Le Championnat 2008/2009 Preview

Olympique Lyonnais. Olympique Lyonnais. Also, Olympique Lyonnais. In fact, Olympique Lyonnais 4x more. The powerhouse club from southeastern France has won the last 7 Ligue 1 (AKA Ligue 1 Orange, but it will always be Le Championnat to me) titles. Will this year be more of the same? Join me after the jump for a preview.

[Ed. note: Yes, I know the league started this weekend. Bite me]

[Secondary Ed. note: If anyone makes an Olympic swimming joke, I will cut you]


So, our more astute (read: Francophone; hello? any of you out there?) readers will know that Ligue 1 already kicked off this past weekend, with all but one of the games on Saturday (guess who got the prime Sunday alone time?). But that doesn't mean that this preview still isn't timely. I mean, it's only one game, right?

After that one game, we have discovered that: (1) Claude Makelele as captain will not magically cause PSG to beat all comers (0-1 to Monaco, despite no Freddu Adu); (2) l'OM have much ground to make up if they want to challenge Lyon for the title (4-4 against Stade Rennais, with Marseille GK Steve Mandanda scoring an OG - see what happens when French people name their sons Steve instead of Jean?); and (3) Lyon are capable of bossing shitty teams all over the pitch (3-0 against Toulouse, with a brace from my boy Karim Benzema, and a yellow for the useless Toulalan).

As mentioned, Lyon are holders of the last 7 Ligue 1 titles, beginning with the 2001/2002 season. However, they still trail Saint-Etienne, l'OM, and Nantes (!) in terms of overall titles. A win this year would put them in a 3-way tie at 8 titles, trailing only Saint-Etienne, who have 10. However, no one else has even come close to 7 consecutive titles, with Saint-Etienne and Marseille both having won 4 in a row (Marseille would have had 5, but the 1992/1993 season never happened). So, everyone has been looking up at Olympique Lyonnais for quite some time now, and they are getting tired of it.

Although all 20 clubs made transfer moves this summer, only the following individuals should be seen as having a chance to make a difference:

Havre AC: (1) Cedric Faure (from Reims).

Le Mans: (1) Anthony Le Tallec (from Liverpool).

Lyon: (1) Hugo Lloris (from Nice) - forced to step into the starting spot since the departure of Coupet to Atletico Madrid; (2) Jean Makoun (from Lille) - the midfielder scored the first goal of the season; and (3) Milan Baros (returning from loan to Pompey).

Marseille: (1) Hatem ben Arfa (from Lyon) - already scored a goal in the opening 4-4 shambolic tilt with Stade Rennais

Paris Saint-Germain: (1) Sammy Traore (returning from loan to Auxerre) - how did we miss him? ; (2) Ludovic Giuly (from AS Roma); and (3) Claude Makelele (from Chelsea).

Rennes: (1) Carlos Bocanegra (from Fulhamerica).

The two teams who made the most noise during the transfer season are Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille, and not surpisingly they are the two teams tipped to fight for the title (with Bordeaux a 3rd possibility). In addition to the arrivals mentioned above, those two teams lost the following:

Lyon: (1) Loic Remy (to Nice); (2) Hatem ben Arfa (to Marseille; aren't you paying attention?); (3) Gregory Coupet (to Atletico Madrid; keep up, there will be a quiz); (4) Sebastian Squillaci (to Sevilla); and (5) Patrick Muller (to nowhere yet).

Marseille: (1) Samir Nasri (to Arsenal); and (2) Jacques Faty (to Sochaux).

So what does all of this mean? The arrival of Makoun means that Lyon now starts a team with a backline of: (1) Boumsong (dear me!); (2) Fabio Grosso (who gets my grudging respect); and (3) Francois Clerc (oops!) / Anthony Reveillere; a midfield of: (1) Makoun; (2) Juninho; (3) Toulalan; and (4) 2 scrubs named Miralem Pjanic (they claim he is the "Ligue 1 Aaron Ramsey")and Mathieu Bodmer; and the strike-force tandem of: (1) Karim Benzema and (2) Sidney Govou. That's a lot of concentrated firepower in front of a shaky defense and some questionable goalkeeping (Lloris is young and very untested).

Laurent Blanc (who was a one-time candidate to replace Nosferatu Raymond Domenech) did well with Bordeaux last year, and they kept up the pace by beating Lyon in the Trophee des Champions (the Ligue 1 equivalent of the FA Community Shield) last week. But, shiny trophies and 2-1 wins over Caen in their opener aside, Bordeaux may struggle to make the same sort of push they did last year, as that was seen as something of an aberration (the last time Bordeaux won Ligue 1 was the 1998/1999 season).

Marseille responded well last year to their new coach, and have replaced Samir Nasri with Hatem ben Arfa to play behind Djibril Cisse (who may yet leave l'OM) and Bakari Kone. However, their defense is untested, and Mandanda has looked so shaky that even Domenech decided not to play him in Euro 2008. They will need much better results than the afore-mentioned 4-4 tie to Stade Rennais, in which: (1) Mandanda had a ball bounce off his back and roll into the net; (2) l'OM thought they had won when Eliot Grandin scored in injury time in the second half; and (3) they promptly tied when they allowed Bruno Cheyrou to score one minute later.

As for the rest of Le Championnat, look out for: (1) Saint-Etienne seeking to regain their old-school form with the play of new-school striker Bafetimbi Gomis; (2) Monaco looking to give Freddy Adu some run (although if they sell off all the players that are currently on the block, they may be fighting relegation); (3) Rennes (Stade Rennais), building off their 4-4 tie with l'OM (have I mentioned that score yet?) and letting Bocanegra and Cheyrou build from the defense through to Sylvain Wiltord and Olivier Thomert; and (4) Paris Saint-Germain, who were banned from defending their League Cup title for supporter shenanigans, playing off new imports Makelele and Giuly in order to make some noise.

The relegation battle looks to consist of the "Le" teams: (1) Le Havre; (2) Le Mans; (3) Le Grenoble (aww, crap - that one doesn't work), possibly joined by Lille and Caen.