French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[Velvet78]

I wouldn't have expected to see Marseille's unbeaten streak to end by the Nice game honestly.

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

[Ratash]

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

[snipie]

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

In fact PSG will have 2 hard games before Champions League match against Bayern.
The first game is vs Marseille in 2 days in round of 16 in French Cup which will be crucial for both teams to pass. They don't have choice here.
The second game is vs Monaco 3 days after Marseille one and this time in Ligue 1 which will make it important too.
PSG don't have a chance other than winning without doing much efforts while trying to avoid injuries. Such combination is unlikely to occur and who knows how PSG will deal with these issues..

[KTChampions]

I wouldn't have expected to see Marseille's unbeaten streak to end by the Nice game honestly.

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

For bookmakers, everything was more or less obvious:

~
1.93 - 3.05 - 4.40

The bookmakers give an incredibly generous 1.93 (assuming Marseille is really strong), but I guess I fold   

Although they would hardly give 4.40 if they knew how the game would end 
And I do not believe that there can be any escalation of the fight for the title - PSG's competitors are too weak even if PSG is removed - no one team can dominate the rest. In such conditions, they only take away points from each other, increasing PSG's advantage even more.

[EdenHazard]

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

In fact PSG will have 2 hard games before Champions League match against Bayern.
The first game is vs Marseille in 2 days in round of 16 in French Cup which will be crucial for both teams to pass. They don't have choice here.
The second game is vs Monaco 3 days after Marseille one and this time in Ligue 1 which will make it important too.
PSG don't have a chance other than winning without doing much efforts while trying to avoid injuries. Such combination is unlikely to occur and who knows how PSG will deal with these issues..

Mbappe, sergio ramos and now neymar get injured recently , psg can't lose it all at once .. the tight schedule makes anybody who become a coach would be in confusing dizzy situation , they need to win it all and there is a huge risk in it as well , there is no best option.

There is only a now or never , do it 100% now with 100% risk as well. Tough one.

[Rabi3]

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

In fact PSG will have 2 hard games before Champions League match against Bayern.
The first game is vs Marseille in 2 days in round of 16 in French Cup which will be crucial for both teams to pass. They don't have choice here.
The second game is vs Monaco 3 days after Marseille one and this time in Ligue 1 which will make it important too.
PSG don't have a chance other than winning without doing much efforts while trying to avoid injuries. Such combination is unlikely to occur and who knows how PSG will deal with these issues..

Mbappe, sergio ramos and now neymar get injured recently , psg can't lose it all at once .. the tight schedule makes anybody who become a coach would be in confusing dizzy situation , they need to win it all and there is a huge risk in it as well , there is no best option.

There is only a now or never , do it 100% now with 100% risk as well. Tough one.

I wouldn't say that there is a risk for them to lose Ligue 1, probably the champions league which would be against Bayern Munich, but PSG have enough players to still win the league, we all can see that even with them losing two matches in a row, they are now still on top with a fair gap.

[shogun47]

I wouldn't have expected to see Marseille's unbeaten streak to end by the Nice game honestly.

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

For bookmakers, everything was more or less obvious:

~
1.93 - 3.05 - 4.40

The bookmakers give an incredibly generous 1.93 (assuming Marseille is really strong), but I guess I fold   

Although they would hardly give 4.40 if they knew how the game would end 
And I do not believe that there can be any escalation of the fight for the title - PSG's competitors are too weak even if PSG is removed - no one team can dominate the rest. In such conditions, they only take away points from each other, increasing PSG's advantage even more.

What you describe is what makes Ligue 1 extremely unattractive to constantly follow. Most of the other national leagues have at least two competitors that are able to deliver each other a real fight. But even then with just two teams it can get boring quickly when only one of those two teams starts to struggle - see Primera Division right now. I think that is why the Premier League is the most interesting even though it had been dominated by Manchester City and Liverpool in a certain sense for some time. But everyone knew that those times could easily change anytime.

