French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[Sirait]

PSG made me really worried after Navas got a red card and their opponent Nantes scored the equalizer in around ten minutes. But they were still the PSG we know and they would still be able to destroy Nantes. And that was what they did after. Appiah's own goal came in only five minutes and Messi scored his first ever goal in the Ligue 1 six minutes after that. And this finished Nantes' hopes about getting a point here. Messi's goal was really delightful though.

It's definitely the PSG we know by now, kind of like Manchester United and Real Madrid, going down to early goals from lesser opponents and then managing to come back late.

Yet still there are people criticizing Messi saying he should have put the game to an end earlier and his team wouldn't need to be playing so hard with 10 men.

He can't do anything right this guy lol.

PSG fans' expectations of Messi are really very big, so when Messi doesn't score in one match, scorn will come to him. With Neymar's injury, there are 2 possibilities that will happen, the first is Messi's performance is getting better/free or worse.

[cryptofrka]

Apparently Neymar's injury is not as bad as initially thought. Some early projections even said he's in danger of missing the whole season but after the latest scans it seems he'll be back in training after 6 weeks.

Good news for PSG, considering that they do not need him for the league games and that they secured qualification from the CL and knockouts start in February - when he'll be back and already in full training.

[OcTradism]

Apparently Neymar's injury is not as bad as initially thought. Some early projections even said he's in danger of missing the whole season but after the latest scans it seems he'll be back in training after 6 weeks.

Sounds good so far and I wish that Neymar will be fine and return soon. In another hand, don't forget that ankle injury is the most unpredictable and dangerous injuries for football players. Van Basten lost his career and had to retire sooner than he thought after a few years unsuccessfully recover from his ankle injury.

Good news for PSG, considering that they do not need him for the league games and that they secured qualification from the CL and knockouts start in February - when he'll be back and already in full training.

Sure that PSG don't need Neymar in Ligue 1. In early of the season, without Neymar and Messi because they were still in vacation after Coppa America, PSG won with other players they had especially with good performance from Mbappe. Now they even have 14 points more than the second club so things are better currently.

[izsara]

PSG made me really worried after Navas got a red card and their opponent Nantes scored the equalizer in around ten minutes. But they were still the PSG we know and they would still be able to destroy Nantes. And that was what they did after. Appiah's own goal came in only five minutes and Messi scored his first ever goal in the Ligue 1 six minutes after that. And this finished Nantes' hopes about getting a point here. Messi's goal was really delightful though.

It's definitely the PSG we know by now, kind of like Manchester United and Real Madrid, going down to early goals from lesser opponents and then managing to come back late.

Yet still there are people criticizing Messi saying he should have put the game to an end earlier and his team wouldn't need to be playing so hard with 10 men.

He can't do anything right this guy lol.

PSG fans' expectations of Messi are really very big, so when Messi doesn't score in one match, scorn will come to him. With Neymar's injury, there are 2 possibilities that will happen, the first is Messi's performance is getting better/free or worse.

That's right, the expectations are too high and actually not only from PSG fans but maybe from all football lovers.
But that's not without reason, we know what his performance at Barcelona was like, so it's only natural that PSG fans expect the same thing when he plays at PSG, even though his style of play and adaptation does seem slow for Messi, they don't want to know.
what I'm worried about is that when he's not ready to face this, instead of getting better, it's going to be the opposite, messi's performance will get worse

[KTChampions]

~
P.S. They're rated outside the top 5 teams to win UCL. How?

I have just checked a couple of bookmakers (I can only check local ones since I am at work and I need a VPN) and I see that PSG is top five contenders for winning the Champions League. Yes, PSG are in 5th place and are quoted quite low, but isn't that justified by their weak performance? They have great performance in the home championship (but we all know that doesn't mean anything) and modest in the Champions League. In my opinion, their assessment corresponds to their real chances.

[buwaytress]

~
P.S. They're rated outside the top 5 teams to win UCL. How?

I have just checked a couple of bookmakers (I can only check local ones since I am at work and I need a VPN) and I see that PSG is top five contenders for winning the Champions League. Yes, PSG are in 5th place and are quoted quite low, but isn't that justified by their weak performance? They have great performance in the home championship (but we all know that doesn't mean anything) and modest in the Champions League. In my opinion, their assessment corresponds to their real chances.

Ah that must have changed then since I last checked. They were in top 5 pre-season, but were 6th favourite when I looked mid-way. It's not just group finishing I think, PSG should go far but I think they just can't see them even reaching a final. Maybe odds have shifted once more now, and that's perhaps because of post-international club performance.

