequent failure in Mexico with Tigres and desire to return home in January saw him linked with the majority of the league’s 20 clubs, all in need of a proven Ligue 1 goal-scorer. But it was Toulouse and Dupraz that would secure his services in what was, for Les Violets, a hefty €6m fee. A marquee signing.

Although seemingly an obvious move for the club (and many others) Delort suits Toulouse and, more specifically, Dupraz perfectly. “I already loved him very much before. We have the same vision of football “ said Delort. Toulouse are unbeaten since Delort’s arrival, one which is in no small part down to the ex-Tigres teammate of former TFC striker André Pierre-Gignac, the 25-year-old opening the scoring in each of his first three starts, two of which were four goal wins.

Pivotally, however, Delort is a readymade Dupraz player. His rumbustious, smashmouth intensity embodies the spirit of his new manager on the pitch more than any before him. With the new signing installed, Toulouse are returning to their best. Braithwaite is back among the goals, visiting teams are being overwhelmed and defensive mistakes have dried up. The fearless Toulouse that is so quintessentially Dupraz has returned, Delort is leading the charge.

Despite a disappointing 1-1 draw this Sunday with a Lille side very much in a state of flux, Toulouse are now back in the hunt for a European place. The six-point deficit to Marseille in 6th is a sizeable but not insurmountable with 10 games to play, matches which include the visits of rivals OM and Rennes to South East France.

Delort is rapidly becoming ingrained in the Dupraz philosophy and leading his new side by example, fellow January signing Corentin Jean has added balance on the right, Braithwaite is returning to prominence and Trejo and Blin are finding form following respective injury lay-offs. Dupraz and his rebranded ‘dirty kids’ are far from being done with the race for Europe just yet.

1 | Nice were their methodical selves in a 1-0 win against Dijon on Saturday, winning for the fourth time in five matches since losing at Monaco, three of those by the same score. Mario Balotelli returned to the starting line-up and delivered a battling performance, even if he failed to find the back of the net. While the Italian still has much work to do to return to the level he was playing at earlier in the season, his movement was impressive, and Nice have continued to get goals from a variety of sources. At the Stade Gaston Gérard on Saturday, Wylan Cyprien was once again making a vital contribution in that regard.

His well-taken finish midway through the second half was his third goal in five matches. No other midfield player has more in the league this season, and the way the youngster’s role has shifted in the attacking third in the absences of Alassane Pléa and Ricardo Pereira is impressive; his willingness to shoulder more of the attacking load has kept Nice not only on track for Champions’ League football next season, but in the title race after many had left them for dead following a poor January.

2 | Rafael’s move to Olympique Lyonnais was considered an acknowledgement of the Brazlian’s slow slide, which had been apparent since at least 2013. Often heavily reliant on his recovery pace for covering his defensive mistakes, as he aged, his ability to cover ground declined sharply, and he was unable to keep pace in the Premier League.

This trend continued last season as well, with both Bruno Génésio and Hubert Fournier often preferring the more experienced and defensively sound Christophe Jallet in the biggest matches, even if it came at the expense of Rafael’s attacking prowess. Jallet has struggled with injury for most of the current season, though, leaving Génésio little in the way of alternatives. Given the scintillating recent form of Bordeaux’s pacey left winger, François Kamano, it seemed as if Lyon could be in some difficulty at the Stade Matmut Atlantique on Friday, but Rafael surprised with his best performance of the season, Lyon unlucky to concede as the officials seemed to miss an offside call. Roma beckon in the Europa League on Thursday, and will hardly be an easy proposition, but with Rafael on this kind of form, Lyon’s chances look improved.

3 | Angers’ surprising move to a 3-5-2 paid immediate dividends against the division’s most regular practitioners of the system, Caen. The team’s young wide players have been at the forefront of Angers’ style this season, but there was also acknowledgement that being played on the right was failing to get the best out of Karl Toko Ekambi, signed from Sochaux in the summer. The Cameroonian played last week at centre forward in Angers’ habitual 4-3-3, scoring a brace in a 3-0 win over Bastia. With Famara Diedhiou returning from suspension, manager Stéphane Moulin needed a way to keep the in-form Cameroonian on the pitch but also find a place for his leading scorer.