In France I just can't see how that is going to change anytime soon. If any club were on the rise with a couple of superstars threatening PSG's position, PSG would just open their wallet and buy those superstars or any other club would buy them and they would certainly leave Ligue 1. Mbappe is a great example for that. I thin a couple of years ago hardly one would have thought that we would get to see Messi, Mbappe, Neymar, Hakimi, Donnaruma, etc. playing in Ligue 1.

Now that it is the case, the only chance to increase competition in Ligue 1 is probably when another sheikh is trying to build a Newcastle 2.0 in France. 

[LittleBitFunny]

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

In fact PSG will have 2 hard games before Champions League match against Bayern.
The first game is vs Marseille in 2 days in round of 16 in French Cup which will be crucial for both teams to pass. They don't have choice here.
The second game is vs Monaco 3 days after Marseille one and this time in Ligue 1 which will make it important too.
PSG don't have a chance other than winning without doing much efforts while trying to avoid injuries. Such combination is unlikely to occur and who knows how PSG will deal with these issues..

PSG has a very busy schedule right now. Their opponents are very strong in the next 5 matches. And PSG needs to win every match. In the first match they are going to face Marseille in the France Cup. A very strong team and in good form this season.

Next, PSG will play against Monaco. The performance of this team in Ligue 1 is very stable. PSG need to get 3 points against Monaco if they want to win the Ligue 1 title. And it is very challenging for them.

They will also face mighty Bayern Munich in the Champions League. And since PSG's main goal is the Champions League title, PSG has no choice but to win this match. And it is difficult for the players to consistently perform well in every match and maintain fitness.

PSG will face Lille after the Bayern Munich match. The matches are very important for PSG to win the Ligue 1 title. But I am waiting to see if PSG will focus more on Ligue 1 matches or Champions League matches.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Marseille vs Monaco seems to be worthy of watching next week. Marseille are obviously the favourite team to win the match @2.12.

There are a few matches that I think are worth watching this week because apart from Monaco against Marseille there are other matches like Lorient against Rennes and Nice will host Lille.
I think these 3 matches will be quite tight. but for Marseille I think I already feel they have won even though Monaco have been quite strong this season as well.

Monaro placed under Marseille. Possible draw as the result of the match. Marseille was able beating rennes in the french cup. The performance from monaro was quite good. Marseille itself always win during its last 5 matches. I think that Marseille is far better in this match. 2-0 is enough for Marseille to make sure if it can try to go up to compete with lens and PSG to be a champion at the end of season. The odds given by bookies to the Marseille looks good enough. I will go in to it.
It seems promising at this moment to pick Marseille in that match.

Well, really, Marseille's performance has been impeccable, I don't know, I know that many can go to Monaco, I don't blame them. They show very good football and it is really essential for them to win, but if we look at it, Marseille needs to accumulate more points and the closer they get to PSG and they have more chances of winning, I think that is better, I I would like a fight for first place against a PSG that is already losing a lot of leadership, and if it can surprise all of us that a PSG with so many stars has a somewhat low performance, but football is like that, it can give us a big surprise.

a curiosity about Messi:

Lionel Messi reacts to his most iconic goals, he's so casual about it all

Lionel Messi sat down and watched back some of his greatest goals in a fascinating segment on Argentine TV.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has netted a quite remarkable 794 goals for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and the Argentina national team during his 20-year career.

It would take an age to sift through every one, but the guys at FOX Sports wanted to get Messi's immediate reaction to some of his most iconic finishes – and thank god they did.

Source: https://www.sportbible.com/football/lionel-messi-reacting-to-goals-argentina-barcelona-788305-20230121

Lionel Messi is in great form after the World Cup. Each of his goals is a record. In my opinion, Lionel Messi is now one of the most iconic players in the PSG team.

Yes, in part he is a great PSG player, I don't know how he will do it, if he will leave or not, however, as I said before, he has already tried and has obtained the greatest prizes that a soccer player can obtain, it is a great achievement , and I hope that wherever he continues, be it at PSG or in any other team, he continues to do that great job and continues to show us the great football that he knows, at PSG he now needs to win the UCL that was taken from him last season Right now, I don't know how everyone is in shape to do it, in Ligue 1 they are a little short, some teams like Marseille and Lens are shining a lot, they want to go hand in hand with PSG, not bad, this is getting interesting.

