French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[Pokapoka124]

Premier league definitely feels like a much better league without a doubt, even though we had City winning the league all the time, people still think that other teams have a chance and they keep on watching. PSG is blamed that they are winning the league all too easily, and now look at how City is doing the same thing and people are not really looking at that like it's the same thing for some reason.

If you call the ligue one as farmers league, then you have to call the same thing to premier league as well because just like how psg is winning it, city is winning that one too. Too many people who are focusing on the wrong thing and I believe we are going to be seeing this changing for the long term, can't really make a big change all together. Hopefully, we may see something changing, and because of that we can't really make that much price change all the same, has to be something that will take a while and can't really focus on anything else at all.

The English Premier League is much better than the French Ligue 1. You can't compare the intensity, the pressure and rivalry in the EPL to that of Ligue 1. Playing in the EPL is not easy as you must be able to stay well above others if you want to win the league l which makes it such a difficult task for any team in the EPL. We have seen for example where Leicester City came from nowhere to win the league. Compared to the french Ligue 1 where the league is largely dominated by PSG, the Premier League is on a different level irrespective of Manchester City’s recent dominance.

[Jody.Drummer]

Premier league definitely feels like a much better league without a doubt, even though we had City winning the league all the time, people still think that other teams have a chance and they keep on watching. PSG is blamed that they are winning the league all too easily, and now look at how City is doing the same thing and people are not really looking at that like it's the same thing for some reason.

If you call the ligue one as farmers league, then you have to call the same thing to premier league as well because just like how psg is winning it, city is winning that one too. Too many people who are focusing on the wrong thing and I believe we are going to be seeing this changing for the long term, can't really make a big change all together. Hopefully, we may see something changing, and because of that we can't really make that much price change all the same, has to be something that will take a while and can't really focus on anything else at all.

The English Premier League is much better than the French Ligue 1. You can't compare the intensity, the pressure and rivalry in the EPL to that of Ligue 1. Playing in the EPL is not easy as you must be able to stay well above others if you want to win the league l which makes it such a difficult task for any team in the EPL. We have seen for example where Leicester City came from nowhere to win the league. Compared to the french Ligue 1 where the league is largely dominated by PSG, the Premier League is on a different level irrespective of Manchester City’s recent dominance.

Yes you are right, we can not compare between Ligue 1 and the Premier League, the Premier League is the best league in the world with a very high level of competition, while in Ligue 1 we know what the competition is like here. Even when we are forced to compare between Ligue 1 and the Premier League we will definitely find significant differences.
We can also see how they compete in Europe. Premier League clubs have won many Champions Leagues, while we know that Ligue 1 clubs have a very hard time getting it. Not to belittle at all, but I say what I see now and I am also sure there will be many who agree.

[Frankolala]

In addition, the teams in the French League are not like the teams in the English Premier League (EPL), many clubs compete to become champions, sometimes small teams are able to beat big teams. Currently PSG is six points ahead of Monaco which means PSG will win the League One trophy again this season, although the season is still long, but Monaco will have difficulty catching up with the six-point gap. Unless Monaco is six points ahead, maybe they have the spirit in every match so as not to lose points.

The difference between the premier league and french league is too big, there aren't many clubs that can challenge for the title in the french league and that's why PSG are always winning even when they're not playing at their best. They sold their best player and some other good players that were in the team yet they're still leading the french league with 6 points and 23 goals difference.  Monaco can't keep up with PSG but if this was to be the premier league, you'll see other big 6 teams chasing the league with the top team which is Manchester city. PSG in the French league is unbeaten this season and they might go unbeaten too as I don't see any team winning them.

PSG has not sold their best player or which player are you talking about?

This whole problem won't change anytime soon as PSG is supported by sheikhs and unless some other club will be flooded with endless money, I don't think any of the other clubs will be able to sustainably close the gap between PSG and the rest of the league. There can be exceptions to the rule in a single season, but long term PSG is going to keep the upper hand easily.

PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

[Palakka]

Not entirely sure how this benefits Lyon as a whole. They are doing this because they have a lot of debt, but the way to get out of debt is to get better results, and they are getting better results now. So if they finish in top five, and go to Europe next season, that would be a good way to improve their finances.

I can totally understand blocking their transfers, like make it forced that they can only spend as much as they sell, so if they want to buy a player for ten million then first they need to sell player(s) for ten million to make that move, so limit their spending that way. But to relegate them? How is that helping them in any way? It doesn't feel like it would help them pay their debts at all, and doesn't sound like a smart move.

The ligue 1 financial authorities still give Lyon a deadline until the end of the season, although they may get a transfer ban and also a player salary restriction, but Lyon still has a chance to stay in ligue 1 if they can pay off their debts and stabilise their finances later, as you said, of course the January transfer market will be their opportunity to improve their finances by selling players in a big way, I think Lyon's main focus at the moment is to stay in Ligue 1 although maybe the sale of many players will make their performance unstable later but it is a smaller risk than they must to be relegated to Ligue 2, currently reportedly Lyon management has included 5 of its main players for sale and hopes that the sale can have a positive impact on the problems they face at the moment.

[Docnaster]

The ligue 1 financial authorities still give Lyon a deadline until the end of the season, although they may get a transfer ban and also a player salary restriction, but Lyon still has a chance to stay in ligue 1 if they can pay off their debts and stabilise their finances later, as you said, of course the January transfer market will be their opportunity to improve their finances by selling players in a big way, I think Lyon's main focus at the moment is to stay in Ligue 1 although maybe the sale of many players will make their performance unstable later but it is a smaller risk than they must to be relegated to Ligue 2, currently reportedly Lyon management has included 5 of its main players for sale and hopes that the sale can have a positive impact on the problems they face at the moment.

Good to read that Lyon still have a chance of settle their financial issues with the French league organizers. When I first heard about the news that they were going to be demoted to the second division, I felt really bad because they were the first French team I watched play in the UEFA Champions League competition while growing up so I've always admired the club.
If selling some of their expensive players in January will help them solve get back to their feet, then they should do it still continue to play in the French top flight.

[Ayers]

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PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

PSG has a lot of money. At the same time, PSG's owner is also ready to spend a lot of money to strengthen his squad. This is why PSG has been able to build a strong squad. By spending a lot of money, PSG has been able to build a stable squad and is dominating Ligue 1 this season. Teams like Lille, Marseille and Monaco have also completely failed to compete with PSG for the title.

At the beginning of this season, we thought that Monaco would be able to compete with PSG for the title until the end of the season. But in the last few matches, we have seen Monaco's poor performance. And at the moment, Monaco is 6 points behind PSG. Hopefully, we will see only PSG's dominance in Ligue 1 this season as well.

[adultcrypto]

PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

There is no downplaying the importance of money in a football club because it is highly needed to get the proper players that will produce the winning. I still remembered how large inflow of Oil money transformed Newcastle and Manchester City and make them very competitive unlike before when they were not that rich to sign quality players.

However, there is a limit to what money can do in a club as it is not entirely by how rich the club is that determine if they will win their matches or not. If it is all about the money, then Saudi Arabia teams would have dominated football because they have the money to spend.

[beerlover]

Paris Saint Germain can comfortably be at the top of the standings with their position having a fairly wide point difference, 6 points. That's the view that we can always see in Ligue 1 every season, yes, no team can make Paris Saint Germain unable to do anything, because other teams are not at the same level as Paris Saint Gemain. There are many things that other teams need to fix if they want to see Ligue 1 more interesting than before. Because only they can make the league more competitive. Although at the beginning of the season they were quite promising, but as the league progressed they often declined.

I am starting to wonder if that's about the money or not. Like yeah PSG has a lot of money that part is true, but I am not sure if that's the whole thing about them and we are not really seeing anything changing anytime soon, it's basically the same thing ever again. So think about it, if you gave 100 million a year for 10 years to some other club, will they be better than PSG right away? I am not really sure, feels like that may not happen and PSG will keep being the first.