Using three at the back and no natural defensive midfielder, Angers turned in arguably their best attacking performance of the season. Conceding two goals against a mediocre Caen is far from ideal, but the result, their fifth straight win all competitions, took Angers into the top half of the table for the first time since November. With safety now all but achieved, the hope here is that the team continue to play with this sort of gusto; Monaco, Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain are all in their next five opponents, and none will be happy to see the Anjou club playing with such brio.

4 | Marseille would have been downcast after falling to Monaco in extra time in a 4-3 Coupe de France thriller on Wednesday, but seemed to recover well enough in thumping Lorient. After having come back from a goal down three times midweek, only to lose in extra time, Rudi Garcia’s side put their frustration to use in a 4-1 road victory. The win was only Marseille’s third in their travels this season, but showed this team’s potential, even in the absence of the injured Bafétimbi Gomis.

Playing a new formation, a 4-2-3-1 with Rémy Cabella deployed as a false nine, Marseille were ruthless and will undoubtedly gain confidence in their pursuit of European football. None of their three rivals for a top six finish won, and with Angers and Lille to play before the international break, the embarrassment of last week’s 5-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain is fading fast.

5 | Metz endured a week of mixed blessings; the news that their appeal against a points deduction for crowd behaviour was successful was a huge boost to the club’s struggle for relegation. Winter arrival Cheick Diabaté was on the scoresheet for the third match running, but Rennes’ last-minute equaliser meant that the team are now winless in four in the league.

Even given how poor Lorient and Bastia continue to be, relegation is still a worry with a visit from the Corsicans looming a week from Saturday. The team have played much better since the turn of the year, but the result against Rennes should go a long way towards emphasising the importance of maintaining focus throughout a match. Without that common goal in mind, Metz’s struggles, once a thing of the past, are likely to continue.

Team of the Week: Alban Lafont, Toulouse FC; Rafael, Olympique Lyonnais, Paul Baysse, OGC Nice, Christophe Jullien, Toulouse FC, Benjamin Mendy, AS Monaco; Bernardo Silva, AS Monaco, Morgan Sanson, Olympique Lyonnais, Valentín Vada, Girondins de Bordeaux, Francois Kamano, Girondins de Bordeaux; Kylian Mbappé, AS Monaco, Jimmy Briand, EA Guingamp.

Goal of the Week: Dimitri Payet, Olympique de Marseille.

A.W. and E.D.

Receiving a short pass from Jordan Ferri in the centre circle, Memphis Depay swivelled, and almost in the same motion, launched a shot toward Alban Lafont in the Toulouse goal. The Lyon winger had shown good vision to catch the teenager off his line, but a shot from that distance, more than fifty yards, was ambitious, to say the least.

The ball, seemingly inevitably, looped over Lafont’s head and into the back of the net, and Depay had recorded his second double in three league matches, powering Lyon to a 4-0 victory. In what could have been a tricky match between two legs of their Europa League encounter with AS Roma, it was a vital contribution, as Toulouse had been testing Anthony Lopes with worrying regularity to that point. Video clips of the feat immediately filled social media pages and football’s leading news outlets stumbled over themselves to publicise a sumptuous goal.

Almost as quickly, though, the caveats began to emerge, largely, one can assume, from Manchester United fans, disgruntled that Depay had never caught the eye in that manner during his time in England. There were also those quick to take down Lafont and, indeed, Ligue 1 as a whole, casting aspersions on the achievement almost before the ball had nestled into the back of the net.

Lafont was off his line, clearly, and one reading of Depay’s recent success at Lyon could be a condemnation of the league’s quality compared to the Premier League. Yet, a savvier analysis would centre on the platform that Depay has been given at the Parc OL, and how his role, both at present and in the future, has evolved in the six weeks since joining for an eye-watering fee of a potential €25m.

There were plenty of doubters among observers of Ligue 1 upon Depay’s arrival; many were baffled by the club spending such a sum of money when more pressing needs, including signing competition for Alexandre Lacazette and a left-back were apparent given the club’s struggles in the league. Others cast doubts over the issues Lyon have had integrating players of a similar level of experience into the team, with Claudio Beauvue and Sergi Darder having struggled to make their mark after being first choice elsewhere.