Psg team will have a tough game next round against monaco, it will be an away game against a team in a good shape, it will be difficult since psg team performance doesn't seem convincing recently, monaco team is currently fourth and only two points separate them from marseille so they will surely want to win against psg and climb the ranks so i wouldnt be surprised if they manage to beat them.

In fact PSG will have 2 hard games before Champions League match against Bayern.
The first game is vs Marseille in 2 days in round of 16 in French Cup which will be crucial for both teams to pass. They don't have choice here.
The second game is vs Monaco 3 days after Marseille one and this time in Ligue 1 which will make it important too.
PSG don't have a chance other than winning without doing much efforts while trying to avoid injuries. Such combination is unlikely to occur and who knows how PSG will deal with these issues..

Mbappe, sergio ramos and now neymar get injured recently , psg can't lose it all at once .. the tight schedule makes anybody who become a coach would be in confusing dizzy situation , they need to win it all and there is a huge risk in it as well , there is no best option.

There is only a now or never , do it 100% now with 100% risk as well. Tough one.

I wouldn't say that there is a risk for them to lose Ligue 1, probably the champions league which would be against Bayern Munich, but PSG have enough players to still win the league, we all can see that even with them losing two matches in a row, they are now still on top with a fair gap.

Well, the latent fact is that PSG can lose both Ligue 1 and the UCL, as well as win everything, because they have the material to do it, however if we start to evaluate these PSG players and they all turn out to be cracks, but from From a football point of view, anything can happen, only when the top 3 like Ney+Mbappé+Messi enter, that is automatically synonymous with being scary, the other teams should not have that kind of pressure or anything, they should play as they have done, I really thought that Marseille was going to do well, but they let themselves win and not precisely from PSG and at home, something that disappointed many.

and:


PSG predicted lineup vs Marseille - Coupe de France

PSG are back in action on Wednesday with a Coupe de France last-16 clash against fierce rivals Marseille.

These are France's top two sides, both in terms of current Ligue 1 position and Coupe de France track record, which will only fuel the fire of what is famously one of the most entertaining rivalries on show in Europe.

With a lot on the line, here's how Christophe Galtier could set up.

Source: https://www.90min.com/posts/psg-predicted-lineup-vs-marseille-coupe-de-france-8-2-23

[BlackBoss_]

Well, the latent fact is that PSG can lose both Ligue 1 and the UCL, as well as win everything, because they have the material to do it

PSG can end this season like Liverpool in the past season. At the end, they failed in both Premier League and Champions League. Chance for PSG lose Ligue 1 is lower than Liverpool to lose Premier League because competitors of Liverpool in Premier League are stronger and have better quality than clubs in Ligue 1. However, with too much attention for Champions League from PSG, they can lose Ligue 1 at the end.

however if we start to evaluate these PSG players and they all turn out to be cracks, but from From a football point of view, anything can happen, only when the top 3 like Ney+Mbappé+Messi enter, that is automatically synonymous with being scary, the other teams should not have that kind of pressure or anything, they should play as they have done, I really thought that Marseille was going to do well, but they let themselves win and not precisely from PSG and at home, something that disappointed many.

These three players can make opponents fearful when they make attacks but when opponents have chances to do counter attacks, it's PSG turn to feel fearful. Because Neymar, Messi and Mbappe contribute so little to defense that is only harmful for the whole team.

[Minor Miner]

It's a shame I missed this one match, in the end Marseille had to lose after going 8 matches without defeat in all competitions. unfortunately, Marseille fell at home to host Nice. but if I look at the statistics, the two teams played quite a draw even though Marseille had more chances. unfortunately, they were unable to maintain their consistency to stick tightly to PSG at the top of the Ligue 1 standings.
In fact, Igor Tudor as a coach said that Marseille's defeat to Nice was due to his mistake. despite failing to pick up any points at home, Igor Tudor was full of respect for the efforts of his players and said the result was not the product of the mistakes of his squad, but because of the system he wanted them to play. Meanwhile, Nice bagged three points after beating Marseille. Didier Digard's troop squad, is on a positive trend winning 4 of their 5 matches without defeat.

