Anyway, the first thing I noticed after Erding’s third was not that he had just completed a wonderful achievement, but that this game was playing to exactly the same scoreline as the match in early November at the Stade Felix Bonal. Why can’t our system work against teams not named Sochaux? What’s slightly embarrassing about recent form is that prior to the match, FCSM were a place ahead of us in the table. Just goes to show how badly this team is under preforming.

Sochaux scored their loan goal when Ryad Boudebouz converted from the spot after a dubious penalty call in which the player who was fouled appeared to be offside.

It seems as if the Hoarau-Erding partnership is finally clicking, and when it does it’s as lethal a striking pair as any in Ligue 1. Let’s see some more of that.

It seems Armand is out of Kombouare’s plans. I don’t really have an issue with that, Ceara has performed admirably on the left and his presence there allows both him and Jallet to grace the field at the same time without bumping Giuly out of the lineup.

Mandanda
Bonnart-Diawara-Heinze-Taiwo
Mbia
Lucho-Cheyrou
Ben Arfa——Niang
Brandao

As for Les Rouges et Bleus, the situation does not look good. Sessegnon and Sakho are suspended. That kills us. Coupet is still out, while Luyindula and Makelele are doubtful. That isn’t particularly delightful either. Le Groupe: Apoula, Grondin. Armand, Camara, Ceara, Jallet, Makonda, Traore. Chantome, Clement, Makelele, Ngoyi, Sankhare. Erding, Giuly, Hoarau, Kezman, Luyindula, Maurice. I hope to see this…

Edel
Jallet-Camara-Armand-Ceara
Giuly-Makelele-Clement-Luyindula
Hoarau-Erding

So, nothing looks particularly good. Much as I hate to say it, I don’t think we can win this. Prediction: 2-1 for Marseille.

ALLEZ PSG!

Other News Updates:
1. Kezman is back in the squad. Maybe we’ll get to see him? Unlikely, Kombouare prefers Maurice.
2. Marseille Ultras want to boycott the match because of security that has been imposed on them by PSG officials.
3.Some unreliable sites have posted vague “quotes” from Maka that he will retire at the end of the season. Please no.

After the horror that was the match against Lorient (No, I’m not doing a review, to0 painful) the masses at the Parc were understandably infuriated. They chose the normal path one chooses when incensed at the players and hurled obscenities and jeers at them while they entered the tunnel. Most of the players ingnored them, but Captain Claude decided to have a word, pushing past the overwieght men in orange vests to have a calm conversation (presumably about the problems with the club) with screaming fanatics many of whom had whipped out their cell phones to upload Maka’s explanations to youtube (thank you user “matt2784″). I love that instead of yelling right back at the fans, Makelele trys to reason with them in a gentlemanly fashion. Pure class.

(Spotted on Dirty Tackle)

“Our current situation is unacceptable. It’s shameful. You have not right to give up when you play for PSG. We have to get out of this situation and everyone needs to take a good long look at themselves. Me included. There will be those that want to fight, to lift, and those that keep on with the same routine. I’m stepping up a gear and with Antoine Kombouaré, we’re going to fight to get the best out of the players that decide to follow. Perhaps I was a little naive in certain analysis. That’s finished now. Even if we have to lower our expectations, its unacceptable to humiliated at the Parc des Princes. We have to change the way we work, our spirit, we need to discover the necessary desire to defend the club’s colors.”

I’m hoping that in Leproux’s ‘good long look at himself’ he realizes that this is not the man to take us forward.

League Cup:  Guingamp 1-0 PSG

An embarrassing nightmarish own goal by the usually reliable Mamadou Sakho knocked us out of the cup competition that matters.

Ligue 1: Lille 3-1 PSG

Even without Gervinho, we were steamrolled by Rudi Garcia’s title challengers.

Ligue 1: PSG 0-1 Monaco

An embarrassing nightmarish own goal from the usually reliable Apoula Edel dropped us further down the Ligue 1 table and continued our abysmal start to the new decade.

Coupe de France: PSG 3-1 Evian

Erding and Hoarau linked up for the first time to produce some nice goals. Maybe with both of them fit we’re back in business. Whats that you say? We were playing a National side? Oh well. At least we’re not in the relegation zone!!!