There was also the small matter of Mathieu Valbuena; after being largely misused by Hubert Fournier, the former Marseille winger also had to deal with the emotional imbroglio surrounding blackmail and a sex tape, and hardly looked the part of the player who had been a regular starter for his country in the 2014 Brazil World Cup. However, since December, Valbuena has become one of Lyon’s best players, recording crucial goals in wins over Monaco and Rennes, to the point that a return to the national team was now a distinct possibility.

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With both players doing their best work on the left side of a 4-3-3, manager Bruno Génésio initially struggled to find a balance for the two, both tactically and personnel-wise. Things looked bleak for Depay; his first two starts, against Lille and Saint-Étienne, were embarrassing losses for the team, with the Dutchman looking out of sorts. However, after barely featuring for Manchester United this season, there was bound to be some ring-rust on the part of Depay.

He eventually got off the mark in a 4-0 thrashing of Nancy just over a month ago, and now has five goals and two assists, all in his last six matches. Depay being cup-tied for the Europa League (and an injury to the Frenchman) has also seen he and Valbuena rotated, with both in good form and seemingly no damage done to the team’s chemistry.

That is not to say that there have not been mitigating factors in Depay’s revival, though. The teams upon which Lyon have feasted in recent weeks have been some of Ligue 1’s poorest, and Depay was far from incisive in the most difficult match the team have played of late, a 1-1 draw at in-form Bordeaux last Friday. There have also been matches (the win over Metz springs to mind immediately) where goals or assists have glossed over a host of wasted chances for the winger, the underlying assumption being that better sides wouldn’t afford their opponents such a plethora of opportunities.

That said, on the whole, Depay’s hefty price tag is looking increasingly to be good value for money, and to represent the power of a financially resurgent Lyon. On the heels of considerable Chinese investment earlier this season, Depay is supposedly the first in a line of marquee signings for the club, a tack that had disastrous ramifications the last time it was employed, but one that appears to be more sustainable now that the club will have less of a mandate to produce a year-over-year profit.

That will come as welcome news given that Alexandre Lacazette, Corentin Tolisso and Rachid Ghezzal are all likely departures this summer; Lyon desperately needed some reassurance vis-a-vis their goalscoring ability next season. Nabil Fékir is looking better, if not quite to his form of two seasons ago, and has shown a few cautiously encouraging signs that he could function as a centre forward in a 4-3-3.

Valbuena has likewise had a strong season, but is never going to provide the twenty-odd goals Lyon have come to expect from Lacazette. Depay, however, is increasingly looking like the answer in this regard, and if more purchases of his ilk follow, Lyon’s likely spell away from the Champions’ League could be a short one indeed, despite the good form demonstrated by Monaco and Nice this season.

1 | One of the most rewarding aspects of following French football is the regularity with which young players rapidly blossom into undisputable talents. Following on from teenage winger Adam Ounas last season, this term Bordeaux have again nursed the development of one of the league’s rising stars; Argentine midfielder, Valentin Vada. Vada is a stocky deep-lying playmaker with a broad range of passing ability, superb awareness of space and the ability to put a defence on the back foot with his direct style and eagerness to further an attack with an incisive through ball or by driving towards goal himself from deep.

Although Jocelyn Gourvennec’s Bordeaux side left Monaco with little to show from a 2-1 loss on Saturday afternoon, the waspish Santa Fe native stood out once again as he continues to hit the zenith of a period of form that has seen him overtake veteran Czech international Jaroslav Plasil in Les Girondins’ midfield hierarchy. Having signed for Bordeaux from Proyecto Crecer as far back 2010 at just 15, he only made his senior debut in December 2015. However, despite some promising outings across the rest of last season, he seemed overly slight and often capable of poor decision making. Although this is often the case with young players, doubts remained over his ability to mature as a footballer but during this campaign, especially since Christmas, he has flourished and is now arguably Gourvennec’s prized asset. At just 21, Vada has a frightening amount of potential that he has only just begun to realise and the rest of the league are taking notice.