Indeed, Marseille's dominance of victory stopped in yesterday's match, but I think this is not the time to give up considering they must be able to adapt in the next match in order to achieve positive results. Coach Igor Tudor seems to be the person most responsible for this fight. He failed to deliver 3 points at home and it seems that this mistake will be corrected soon considering that PSG have continued to show brilliant performances in the last few matches. For Nice it looks like they are very happy with the results of the match this time, they certainly also did not expect to be able to beat Marseille away from home.

Marseille lost 3-1 against Nice. Even then I would say that Marseille's performance was good enough. Their main mistake was to direct the attacks leaving the defense unguarded. Maybe Marseille would not have conceded 3 goals if they had not made such a mistake. However, Marseille's coach should definitely learn from this mistake. If he understands his team's weaknesses then we will see more organized gameplay and a stronger attack than in Marseille in the upcoming matches. Marseille players look set to put up a tough fight against PSG in the French Cup.

[makishart]

I wouldn't have expected to see Marseille's unbeaten streak to end by the Nice game honestly.

Marseille played so badly against nice. Marseille didn't have a proper attacks against nice.

I don't know if this thing was caused by marseille's player being frastated or not but here's main concern.

22 shots and only 5 on goals. It has also 58% ball possessions compared with nice. i think that the attacking line was facing a problem. It was making any attack that has been making by marseille looks inaffective against nice.

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

I saw that too. Missing so many opportunities. Marseille's players were doing too many trial and error by making so many non target shots.

[laurenB7742]

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

I saw that too. Missing so many opportunities. Marseille's players were doing too many trial and error by making so many non target shots.

This is Marseille's main weakness. They perform exceptionally well. Dominates the entire match. But despite getting a lot of opportunities, he was not able to score more goals. The main reason for this is the lack of experienced strikers in the squad. Marseille would have been able to perform better this season if they had experienced strikers. Because the midfield and defense are getting very good performances from their players in Marseille. Marseille's performance and match strategy are all good.

They will face the mighty PSG in the next match. I am waiting for this match. Marseille's defense is strong. It is no surprise that they can resist the PSG team. I think in this match, the chance of winning is almost the same for both teams.

[rozak]

They will face the mighty PSG in the next match. I am waiting for this match. Marseille's defense is strong. It is no surprise that they can resist the PSG team. I think in this match, the chance of winning is almost the same for both teams.

yes, Marseille does have a pretty good defense. but with the 1-3 defeat to Nice, it seems that it means nothing now. Marseille lost in a strategic battle with Nice who played more effectively.
before facing PSG, maybe Marseille should evaluate their game against Nice. Dominant game and also has a lot of opportunities. but not able to make a lot of goals. of course, there is something wrong with Marseille's current front line.

[Falconer]

yes, Marseille does have a pretty good defense. but with the 1-3 defeat to Nice, it seems that it means nothing now. Marseille lost in a strategic battle with Nice who played more effectively.
before facing PSG, maybe Marseille should evaluate their game against Nice. Dominant game and also has a lot of opportunities. but not able to make a lot of goals. of course, there is something wrong with Marseille's current front line.

I can expect every team that will meet PSG in Ligue 1 to really play their hardest to beat or prevent PSG from winning. It is a fact that actually happened so far. But on many occasions, PSG actually performed better and beat their opponents with wins. Then against Marseille, it will hopefully be as tight as I hope, and PSG have to win it too.

Messi is still the foundation of his current team following Neymar and Mbappe who are still in doubt due to injury. Messi managed to prove his quality in the previous match by helping PSG win over Toulouse 2-1. Then for the next match, it looks like it will be difficult because Marseille is the closest competitor this season.

[slapper]

Psg as a team has to do more in attack, upfront and mildfield in other to win match because the team look unstable to me, looking at the recent happenings in the club the club is really struggling to get get goals, their seems to be looming danger and if something is not done urgently they might slide away from the first position, seeing what Monaco is doing lately anything is possible, PSG without mbappe is frustrating, Messi can't do all the work required of him somebody has to help to get the desired results.

