French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[Zlantann]

Lens position in the standings won't last long, and PSG will eventually retake it. In the upcoming match, I'm not so sure Lens will win at Toulouse's home ground. It's certain that Toulouse will take this good opportunity to get full points on their home turf. I think Luis Enrique has a pretty tough task ahead of him, not just focusing on local matches or other prestigious matches. To prevent unwanted injuries, Luis Enrique should know how to rotate or substitute players in each match. This will greatly help PSG maintain high performance without excessive fatigue.

This season Toulouse has been very strong at home. They have either won or drawn most of the games they played in Stadium de Toulouse. But they had also lost some games at home, for example, the match against Angers and PSG. They have not been a good side recently as they have not won a match in three games. Lens has a strong side that can get thr three points in this game.

Just as others have observed, the absence of a few players in the PSG side might not have a huge effect on the club's performance. However, we cannot deny that Hakimi and Dembele are important players. The clubs have players who can replace them, but the game will not be easy.  Louis Enrique is under pressure not to drop any points since it will extend the have between the defending champions and Lens.

[Abu-Naim]

Yes, PSG has dominated Ligue 1 for years and this season too PSG will be champions again especially since PSG is only 1 point behind Lens as the current leader of the standings and there are still many matches to be played so it is not too difficult for PSG to catch up with 1 point especially since PSG's winning mentality is very strong.

I can't wait for this narrative to change because the League 1 keeps becoming less valuable, and the farmers league, because we now know that every season it will be PSG, just as it has been happening more than three times.

PSG won the league from 2013 to 2016, before Monaco won the League in the year 2017. PSG keeps their dominace again from 2018 to 2020 which is another two seasons in a row before Lille won the League in the year 2021, and PSG keeps winning the title up till this season, I will want a competition this time that is why I am very happy with what Lens is doing this season; I wish another team will be like Lens to compete with PAG to make the League1 more competative again.

[W Jr.]

Matches in the French league will resume in three days. The Monaco-Lyon clash will be interesting and intriguing. Monaco has the advantage as they are the home team. Paris Saint-Germain will face another Parisian team, Paris FC. Lens will travel to Toulouse seeking three points. We will see if the top of the table changes this week. The excitement in the French league resumes with the second half of the season.

[Sim_card]

Matches in the French league will resume in three days. The Monaco-Lyon clash will be interesting and intriguing. Monaco has the advantage as they are the home team. Paris Saint-Germain will face another Parisian team, Paris FC. Lens will travel to Toulouse seeking three points. We will see if the top of the table changes this week. The excitement in the French league resumes with the second half of the season.

Lens might find it difficult to win Toulouse away from home which might affect their position on the table if they drop points because PSG is not playing with a club that can give them difficulties to win the game. Monaco is in form but Lens wouldn't give them any chance of winning the game. The holidays will come to an end in no time.

[slapper]

It is good that Lens are currently able to compete with PSG, but I do not think they will be able to keep it up for long. The main reason is the quality and depth of the squad. Despite the fact that PSG also have to play in other tournaments besides Ligue 1, their squad is much stronger, and their bench and reserve players are also far superior to those of Lens. That is why I think PSG will be able to defend their title thanks to this advantage. Closer to the end of the season, it will become clear that it is very difficult for other teams to compete with them. Maybe Marseille could do it, but they have been too inconsistent this season.

Lens make Ligue 1 tittle race more competitive as every season PSG always easily become the winner just waiting how many games week Lens get defending on the top place. Last season not any team can't stop PSG to win Ligue 1 and success become the winner four season in a row the last team stop PSG dominance is Lille winning the Ligue 1 at season 2020/21.
I think the other teams like Marseille, Monaco and Lyon must perform well how to make Ligue 1 more exciting not call farmer league any more due every season  PSG always easily become the winner.
Lens must get great opportunity for defending consistent performance because only playing at Ligue 1 and not focus for Europe League or Champion League match, its great way for Lens focusing at Ligue 1 match only has chance to pressure PSG to defend champion this season.

Remember when everyone got excited about Monaco? Or that one season Marseille was looking dangerous? PSG just waits them out. They've got the money to correct problems mid-season while everyone else is stuck with what they've got.