2 | Christophe Galtier is Ligue 1’s longest serving manager. Upon his appointment as manager of Saint-Étienne on December 15th 2009, Les Verts sat in the relegation zone after 17 games having barely avoided relegation at the end of the previous season. These performances were far below the expectations of French football’s record title winners and one of the league’s most historic and well-supported clubs, but Galtier revived them. They avoided relegation by eight points come May and a top half finish the following year catalysed a steady improvement which has reasserted St Saint-Étienne’s status as a European regular, having qualified for the Europa League knockout stages in the previous two campaigns. However, as Galtier nears the end of his eighth season in charge, it may be time for the pair to part ways. Ambitions of Champions’ League football, infuriatingly just out of reach in recent years, have faded over the last 18 months, as performances have gone from combative and effective to blunt and turgid. Although Galtier is an astute, tactically nuanced operator, he above all is a defensively-minded coach and his Saint-Étienne sides have rarely threatened to be even mildly engaging, his charges muddling their way through a lacklustre campaign, often snatching late points they scarcely deserve.

Their season was perhaps summed up by the 2-2 home draw with Metz on Sunday afternoon, a side that have been coolly dispatched on a regular basis by other top half clubs. Les Verts, however, had to come from behind twice; inspirational captain Loïc Perrin with an injury time header and taking most of the credit for any positives derived from the display by Galtier. The club has become stale and although Galtier’s squad has been weakened slightly, injuries have been troublesome and forward players continue in woeful form, it now seems that both Saint-Étienne and Galtier are in need of a fresh start to truly realise their ambitions. Despite all he has done for the league’s most vociferous fan base, he appears to have taken their club as far he can as their aim of making the Europa League continues to slip.

3 | Paris Saint Germain’s 31-point winning margin at the end of last season, although alarmingly cavernous, lead to a misconception that Ligue 1 was lacking in competition. Every other prize on offer last term was ferociously contested over, Toulouse’s miraculous survival under Pascal Dupraz at the expense of Reims and Gazelec Ajaccio being the most overt example. A turbulent weekend for the clubs at the bottom further illustrated that this year is no different. Bastia continued their run of red cards with Gaël Danic becoming their fourth player to be sent off in four games (and their 13th this season!) in a disastrous 5-0 loss at Guingamp. New manager Rui Almeida had started to reintroduce a little more organisation and impetus to a side that was become increasingly fraught and ill-disciplined under the weak stewardship of François Ciccolini but with the club second bottom and visitors to Corsica not as intimidating as they once were, Ligue 2 is not far away.

Lorient remain the closest to the trapdoor as a 2-1 loss to PSG kept Les Merlus six points from safety while Lille’s win, Caen’s superb 2-2 draw with Nice and Metz mirroring that result at Saint-Étienne pulled all three clubs further from a rapidly developing bottom four. Dijon took advantage of a Rennes side still struggling to deal with the losses of wingers Kamil Grosicki and Paul George Ntep in January to take a valuable point from Roazhon Park and stay just clear of a Nancy side who remain in freefall. The 2-1 home loss to Lille was their seventh in nine games, taking just seven points from 2017 in total and leaving Pablo Correa’s outfit in the relegation play-off spot. Correa did have his side comfortably in mid table during December as some intelligent rotation from Ligue 1’s tinkerman kept his players fresh and fighting for their places. Enigmatic winger Issa Dia and effortless centre back Clément Lenglet were the only men guaranteed selection. But with Lenglet swept up by Sevilla and not replaced while the trickle of goals dried up, still just 19 in total, none of their strikers scoring more this once this season, they have slipped back toward relegation. With the bottom four all playing each other next week, Bastia at Metz and Nancy hosting Lorient, and just nine games to play, the battle at the bottom has truly begun.

4 | Kevin Trapp, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Maxwell and Thomas Meunier. The back five that started in the 6-1 loss at Barcelona all kept their places for PSG’s trip to Ligue 1’s bottom club Lorient on Sunday night. Unai Emery neglected the chance to make something of a statement in dropping the likes of Thiago Silva with the club in need of a new direction. Silva’s limp performance on Wednesday night stood out amongst an array of inept, mentally frail displays; devoid of leadership, presence and any sort of defensive acumen. Nevertheless, PSG eased passed Lorient on autopilot, with little sign of any attempt to make changes to a team who have followed the same path for a number of years; imperious domestic performances punctuated by erratic European form culminating in a disastrous, and inevitable, early Champions’ League exit. Since the QSI takeover, the evolutionary focus in reaction to this cycle has been personnel based, with new stars signed for seven figure sums in the off season in a bid to change fortunes.