So, the fact that they are not losing the title isn't only about the money. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that it's not about that at all, I am saying that money does play a role, but it's not the only thing that matters, there are many things that are involved and money is just one of them. So all in all, we need to consider how PSG could possibly maybe never be beaten. Paris FC ended up getting bought, we are going to see if those rich people could make a Paris derby or not.

[Asiska02]

PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

I totally believe in this and if there’s no change to that, PSG will continue to be the winner of the league and no other club can challenge them for the Ligue 1 title. I can remember when Newcastle United was bought by a big Arab man, their performance that season improved and they even got to qualify for the champions league that season. This is a good sign that when a club has a lot of financial resources to buy good players and good coaches, their performance will immediately improve and we’ll see them playing a more better football than they use to in the past. Monaco happens to be the club that I see will give PSG a tough time for the league title but they don’t always get to win it, maybe when a rich and wealthy person takes in charge of them, they can easily build a string and formidable team that can stand PSG for the league title.

[Lida93]

Not entirely sure how this benefits Lyon as a whole. They are doing this because they have a lot of debt, but the way to get out of debt is to get better results, and they are getting better results now. So if they finish in top five, and go to Europe next season, that would be a good way to improve their finances.

I can totally understand blocking their transfers, like make it forced that they can only spend as much as they sell, so if they want to buy a player for ten million then first they need to sell player(s) for ten million to make that move, so limit their spending that way. But to relegate them? How is that helping them in any way? It doesn't feel like it would help them pay their debts at all, and doesn't sound like a smart move.

This is exactly one of the issues that so many football clubs are going through in Europe, especially those that have not been bought over by billionaires owners and those that are going through some sort of financial instabilities but relegating a football club due to financial constraints is some what out of sort, rather there should be some other measures that should be taken to help the club get back on feet financially or better still auctioning the club to potential investors could be another possible solution rather than relegating the club, because if they get relegated they may not be able to pay off their debts and it still wouldn't change the situation for them.

[Velvet78]

Monaco is another team that has improved, therefore PSG need to be very careful this season because Monaco can be a tough title contenders with them.

You have a point there. Monaco have really made a significant progress for themselves. However for now I doubt their being a title contender until the last moments of the season. 

The gap with PSG is 6 points now. Monaco lost so many points on the recent weeks. They have consistency problems. With this look they can't prevent this gap from getting bigger every week. PSG are really unstoppable in the Ligue 1. Still 0 loss after playing 11 games. They are like a scoring machine you know. Monaco also had better improve their productivity. They are really good in defense otherwise. 

[tiCeR]

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PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

Yes but I have always wondered how much fun it is to buy a club in a medium strong league and then pump billions and billions into that club and win that league forever. Is that really fun? Maybe it is fun for a season or two or so, but I would prefer to have tough competition in a league and then buy superstar players and try to win it. If you can literally buy goals with money and no other club can compete on eye level, then what is the point in competing at all? I don't know, maybe billionaires think differently, but if I were in the position to pick, I would rather try to bring a Premier League club to the top.

[hahay]

Monaco is another team that has improved, therefore PSG need to be very careful this season because Monaco can be a tough title contenders with them.

You have a point there. Monaco have really made a significant progress for themselves. However for now I doubt their being a title contender until the last moments of the season.  

The gap with PSG is 6 points now. Monaco lost so many points on the recent weeks. They have consistency problems. With this look they can't prevent this gap from getting bigger every week. PSG are really unstoppable in the Ligue 1. Still 0 loss after playing 11 games. They are like a scoring machine you know. Monaco also had better improve their productivity. They are really good in defense otherwise.  