What's different this time though, is that Lens literally doesn't have anything to lose. Their president basically said "let's just not go bankrupt this year" and now they're somehow leading the league. Pierre Sage is the guy Lyon fired because he had no good reason to. Now he's got Lens playing with this weird confidence where they don't care if they're supposed to lose. Florian Thauvin got called back to French national after six years of nothing.

But PSG just played their 62nd match of the year. They're worn out, they're turning over teenagers, they're giving players random days off. Luis Enrique has aged like a 5-year-old in 5 months. But January is always when they wake up. When the UCL knockout rounds begin and suddenly they remember that they're supposed to be good.

Lens play once a week cause they're not in Europe. PSG plays every three days. That should be in favor of Lens except: one injury destroys them. Their goalkeeper has played every single minute. Their left-back same thing. If either go down they're cooked.

I want Lens to win this. Genuinely do. The "farmer league" thing is embarrassing and PSG winning again would be so boring I might stop watching the Ligue 1 completely. But wanting it and believing it are two different things.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

Lens might find it difficult to win Toulouse away from home which might affect their position on the table if they drop points because PSG is not playing with a club that can give them difficulties to win the game. Monaco is in form but Lens wouldn't give them any chance of winning the game. The holidays will come to an end in no time.

It looks like it won't be difficult for Lens to beat Toulouse considering that the team is not in much better condition even though the match takes place at Toulouse's home ground. The previous three matches did look good for Toulouse because they were able to maintain their victory, but Lens itself is certainly a little better because after experiencing defeat to Menz until now Lens is still quite consistent and unbeaten. Lens' motivation is also higher because they are currently at the top of the standings so they have to do better to stay at the top of the standings.

[martinom]

Matches in the French league will resume in three days. The Monaco-Lyon clash will be interesting and intriguing. Monaco has the advantage as they are the home team. Paris Saint-Germain will face another Parisian team, Paris FC. Lens will travel to Toulouse seeking three points. We will see if the top of the table changes this week. The excitement in the French league resumes with the second half of the season.

This match is certainly important for establishing the mid-table balance, even if it doesn't matter much for the Champions League or relegation races. We're also in mid-table, so we're not really in a very stable situation.
So let's wait, it should start again soon.

[beerlover]

About these latest rumours of "life time contract". I am guessing, if he wins UCL again with the ligue 1 title, they will offer this to Enrique, but I still think it's a fault. Not by PSG or Enrique but by both at the same time if they do it. PSG shouldn't do it because in football things could always go wrong, and with a contract, you are entitled to just a small amount, but with a life time one, how would exit work? If they argue and things go south one day, they will want to sack him.

And for Louis Enrique, he may want to go manage some other team one day, how can he be 100% sure that he wants to manage PSG forever? What if he gets bored and wants to manage another team? Makes no sense to me that one would be ok with staying at the same job until they retire.

[ancafe]

Matches in the French league will resume in three days. The Monaco-Lyon clash will be interesting and intriguing. Monaco has the advantage as they are the home team. Paris Saint-Germain will face another Parisian team, Paris FC. Lens will travel to Toulouse seeking three points. We will see if the top of the table changes this week. The excitement in the French league resumes with the second half of the season.

It seems unlikely that there will be any change in the top spot because Lens will face a much easier opponent, although we see significant pressure on Lens every time they play away from home. PSG will also face a less strong opponent, so they can certainly win this match. This will be an exciting match this week because Lens must maintain their victory to avoid being overtaken by PSG in second place. I don't think there's any excuse for Lens to play poorly, as a mistake could drop them to second place.

[allthebitandbobs]

I can't wait for this narrative to change because the League 1 keeps becoming less valuable, and the farmers league, because we now know that every season it will be PSG, just as it has been happening more than three times.

PSG won the league from 2013 to 2016, before Monaco won the League in the year 2017. PSG keeps their dominace again from 2018 to 2020 which is another two seasons in a row before Lille won the League in the year 2021, and PSG keeps winning the title up till this season, I will want a competition this time that is why I am very happy with what Lens is doing this season; I wish another team will be like Lens to compete with PAG to make the League1 more competative again.

To be fair, nobody really talks about Bundesliga the same way, and I never understood that. Bayern wins almost every title there too, okay Leverkusen won once but here Lille won too. And for some reason people do not call Bundesliga farmers league, and yet they are still the same leagues, one team leading it all.