I couldn't agree with you more that the team has to improve, especially in the offensive department. We have observed that they are having trouble scoring goals as of late, and it isn't simply due to the absence of Mbappé.

My guess is that their current problems stem in part from a lack of motivation. The French club often splashes the cash on A-list players and appears to have a formidable roster on paper, but as we all know, skill isn't a guarantee of victory. It's as though they don't have the fire and determination to win huge tournaments like the Champions League. They have the means to compete with the best teams in Europe, after all; however, this has not been reflected in their on-field success. It will be fascinating to see them try to fix things and, hopefully, succeed.

[wiss19]

Mbappe, sergio ramos and now neymar get injured recently , psg can't lose it all at once .. the tight schedule makes anybody who become a coach would be in confusing dizzy situation , they need to win it all and there is a huge risk in it as well , there is no best option.

There is only a now or never , do it 100% now with 100% risk as well. Tough one.

I wouldn't say that there is a risk for them to lose Ligue 1, probably the champions league which would be against Bayern Munich, but PSG have enough players to still win the league, we all can see that even with them losing two matches in a row, they are now still on top with a fair gap.

Now with their good form in last few matches even Mbappé and Neymar both are not available things are changing for them, and they have no issue to lost title in this year Marseille defeat at home against Nice give them eight points gapes which is enough for them to stay at top for the long time and also manage these injuries but with these injuries now their chances in PSG is surely going to be minimum because if Mbappé is not available for the home match then surely they can face and things can go against them with in away game Bayern Munich could be at this best and not allowed them to have any space.

They are not also recovering from their few injuries and in last few matches their performance is also at his best which is surely the biggest development for them before big match which is now just few days away.

[el kaka22]

PSG definitely looks like the winners again, yeah I know Mbappe is missing and many are putting that as reason to lose points here, but I agree with luckmcfly, this is a game PSG could easily win. Messi has beaten these type of easy games all by himself before, and maybe he is older now and may not do it all by himself, but he is still a huge force that could bring a win and him getting that time with Neymar? That's going to be easy win for them unless something changes.

Plus, we should stop acting as if the only good players in PSG are Messi-Neymar-Mbappe trio, they have plenty other good players, all the way starting from goalkeeper to defense to midfield, they are all good.

[Cryptmuster]

PSG definitely looks like the winners again, yeah I know Mbappe is missing and many are putting that as reason to lose points here, but I agree with luckmcfly, this is a game PSG could easily win. Messi has beaten these type of easy games all by himself before, and maybe he is older now and may not do it all by himself, but he is still a huge force that could bring a win and him getting that time with Neymar? That's going to be easy win for them unless something changes.

Plus, we should stop acting as if the only good players in PSG are Messi-Neymar-Mbappe trio, they have plenty other good players, all the way starting from goalkeeper to defense to midfield, they are all good.

If Neymar, Messi and Mbappe are taken away from PSG now, this will affect the team to a large extent, because the whole attack is now built on them. And Mbappe has become a very important player for PSG, his absence can be felt. Of course each of them is very strong individually and can score goals, let's see how they play against Marseille. So far, it is known that Mbappe will miss about three weeks, this is not so much, he will just have time to miss football. )

[TheGreatPython]

I wouldn't have expected to see Marseille's unbeaten streak to end by the Nice game honestly.

They weren't very effective this time. Nice found quite many opportunities to score and benefited from them in a great way. Marseille should have been better at defending. I don't know if it was due to complacency. But I don't want to believe such thing. Because Marseille had a good opportunity to chase PSG for even the league title. But now the point gap has got bigger now.

While no one was expecting result like this but Nice recent form is impressive as now they have 13 points from their last 5 matches which is amazing stuff and Marseille in previous game at home already struggle against Monaco which is surely signal as they are not doing good against good teams and just because of this Nice give no chance to them in this match and have aggressive approach from the start of match which was good strategy from Degard.

In first half both teams were on level but Nice having luck their chances were converted into goals but in second half mostly Marseille were dominating, but things were not in their favour, and they were unable to have good result from this performance now surely they are having big setback for their title chances.