It seems that no team can seriously threaten PSG in Ligue 1, although indeed, some teams below PSG may seem to have good results with good improvements recently. But still, they will not really succeed in being able to overtake PSG at the top of the standings. After all, with the good results of the teams below PSG, in reality these teams are only trying to maintain their position in the top four. At least, when they manage to finish to get a Champions League ticket, basically that is good for them. Because at least, no team is really able to consistently maintain their best position in the standings, so changes in position for them will always happen except for PSG who still have high dominance and have not collapsed.

[rahmad2nd]

PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

The current football trend is more interested in other leagues, especially the Premier League, that's why big investors rarely invest in one of the clubs participating in this competition. I haven't studied much about Lique 1 regarding the mechanisms and regulations in this competition for its investors, but it can be concluded that the only rich club in this competition that has healthy finances is Paris Saint-Germain. If I'm not mistaken, PSG is also supported by Qatar, correct me if the information I get is not true. So, it would be very natural if PSG always dominates this competition. Moreover, the competing teams are constrained to compete with PSG based on player purchases. which in the end, there seems to be a spasm in this League and most people say the farmer's League. although true, I don't really agree with that label on any League that is always dominated by one team that always wins. Well, the question is apart from the points I said above, why don't many people look at the French League teams to become investments for big investors. if the logic is the same, in the end, teams that want to compete in this competition try to target talented players, whether it's an academy or young potential players to become classy players and be able to compete with PSG in the future. the problem is, it's not as easy as what I said. but what is certain is that PSG will not always dominate this league, there will be times when they slip and other teams break PSG's dominance so far, even though it might only be for one season.

[Die_empty]

PSG is the richest club in Ligue 1 and that's why it has a standard that no other club can contest with them on winning the league for a long time now. Of course, if a rich investor buys the club like someone from Suadi, it is possible that after pumping funds into such club by buying world class players with great potentials, and a coach with high level of experience and success in his career, the newly bought club can transform into a very strong club that will be able to challenge PSG and win Ligue 1 from them.

Lens was the closest to unseat PSG during the 2022-2023 season. But they failed to remain consistent which made PSG to win the league with just one point. Since then the Parisians have had a smooth ride in the French. When Mbappe left, I was expecting to see a decline in their performance but that has not happened.

Money alone cannot transform a club because other things must be put in place. There should be a sound management team that will scout for good players and ensure that everything is working perfectly. A coach that will align with the club's ideology is also important. An example is Newcastle which is backed by Saudi based Public Investment Fund, yet they have not made it to top four position since the takeover.

[el kaka22]

The English Premier League is much better than the French Ligue 1. You can't compare the intensity, the pressure and rivalry in the EPL to that of Ligue 1. Playing in the EPL is not easy as you must be able to stay well above others if you want to win the league l which makes it such a difficult task for any team in the EPL. We have seen for example where Leicester City came from nowhere to win the league. Compared to the french Ligue 1 where the league is largely dominated by PSG, the Premier League is on a different level irrespective of Manchester City’s recent dominance.

While I do agree that it "feels" that way, could we point out what's the difference in stats? I mean look at how City has dominated it in the past ten years, we have seen how PSG did the same thing as well. There isn't really that much difference when it comes to comparing the two leagues and the winners. I know that when we are watching the leagues then we can "see" a difference, or at least feel something, and yes in both cases others did win a title here and there, but usually it's one same thing dominating the whole thing.

Last four years it has been City and that's just how much they won in a row, they won so many, and while PSG never won UCL, we have seen City end up with a treble title in a single season so we can say that City is definitely the better team but they are both dealing with same domination at the league. So, I can totally see why people could say premier league is better, but at the same time we are seeing the same results on both league.

[Leviathan.007]

Another bad news from LYON, and also quite bad news for this top 5 Ligue 1 club. And, this club finally entered Ligue 2.

"Lyon Heavily Sanctioned Amid Severe Debt Crisis"


Actually this has been quite a while, but this time everything is very clear. While LYON is fighting to be in 5th position and higher to enter the UCL. But all this is over, yes it's over for Lyon in Ligue 1.