PSG has more money than all other teams, and more money than half bottom of the league combined, so not like it is going to somehow change, we are going to keep seeing PSG win almost every single year. Only way to change this would be another super rich team rising up to challenge, they said Paris FC could do that, but looks like that's not going to be the case and we are going to end up with different results.

[stompix]

Start of the year
- on no Ligue 1 is so boring, PSG is going to win it with ease, it's not interesting at all!!!
Middle of the season
- oh no PSG is going to lose, oh what's happening, they need to turn this around, the horror!!!!
End of the season
- PSG won again, why, Ligue 1 has no competitive teams and matches, it's so boring!!!

God I wish like 90% would stick to one take on it and not change the narrative with every round!

If you look at the bookmakers' odds, the narrative hasn't changed at all  Unlike, for example, La Liga, where at first Barcelona was the favorite, then Real, and now again (this time, one could say, it’s a heavy favorite) Barcelona.
By the way, it's funny: I remember PSG's odds hovering around 1.14-1.19 even when they were in first place. Now PSG is in second place, but bookmakers are pricing them at 1.08. Still better than a bank deposit, but not exactly what would attract a bettor.

Yeah, not much has changed lately, this is how it looks:


I do find it weird that the defeat with Marseille almost didn't count, while that rise was because of the two draws with Strasbourg and Lille
Another hump after the match with Monaco and then down....why???

[changaa]

This season Toulouse has been very strong at home. They have either won or drawn most of the games they played in Stadium de Toulouse. But they had also lost some games at home, for example, the match against Angers and PSG. They have not been a good side recently as they have not won a match in three games. Lens has a strong side that can get thr three points in this game.

Just as others have observed, the absence of a few players in the PSG side might not have a huge effect on the club's performance. However, we cannot deny that Hakimi and Dembele are important players. The clubs have players who can replace them, but the game will not be easy.  Louis Enrique is under pressure not to drop any points since it will extend the have between the defending champions and Lens.

Louis Enrique is under pressure but i don't think he will suffer much from it, i have to say that this man knows how to handle pressure well and i have to say that he will surely be able to get out of it, he has certainly faced much more nefarious events in his life, he will make it.

[$weetne$$]

PSG has more money than all other teams, and more money than half bottom of the league combined, so not like it is going to somehow change, we are going to keep seeing PSG win almost every single year. Only way to change this would be another super rich team rising up to challenge, they said Paris FC could do that, but looks like that's not going to be the case and we are going to end up with different results.

Their victory is not completely dependent on their wealth, some seasons back, another team won the title even when PSG was still as rich as they could be, this team was not any richer, they only did what they had to do as a team and not like they has some extra more wealth, PSG I believe just got a better squad than others, their wealth only comes in with the ability to afford this top skilled players that gets them the better team edge.

[cande86]

I can't wait for this narrative to change because the League 1 keeps becoming less valuable, and the farmers league, because we now know that every season it will be PSG, just as it has been happening more than three times.

PSG won the league from 2013 to 2016, before Monaco won the League in the year 2017. PSG keeps their dominace again from 2018 to 2020 which is another two seasons in a row before Lille won the League in the year 2021, and PSG keeps winning the title up till this season, I will want a competition this time that is why I am very happy with what Lens is doing this season; I wish another team will be like Lens to compete with PAG to make the League1 more competative again.

I think that this championship is like this because of the lack of competitiveness of the other squads and obviously there is an overwhelming dominance of the Paris Saint-Germain team, obviously if they want more competitiveness they certainly have to invest too.

[BALIK]

Lens might find it difficult to win Toulouse away from home which might affect their position on the table if they drop points because PSG is not playing with a club that can give them difficulties to win the game. Monaco is in form but Lens wouldn't give them any chance of winning the game. The holidays will come to an end in no time.

It looks like it won't be difficult for Lens to beat Toulouse considering that the team is not in much better condition even though the match takes place at Toulouse's home ground. The previous three matches did look good for Toulouse because they were able to maintain their victory, but Lens itself is certainly a little better because after experiencing defeat to Menz until now Lens is still quite consistent and unbeaten. Lens' motivation is also higher because they are currently at the top of the standings so they have to do better to stay at the top of the standings.

Lens is in incredible form. No one can predict that Lens will continue to perform so well this season. They have been on a winning streak for a long time and Lens is also at the top of the table.