However, it has become increasingly apparent that the club’s issues are far more ingrained than any amount of euros thrown at Jesé, Gonçalo Guedes or Julian Draxler can solve. It is in their academy, mental fortitude and overall philosophy where answers lie. Not in Patrick Kluivert shaking hands with another overpriced, undercooked starlet. Meanwhile, Monaco maintained their stay at the summit of Ligue 1, and three-point lead over the capital club, following a hard fought win over an improving Bordeaux. A stunning 25-yard strike from João Moutinho turned out to be the winner in the 2-1 triumph. Adversely, Nice lost ground in the title race, despite fighting back to take a point from Caen having been 2-0 down, Mario Balotelli with the first. With pressure mounting, the full extent of PSG’s emotional damage remains to be seen after their Nou Camp humiliation. Comparisons with those Brazilians who will carry the score ‘7-1’ around with them for the rest of their careers are not unjustified. If the club do not make more than their traditional superficial changes this year, they will be in exactly the same situation this time next season, or worse.

E.D. and A.W.

In an exclusive interview with Get French Football News published in full tomorrow, Stade de Reims’ versatile attacking midfielder Frédéric Bulot suggests that he was not able to represent Gabon at this year’s AFCON because Reims did not pay for the treatment he needed as his contract is running out at the end of the season.

“I am in a complicated situation where I am not at the club. I was not allowed back to the club due to my physiotherapy, and that is why I was not able to play in the AFCON. I should have been ready for the AFCON. I had my operation in July in Barcelona and I arrived back to the club on December 1st, but the club did not give me the necessary care because my contract is ending. So, playing with Reims again would require them to pay me, which is not in their interests, and which is why they refused to provide proper treatment. So I am taking care of things, and I am trying to come back well. I know it is difficult, but I am doing it on my own.

It is a significant (meniscus ed.) injury, but I am not the first and will not be the last one to suffer from it. It is feasible, but I did not get the support from my club who did not take the necessary steps for me to be operated. When I came back, I was surprised by the club’s financial interest, even after sacrificing seven months between January and July 2016 to help them avoid relegation, despite the fact that I was already in pain. Giving to others was a sacrifice of my values. The club was not able to give me anything, and, on the contrary, took a lot from me. I am still under contract with Reims and belong to the club, but I do not work with them in their interest.

It is part of learning; knowing that some are not there to give, even if at one point in time, you told yourself that you are a major player and that you are the best. But that is life. As soon as you are not healthy and you are not in their best interest, everyone changes and you learn.

There is a lesson to be taken from it. Despite the situation I was put in, I have learned from all this. I find that it is an admirable story, because I never gave up. Even if people may hurt me, it will not change my way of being. I will never be mean or arrogant. I will never change regardless of what happens around me.

It is important that I speak up. I have only started to be more vocal with the fans. Whether it be the Gabon fans or those from the clubs I played at. People have not seen much of me on the field. So, seeing as I was back from Barcelona in December, and I was meant to go back in January, people were aware that I was coming back soon.

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Not being on the field and not being too vocal or making any announcements made people ask questions. The club chose not to make any announcement on my state of health, which was not in their interests. They played on this to win time, and today, I am starting to clarify my health situation a bit more so that people know that I am fighting to come back and not criticising the club, because that could make things worse. It is being done in justice, and “underneath the radar”, let’s say.

Otherwise, I just want the fans to know that I am fighting to come back as I was before, to live, take pleasure and make others happy too. It is a complicated situation, and you have to force it to make things go your way. If you do not, you might as well quit. A player’s fight is part of what makes their strength. It is part of a mountain that I have to climb and slowly descend when I can. If I do not fight to reach the top, then I will never manage!”

Y.H.

Speaking in an interview with Canal Football Club last night, Marseille’s attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet discussed his decision to leave West Ham in the most recent transfer window.

“No, not at all. I have come back to Marseille, it is an area that I know well. There is a new manager, the new project. At West Ham, it was more difficult for me… I was scared of losing my place in the French national team… I always had it in a corner of my head that I would come back one day.”

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