French Soccer League Predictions and Discussion Thread (Ligue 1)

[Xyloo]

In Ligue 1, no team has been consistently successful every season except PSG. Although Lens has performed exceptionally well this season, even overtaking PSG at the top of the standings several times, they simply lack the strength to compete with PSG dominance. This was evident in Lens late season performance as they began to lose concentration easily losing points ultimately resulting in them being runners-up.

Next season, I'm not convinced Lens will be able to compete with PSG this season as teams like Monaco, Lille, Marseille, and Lyon will continue to build new strengths to face the upcoming season. PSG will be difficult to beat because they are strengthening their squad for the UCL, while other teams are strengthening their squads for Ligue 1. The difference in level and quality is already evident.

PSG will win next season too, have no doubt about it. As long as there isn't a big investment in the other Ligue 1 teams, they won't be able to do anything. Personally, I've always known that; it's been said here and I think everyone has agreed. That's why in French football, the only team that's way above everyone else is PSG because of the huge investment the sheikh has given them. Money really is something very significant.

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

[len01]

-snip

But still a profit of course... What now for them? I know Dembélé is their main CF but they will need to sign a backup forward for him as well. You might say there is Kolo Muani who has just returned after the end of his loan spell. But he is close to signing for Juventus.

Goncalo Ramos is a pure striker, and as far as I know, Enrique doesn't need a pure striker in his tactics. As for who would be the right replacement for the second string player, Kolo Muani could have been a viable option, but for some reason, Enrique didn't retain him. If that's the case, it means Enrique has been eyeing another player who could replace Goncalo, but hasn't made it public yet.

[Slow death]

PSG will win next season too, have no doubt about it. As long as there isn't a big investment in the other Ligue 1 teams, they won't be able to do anything. Personally, I've always known that; it's been said here and I think everyone has agreed. That's why in French football, the only team that's way above everyone else is PSG because of the huge investment the sheikh has given them. Money really is something very significant.

There are many clubs that invest a lot of money and are at the same level of investment as PSG, and yet they still can't win their leagues. In my opinion, PSG is lucky that other Ligue 1 clubs aren't interested in investing heavily to win the title. If PSG were in the Premier League or La Liga, they wouldn't be champions consistently for many years; they would probably win occasionally. They are very fortunate to be in Ligue 1 and only need to focus on the European Champions League.

[Egii Nna]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

These are two different teams with different dimensions. Chelsea is a team without patience, while PSG is a bit patient. Or, I would rather say they learned patience after doing everything it takes and buying the best players in the world without achieving their goals. After all that, when they started using what they have for themselves and being consistent, they achieved their goals twice in a row.

So, you can't compare them. If Chelsea were also patient with their coach, they would have been better than this. The only hope people have for Chelsea now is to see if they will be patient this coming season.

[$weetne$$]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

I will agree with this because I remember there was a time PSG spent heavily on getting the best set of players and yet they could not get the type of results they were hoping to achieve,  but the moment they looked inwards with the help of a good manager,  they got it right.  Like you have rightly put, money is not all that is needed in most cases, sometimes they will need more than just the money to do well.

[lombok]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

I will agree with this because I remember there was a time PSG spent heavily on getting the best set of players and yet they could not get the type of results they were hoping to achieve,  but the moment they looked inwards with the help of a good manager,  they got it right.  Like you have rightly put, money is not all that is needed in most cases, sometimes they will need more than just the money to do well.

Money simplifies the whole process, however, to create a great team, one should plan. Great manager can get players together and strive towards a common objective. You are correct, the success of PSG demonstrates that hope in the process and the academy are more invaluable than merely purchasing some costly players. The ardour which is invested in developing a team at the grassroots has an actual miracle always.

[Oluwa-btc]

Has anyone seen the news of former Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior taking the job of Paris FC? I ain't seen nobody talking about the news here so I decided to drop it.
He was honestly doing brilliantly with Strasbourg until he was switched by the parent club to manage Chelsea when they parted ways with Enzo Maresca.
I still have confidence that he will see them staying in league 1 and also avoiding relegation. He was trouble for league 1 champions when he faced them with Strasbourg. I can't wait to see him do same in the Paris Derby.

[qurbanshah02]

Has anyone seen the news of former Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior taking the job of Paris FC? I ain't seen nobody talking about the news here so I decided to drop it.
He was honestly doing brilliantly with Strasbourg until he was switched by the parent club to manage Chelsea when they parted ways with Enzo Maresca.
I still have confidence that he will see them staying in league 1 and also avoiding relegation. He was trouble for league 1 champions when he faced them with Strasbourg. I can't wait to see him do same in the Paris Derby.

I haven't seen the full news about this but I have heard that he is trying to become the coach of Paris FC but it is not yet complete so as it happens the news about it will be available here. Although no one is talking at the moment so I have to believe that he should leave now when the league is about to start then such things will start again. Chelsea's performance has actually deteriorated quite a bit and at the same time other teams were also playing quite badly if everyone tried it could have been quite interesting. So I am also wondering which 3 teams will come here this time and it will be a very strong and interesting match and position among the last 6 teams. This time the results will be a bit different and we can also watch their performance in the Champions League from another channel.