Source: Lyon Heavily Sanctioned Amid Severe Debt Crisis
Official: Olympique Lyonnais have been handed a provisional Ligue 2 relegation.

Sometimes I find it hard to understand why some of these smaller clubs that are found guilty in some of these charges are easily punished without any form of deal but when it comes to the bigger boys and money spenders it will take forever before you see them being persecuted, it is very bad. Lyon that have been struggling to be in their best for long are now found in this kind of situation and if this is going to happen I don't think the Ligue 1 will have much big clubs that we can say are going to battle PSG for the title, even if we have Marseille, Monaco, Lille and the others ones who are trying to step up, Lyon should be at the top 4 big clubs in Ligue 1, now that they're going to be off the picture I don't know how long it will last, hope this won't stand.

Lyon was not a weak or poor team years ago, they were one of the best teams in the French League and they were having good performances in the games we saw from this team. I even remember Lyon was usually racing for the title every year. But now they are far from their good form and they are not having a good performance at all.
I think Lyon's main problem came from the management because even using new palyers and coaches couldn't help them at all.

[len01]

Lyon was not a weak or poor team years ago, they were one of the best teams in the French League and they were having good performances in the games we saw from this team. I even remember Lyon was usually racing for the title every year. But now they are far from their good form and they are not having a good performance at all.
I think Lyon's main problem came from the management because even using new palyers and coaches couldn't help them at all.

Lyon will always be a good candidate but towards the second half of the season. I mean, Lyon is actually always a team that looks weak at the beginning of the season and looks very strong in the second half of the season and that always happens every season. If you remember, last season Lyon was almost at the bottom of the standings and managed to leave the relegation zone far away. And if this is related to competing for the title, even almost all teams in league 1 will look weak if we have to compare them with PSG because the finances of all teams in league 1 compared to PSG are very different. So this is the reason why Lyon and other teams will always have difficulty performing better.

[Weawant]

PSG has a lot of money. At the same time, PSG's owner is also ready to spend a lot of money to strengthen his squad. This is why PSG has been able to build a strong squad. By spending a lot of money, PSG has been able to build a stable squad and is dominating Ligue 1 this season. Teams like Lille, Marseille and Monaco have also completely failed to compete with PSG for the title.

The continues willingness to always spend the money to get the team to the level he wants is some sort of commendable acton the Side of the owner of PSG as every season, he's willing to get they done, provided his chances at the trophy keeps going up, especially with the champions League, this actually is one reason the team has always remained one of the best and still the strongest amongst it's equal in the whole of the ligue 1 a d sometimes beyond, I believe soon they will get their champions League dream one day and all of this huge spending will eventually pay off as expected.

[legendbtc]

PSG has a lot of money. At the same time, PSG's owner is also ready to spend a lot of money to strengthen his squad. This is why PSG has been able to build a strong squad. By spending a lot of money, PSG has been able to build a stable squad and is dominating Ligue 1 this season. Teams like Lille, Marseille and Monaco have also completely failed to compete with PSG for the title.

The continues willingness to always spend the money to get the team to the level he wants is some sort of commendable acton the Side of the owner of PSG as every season, he's willing to get they done, provided his chances at the trophy keeps going up, especially with the champions League, this actually is one reason the team has always remained one of the best and still the strongest amongst it's equal in the whole of the ligue 1 a d sometimes beyond, I believe soon they will get their champions League dream one day and all of this huge spending will eventually pay off as expected.

I agree PSG have a lot of money, but the way they spend it is unreasonable. They only dominate Ligue 1 when teams like Lille, Marseille, and Monaco are weak. At some point like the above teams have enough money to spend, I believe they will overthrow PSG.
Money is not an issue for PSG. But status is. A squad full of stars is struggling to reach the last 8 of the Champions League. This is becoming an all too familiar story. PSG is only strong in Ligue 1. When entering the continental arena, PSG is like an apprentice. When money can't buy class for PSG in the Champions League, the Champions League dream is still far away for them, if they keep spending money wastefully like that.