Lens will play an away match against Toulouse in the next match. Although it is a home match for Toulouse, Lens can be considered as  the favorite. Since the team is in very good form. Lens will not want to lose the top spot of the table at the moment. Moreover, Lens past record against Toulouse is also good. Lens has won three out of 5 head-to-head matches. And Toulouse has won one. It is expected that Lens players will not make any mistakes in this match and will earn 3 points.

[Franctoshi]

PSG has more money than all other teams, and more money than half bottom of the league combined, so not like it is going to somehow change, we are going to keep seeing PSG win almost every single year. Only way to change this would be another super rich team rising up to challenge, they said Paris FC could do that, but looks like that's not going to be the case and we are going to end up with different results.

Their victory is not completely dependent on their wealth, some seasons back, another team won the title even when PSG was still as rich as they could be, this team was not any richer, they only did what they had to do as a team and not like they has some extra more wealth, PSG I believe just got a better squad than others, their wealth only comes in with the ability to afford this top skilled players that gets them the better team edge.

You're right, yes, money can get you the right players, the right manager, and even the right keeper, but it cannot completely get you the victory or the trophy without a proper strategy or plan. If we say it's because PSG has more money to equip its team, yes, but what stops other teams from doing the same by trying to win necessary trophies or even using the little they have to get in some players 1, 3, then gradually they build from there. I don't totally agree it's all about money but also determination.

[Ayers]

Matches in the French league will resume in three days. The Monaco-Lyon clash will be interesting and intriguing. Monaco has the advantage as they are the home team. Paris Saint-Germain will face another Parisian team, Paris FC. Lens will travel to Toulouse seeking three points. We will see if the top of the table changes this week. The excitement in the French league resumes with the second half of the season.

Monaco can be considered as the favorite as the home team. But monaco is not in good form. They have lost in the last two matches. They have won only one of the last 5 matches. The performance of the opponent lyon is also a bit erratic. But they have been able to win in two of the last three matches. It is difficult to predict which team will win the match. The quality of both the teams is almost  equal. Considering the squad, it is not possible to call any team the favorite. Whatever, if monaco can take the home facility and the players are confident , then they have a chance of winning.

[pewboy]

It is good that Lens are currently able to compete with PSG, but I do not think they will be able to keep it up for long. The main reason is the quality and depth of the squad. Despite the fact that PSG also have to play in other tournaments besides Ligue 1, their squad is much stronger, and their bench and reserve players are also far superior to those of Lens. That is why I think PSG will be able to defend their title thanks to this advantage. Closer to the end of the season, it will become clear that it is very difficult for other teams to compete with them. Maybe Marseille could do it, but they have been too inconsistent this season.

No doubt about PSG's performance, he plays several competitions quietly, has a solid team and enviable performances.

PSG will definitely defend the title hands down, i am not saying i am sure, but i think they can win it too.

Marseille? i don't think he has much hope.

[SirLancelot]

About these latest rumours of "life time contract". I am guessing, if he wins UCL again with the ligue 1 title, they will offer this to Enrique, but I still think it's a fault. Not by PSG or Enrique but by both at the same time if they do it. PSG shouldn't do it because in football things could always go wrong, and with a contract, you are entitled to just a small amount, but with a life time one, how would exit work? If they argue and things go south one day, they will want to sack him.

And for Louis Enrique, he may want to go manage some other team one day, how can he be 100% sure that he wants to manage PSG forever? What if he gets bored and wants to manage another team? Makes no sense to me that one would be ok with staying at the same job until they retire.

I am not sure who is spreading rumours like these because contracts like these has never been possible in soccer world specially when you are talking about clubs in UEFA because here mostly are not have patience in case of poor matches management offload coach quickly then how is this possible PSG going to be having lifetime contract.

Here one thing is possible, they can give him any role in club for long time because things like these are happening and common with he will be staying in club and have good luxurious life, but he can't stay as coach for long time with them, he is just 55 years old and many achievements still to achieve with different clubs around the world.

[jakdanyel]

Monaco focused on mostly making profit in player sales last summer. They made signings but they were mostly cheap ones or free agent, loan and so on. They were really in profit like €103.57m by the end of the transfer window.  

They went for some kind of opportunity signings we can say. Pogba and Fati are included in that. But Fati has been injured in this month and I don't know when he is expected to recover. Pogba also gets injured as usual.

I wish at least Fati was healthy as he was giving a good contribution of goals.