[bangjoe]

If compared to PSG lens is not strong but overall Lens from my point of view with what they did last season in the league 1is a form of proof that they are very strong last season, they led the standings for quite a long time and also they can finish runner up in the league standings 1 France, in contrast to the third position even tends to be closer points to PSG as winners last season, do not say it strong I think you need to look back at the data owned by Lens.

But for the next season we are not sure, but if we can be consistent and continue their progress it will be incredible.

The issue here is that they find it difficult to maintain the consistency that is why they don't always end the fight, Paris Saint-Germain will continue to dominate the Ligue 1 because no any team that are ready enough to beat down Paris Saint-Germain, last season lens did very well to challenge Paris Saint-Germain they could not be able to end it, just like you are expecting a possible out come this season, that is how I am also waiting to see the result of them, currently Paris Saint-Germain stand to be a very strong team in the league, that is why any team that need to push them away have to be physically and financially fit so that they can be able to send it back Paris Saint-Germain.

I know that the two seasons before last Lens were only 7th and 8th in the table which is a mid-table team and last season they managed to break it all with more satisfactory results despite not being in the first position as winners, consistency is difficult but it does not mean they do not have the opportunity to repeat it, I think staying in the top 4 of the season now is good enough that we can say also that they are consistent enough even though they are not in the second or third position, as long as entering the top 4 is very enough.

Beating PSG is very difficult we know that then the most realistic is the position of 2,3,4 to be contested in each season.

[KTChampions]

There are many clubs that invest a lot of money and are at the same level of investment as PSG, and yet they still can't win their leagues. In my opinion, PSG is lucky that other Ligue 1 clubs aren't interested in investing heavily to win the title. If PSG were in the Premier League or La Liga, they wouldn't be champions consistently for many years; they would probably win occasionally. They are very fortunate to be in Ligue 1 and only need to focus on the European Champions League.

Can you list such clubs? For some reason, I find it hard to imagine clubs like PSG failing to win their domestic league, lol. Let me remind you that PSG’s budget is equal to the combined budgets of the six clubs trailing them, and the top 10 highest-paid players in Ligue 1 are all PSG players. You're saying there are loads of clubs like PSG  I suppose there’s something I don’t know. Even if you list some of the wealthy Premier League clubs, firstly, their wealth still pales in comparison to PSG’s financial power, and secondly, there aren’t many of them anyway.

[Velvet78]

There isn't much of a rich team in the Ligue 1 except PSG right now. Therefore it doesn't make sense to expect them to invest into their squad with a lot of money suddenly.

They don't have an oil-rich owner I'm afraid...    If one day this changes then we can talk about how much the balances would be upset in this league.

Until then we will have to endure PSG winning the league nearly all the time.

[Lida93]

Has anyone seen the news of former Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior taking the job of Paris FC? I ain't seen nobody talking about the news here so I decided to drop it.
He was honestly doing brilliantly with Strasbourg until he was switched by the parent club to manage Chelsea when they parted ways with Enzo Maresca.
I still have confidence that he will see them staying in league 1 and also avoiding relegation. He was trouble for league 1 champions when he faced them with Strasbourg. I can't wait to see him do same in the Paris Derby.

Well, the reason nobody is talking about that development is because no one seems to be interested in the former Chelsea boss, he seems to have some reputation in the French league and that's why some French clubs still believe in his abilities but in England I don't think any club would be interested to hire him right now after such a disappoint spell with the London side Chelsea, football seems to be very easy in France so it's easy for Rosenior to survive over there.

[puloweh555]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

I will agree with this because I remember there was a time PSG spent heavily on getting the best set of players and yet they could not get the type of results they were hoping to achieve,  but the moment they looked inwards with the help of a good manager,  they got it right.  Like you have rightly put, money is not all that is needed in most cases, sometimes they will need more than just the money to do well.

Most clubs consistent success each season is undeniably due to sound financial standing. Almost every team that consistently wins trophies does so because they have the financial wherewithal and have built a solid system which also requires the funds to bring in a great coach.

Previously PSG focused solely on bringing in star players with mediocre coaches, but ultimately PSG brought in a coach like Luis Enrique who has a wealth of experience, and it's been successful. Chelsea rise to prominence also stems from their financial strength under Roman Abramovich, and they remain a force to be reckoned with today, despite their recent slump.

I mean, we can't deny that teams that consistently succeed are financially sound. There are indeed teams that succeed with modest financial means, but they usually only last one season because the next season is doomed. Moreover, in League One, PSG has proven to be consistent until now because no other team can build strength like PSG has done. Even when there are good players in one of the League One clubs, most of them cannot retain these players because they prefer to sell them to maintain the club's financial stability.