Again, bookies odds correspond to pundit analyses but okay, even 5th place seems too low for a team with a chockful of talents... and Ramos fit again yeah?

[casperBGD]

~snip

Again, bookies odds correspond to pundit analyses but okay, even 5th place seems too low for a team with a chockful of talents... and Ramos fit again yeah?

PSG is a great team, but I just can't see them as Champions league winners
it will be interesting season, with few teams having chances to reach finals, but PSG is not one of them, IMO

France season is a different story, they had bad experience last season, and would not repeat it this season, title is theirs

[ILuckyGuyI]

PSG are in a very comfortable position in the league right now. Even though there are only 14 games played so far, they are already far ahead of their closest competitor in the table (11-point gap) and maintaining their lead safely.
~snip~

Deserved them at the top, all the PSG players are very good. The 11-point gap is considerable, but remember the League game is still 24 times away. There's a chance Nice and rennes to frustrate.  PSG have a more busy schedule maybe they could have become unstable. Moreover their target this season is not only the League champions they want the UCL Champions. So maybe they can have 2 trophies this year, if you look at the players they have.

There is of course a chance for teams like Nice and Rennes to catch up with PSG mathematically and it will be like this for a long time. Only thing PSG need to do is not to overcome by languor and keep their usual performance. As long as they do this, they can be quite comfortable about the title. And I don't think that Nice and Rennes will keep up a perfect form even if PSG have a bad period in the league in the near future. I think that they are fragile teams and they can lose their focus much easier than PSG.

[blackened515]

PSG should not have any problem now after winning the league title 1. They are 12 points ahead of the 2nd team in the points table. Now their burning goal is to do well in the Champions League. So now if they perform poorly in Ligue 1 and lose a few matches, they will still be able to win the Ligue 1 title. But if they do poorly in a Champions League match, they will not be able to advance to the next round. So now they will target the Champions League and make the Ligue 1 teams relatively less strong.

Is very obvious that PSG will surely win the Ligue 1 title this season. They also need to focus more on their Champion League matches. However, they are currently at the 2nd position on the group table with 8 points, and are topping RB Leipzig with 4 points. Which means they will still qualify to the next round even if they lose in their next CL match. With their squad strength, they should be able to win the Champion League trophy. Although, it won't be easy, as other strong clubs will probably fight for the title. But, they are good contender for the title.

[ShowOff]

Apparently Neymar's injury is not as bad as initially thought. Some early projections even said he's in danger of missing the whole season but after the latest scans it seems he'll be back in training after 6 weeks.

Good news for PSG, considering that they do not need him for the league games and that they secured qualification from the CL and knockouts start in February - when he'll be back and already in full training.

Although that is good news, it is clear that PSG will lose him for the next 6 weeks. This is something that really costs PSG a lot in my opinion, but it will also benefit other players to get minutes. Although after Messi's arrival I think Neymar has gone down a bit, he is still an important player for PSG. But the injury was very painful for him.

[barbara44]

With a 12 point lead, PSG is seriously not even caring anymore if you ask me. It is such an obvious situation for them and we all know that they will be champions this year. After last year's humiliation, they must be playing with some care for sure so far but now they have 4 game difference from the closest team and that is just way too much for them to throw away.

It is such an awesome form as well to make the difference 4 games in just 15 games as well. By the end of the season we could see potentially 20+ point difference if they keep this up. However I assume that after a while they will surely just put in younger players and keep the stars for the UCL games because ligue 1 as good as finished for them by now.

[nelson4lov]

With a 12 point lead, PSG is seriously not even caring anymore if you ask me. It is such an obvious situation for them and we all know that they will be champions this year. After last year's humiliation, they must be playing with some care for sure so far but now they have 4 game difference from the closest team and that is just way too much for them to throw away.

It is such an awesome form as well to make the difference 4 games in just 15 games as well. By the end of the season we could see potentially 20+ point difference if they keep this up. However I assume that after a while they will surely just put in younger players and keep the stars for the UCL games because ligue 1 as good as finished for them by now.

Even though PSG lost their ligue 1 title last season to Lille, winning the title this season isn't on top of their priority. The management has made it known a couple of times already that their main priority this season is to contest for the Champions League and win it. So yes, if it comes to a point where they've to field young players /second team for ligue 1 games and saving their best players for UCL competitive matches, they would.

[snipie]

Even though PSG lost their ligue 1 title last season to Lille, winning the title this season isn't on top of their priority. The management has made it known a couple of times already that their main priority this season is to contest for the Champions League and win it. So yes, if it comes to a point where they've to field young players /second team for ligue 1 games and saving their best players for UCL competitive matches, they would.

Seeing the spending that they did throughout these years and in the last transfer window, we are sure that their main point this season is to lift the CL title for the first time and create the history of PSG in CL. That star means a lot for Al-Khalafi.
For Ligue 1, other teams are making their jobs easier by dropping points so easily..

[Rabi3]

~snip

Again, bookies odds correspond to pundit analyses but okay, even 5th place seems too low for a team with a chockful of talents... and Ramos fit again yeah?

PSG is a great team, but I just can't see them as Champions league winners
it will be interesting season, with few teams having chances to reach finals, but PSG is not one of them, IMO

France season is a different story, they had bad experience last season, and would not repeat it this season, title is theirs

i have said that many times that PSG don't seem to have reached the level to win the champions league especially this year, i don't know about the next one but if they could manage to have a team that work perfectly with each other they could win it,
 Ligue 1 right now is so boring with PSG dominating and no one can compete with them this year, they struggled and lost some points but no one is catching up, that's why all the fans and managers of the team wants that Champions league trophy so bad, because winning Ligue 1 became tasteless.

[S4VV4S]

For the first time the Ballon D'or was won by a player from Ligue 1, Messi managed to get rid of strong candidates to win the Ballon D'or such as Lewandoski and also his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo, despite a lot of speculation and news that cornered Messi not worthy of the Ballon D'or but This is the 7th Ballon D'or collection and is the most current player to collect it.

[slaman29]

PSG fans' expectations of Messi are really very big, so when Messi doesn't score in one match, scorn will come to him. With Neymar's injury, there are 2 possibilities that will happen, the first is Messi's performance is getting better/free or worse.

Hehe yeah and now that he's won a record 7th Ballon d'or I guess we can even see those expectations get impossibly bigger now lol

I love Messi man, and I am very happy for him to win this award, but even I have to feel sorry for others who seem like they "deserve" it more. Lewandowski for sure, but weird to see even guys like Salah are in 8th place or Ronaldo in 6th? Huh?

[Velvet78]

Considering the last 5 weeks especially, the best performing teams have been PSG, Rennes and Brest. PSG are performing as usual of course and there is not much to say about them. They are just dominating the league.    But the interesting part is about Rennes and Brest. Rennes have been really great for a long time and they have moved up to the 2nd place thanks to their high level of performance. They didn't lose in their last 5 games and won 4 of them. As for Brest, they are also awesome. they have the same form with Rennes now and this helped them move to the 12th place from bad places. It is great to watch both of these teams like this.

[perfect999]

I have just checked a couple of bookmakers (I can only check local ones since I am at work and I need a VPN) and I see that PSG is top five contenders for winning the Champions League. Yes, PSG are in 5th place and are quoted quite low, but isn't that justified by their weak performance? They have great performance in the home championship (but we all know that doesn't mean anything) and modest in the Champions League. In my opinion, their assessment corresponds to their real chances.

I never understand why every year they have few teams in hot favourite list because these teams have very fewer chances to win title, but they are creating hype just for punters and this is their very popular strategy for many years like Manchester City, Bayern and PSG every year having spot in top 6 teams.

It is good for their business point of view but this year we are having some good teams with very good results like Ajax, Liverpool and Chelsea with outsider Real Madrid these all having very juicy odds for winning and these can do this year as well.

For PSG we all know having serious issues with many big names in team but still not doing as fans were expecting and surely this year these big three teams have very fewer chances for winning title.

[RondoAnyar]

~snip

Again, bookies odds correspond to pundit analyses but okay, even 5th place seems too low for a team with a chockful of talents... and Ramos fit again yeah?

PSG is a great team, but I just can't see them as Champions league winners
it will be interesting season, with few teams having chances to reach finals, but PSG is not one of them, IMO

France season is a different story, they had bad experience last season, and would not repeat it this season, title is theirs

in their matches they show off more of their own individual skills than teamwork. and this is what makes it difficult for them to be at that level.
on the other hand I think when they manage to suppress their ego I will not be surprised if they become one of the strongest teams and can even touch the UCL final.
with a squad depth that is above average and their game is quite good now actually psg do not lack anything but indeed their ego is very big.

[jakdanyel]

PSG are far ahead of all of their competitors in the Ligue 1 now. Their closest competitor seem like Rennes and even they are 12 points behind PSG. Having a this big point difference in only 15 matches is really fascinating and very valuable for PSG. Of course, Rennes or some other team can upset the balances at some point. But it seems to me like a far possibility truthfully.