[Agbamoni]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

It got funny when you said, "if it were Chelsea". Yeah, money isn't everything, though, because Liverpool spent a lot of money last season. Manchester City also spent money last summer but slacked at the beginning of the league. It was in the second half of the season that Manchester City woke up. One thing I know about PSG's transformation is that the French league respects PSG a lot. They are the pride of the country's league.

[Webetcoins]

I know that the two seasons before last Lens were only 7th and 8th in the table which is a mid-table team and last season they managed to break it all with more satisfactory results despite not being in the first position as winners, consistency is difficult but it does not mean they do not have the opportunity to repeat it, I think staying in the top 4 of the season now is good enough that we can say also that they are consistent enough even though they are not in the second or third position, as long as entering the top 4 is very enough.

Beating PSG is very difficult we know that then the most realistic is the position of 2,3,4 to be contested in each season.

That is not a good thing, in fact that is a very bad thing. Teams like Monaco and Marseille and even to a degree Lyon now, all spend money and then they end up being inconsistent and that is why Ligue 1 is seen as a farmers league. The problem isn't the money, they have money and yet they fail.

Lens for example did great, sure, that is awesome for them and I congratulate them for it, how many of you would bet me that next season they will not be in top three? I am 99.99% sure that they will not be there.

[macson]

-.-
PSG has been winning it for 5 consecutive times now, and all the other opponents seem to have not a single clue how to stop the dominance. What can potentially stop this is heavy investment and not selling their star players to PSG.

This makes more sense to counter PSG's dominance. Without significant investment, it will be more difficult for other teams to compete on equal footing, as the gap in squad depth is so obvious. Therefore, if other clubs want to challenge PSG's dominance, they must find a major investor willing to spend significant funds to build a squad with comparable depth and quality. Otherwise, the other teams in Ligue 1 will simply be competing for second place, as PSG already holds first place.

[G_Besar]

This makes more sense to counter PSG's dominance. Without significant investment, it will be more difficult for other teams to compete on equal footing, as the gap in squad depth is so obvious. Therefore, if other clubs want to challenge PSG's dominance, they must find a major investor willing to spend significant funds to build a squad with comparable depth and quality. Otherwise, the other teams in Ligue 1 will simply be competing for second place, as PSG already holds first place.

I also agree with what you said, because in this case, it's clear that the next step other teams in Ligue 1 must take is to find new investors with substantial funds so that they can also recruit the best world-class players and break PSG's dominance, which has been very strong in Ligue 1 so far. However, I don't think that will be easy for other teams, because convincing investors with a team in poor condition will also be difficult for the investors themselves, so lobbying to bring in new investors will also be difficult.

[Rgram]

-.-
PSG has been winning it for 5 consecutive times now, and all the other opponents seem to have not a single clue how to stop the dominance. What can potentially stop this is heavy investment and not selling their star players to PSG.

This makes more sense to counter PSG's dominance. Without significant investment, it will be more difficult for other teams to compete on equal footing, as the gap in squad depth is so obvious.

One thing that is there to note is that, player transfers is a double string. Certain players would always want to leave the club and play in teams where their career would be rewarded with trophies. No player would enjoy playing at a club that they aren’t sure of getting trophies for a long time. Keeping a player for a long time against their will would definitely affect the quality they would be delivering on the pitch and if they manage to play out their time like in the case of Mbappe, you would lose them to free transfer.

So one has got to understand that, this is a business and making profit off those players when you can is still good business and one way to win when you aren’t winning trophies.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Money is certainly important, but it's never the sole factor. If it were, Chelsea, who have spent huge sums of money for years, wouldn't have achieved such great success. However, Paris Saint-Germain has completely transformed into a top-tier football organization. Their manager and coaching staff are all top-tier individuals. The chairman's investment in the club is immense. They are especially bringing in fantastic players from their youth academy. Paris Saint-Germain is now one of the best teams in the world. This is the result of a well-managed process.

I agree with you, you can have a lot of money, but you have to know how to manage it. Managing it isn't easy at all, but even so, I admire the Sheikh. I remember when they had that great trident of Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe and they couldn't do absolutely anything. I thought it was incredible, but if they had had a Luis Enrique from the beginning, it would be a different story.

[KTChampions]

There isn't much of a rich team in the Ligue 1 except PSG right now. Therefore it doesn't make sense to expect them to invest into their squad with a lot of money suddenly.

They don't have an oil-rich owner I'm afraid...  Tongue  If one day this changes then we can talk about how much the balances would be upset in this league.

Until then we will have to endure PSG winning the league nearly all the time.

It's hard to imagine PSG losing the league to anyone in the next few years. Bookmakers are already pricing PSG at 1.07 at the start of the season (after deducting inflation and the risk of moving money, the return is zero), meaning it's practically a foregone conclusion. Even though PSG brought 2 Champions League titles to Ligue 1, this state of affairs is not healthy in my opinion. I would rather watch Saudi battles or battles in the Portuguese League.