Today we’re playing seven time champions Olympique Lyonnais, and although I’d give lots of money for PSG to be in their position, their fans seem to think that they are in some kind of disaster. In the last couple days they were knocked out of both cup competitions by scores of 0-1 and 1-2 against Lorient and Monaco respectively. However, they are in good form in the Ligue, having won their last two games by two goals each. They are currently sitting in 6th place but with a game in hand. A win today would move them into fourth, only a point off fourth place Lille. Le Groupe Lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre, Hartock – A.Cissokho, Boumsong, Lovren, Réveillère, Cris – Källström, Toulalan, Gonalons, Makoun, Bastos, Delgado, Govou, Grenier, Pjanic – B.Gomis, Tafer, Lisandro. Mathieu Bodmer, Anderson, and Francois Clerc are out with injuries, while Ederson has been left out due to his “impending” transfer to AC Milan or Lazio or whoever. Expect a lineup a bit like this:

Lloris
Reveillere-Cris-Lovren-Cissokho
Toulalan-Kallstrom
Bastos-Delgado-Govou
Lisandro

PSG are sitting pretty in 14th place with 29 points and a game in hand. Oddly enough we have the third best goal difference in the league. I think we can put that down to bad management. If we win this game we would be in 9th place, which wouldn’t be all that bad. We need to win first. I believe we have a full squad (aside from Coupet and Camara) for the match, but Kombouare has surprised me by bringing along promising 17 year old keeper Alphonse Areola. Expect to see something like this…

Edel
Ceara-Traore-Sakho-Armand
Jallet-Makelele-Clement-Sessegnon
Hoarau-Erding

My Prediction: 1-2 PSG. Lyon’s defense is a joke (usually).

ALLEZ PSG

Hopefully that explains the title.

Luyindula 11th

Erding 23rd

Luyindula 38th

Chantome 65th

Maurice 81st (penalty)

Immediately after the Coupet injury, everyone was calling for a new keeper. Apoula Edel hadn’t played a minute of Ligue 1 football in the two and a half years he’d been at the club. Let’s be glad we didn’t waste our precious funds on some impulse joker signing. Edel has proven to be an excellent keeper with numerous top performances against teams like Bordeaux, and the club has stated that they will not be bringing in a third goalkeeper.

We’ve got right back covered. Ceara and Christophe Jallet have been two of the premier Parisian performers this season. With the return of Zoumana Camara our central defense is solid again. There have been rumors about Milan Bisevac following his former manager to Paris, but this is only a wise course of action if one of Bourillon and Traore is let go, preferably Bourillon, who has been wanting out with so little playing time this season. Sylvain Armand is suffering for a lack of competition and rest. Makonda is not yet ready to play in Ligue 1 and Sakho is usually required to play center back. However, we have not been linked to any left fullbacks, meaning that if Bisevac is brought in we could see Sakho on the left more frequently.

There’s a whole saga going on with Jerome Rothen right now. He hasn’t played much at Rangers, wants to leave, they want to send him back here this winter even though the loan deal lasts until May, and PSG don’t want him back and are forcing Rangers to respect the agreement. Not looking good for the horse lover. Kombouare seems to be looking at another of his former players to cover left midfield while Sess is at the ACN: Johan Audel. I’m all for that one. Audel has been great for VAFC in the games I’ve seen, and he can also play as a striker. He recently told the press that he has dreamed of playing for PSG since he was a kid, which seems to be true of almost every French player we sign, no? We’ve also been linked with a Brazilian midfielder playing for Santos by the name of Rodrigo Souto, who seems to be fairly versatile, having played as a holding midfielder as well as a right winger over the course of his career. We have made a bid of around 5 million euros and Souto appears well disposed towards a move to PSG.

We’re pretty much set in attack. Hoarau will be back soon, and Kezman may or may not be coming back now. If so there are plans to sell him, and I doubt PSG have the resources or the will to buy a replacement.

Sure we lost, but if it wasn’t for that evil, evil, post it would have been a draw. Up until the goal, I thought PSG played extremely well, and I really liked the way the formation worked. However, as Rama said in the comments of the last post, we gave up in the second half, getting beaten to the ball and failing to string passes together. Kombouare needs to work on his pep talks.

• Edel was very good, and I continue to state that we have the best backup keeper in the league, barely beating out Guy Rolland N’dy Assembe.
• Sakho did an excellent job at left back. If we could just find a good center back to replace Traore (Bisvac anyone?), then this could be a permanent move. I even included Sakho in my team of the week.
• Ngoyi was impressive. Heres hoping he won’t leave in the winter, because after Maka retires we’ll need him.
• Sessegnon is far less efective in the center. I think we move Chantome into that position, put Clement/Maka in the DM slot, and put Sankhare on the bench.

Tomorrow at 19:00 we’ve got Grenoble at home. GF 38 have been much harder to beat in recent weeks then they were at the beginning of the season, so we should go into this match full strength, especially considering the break afterwards. Coupet and Hoarau are out, while the Grenoble squad looks like this… Le Crom, Viviani – Calvé, César, Paillot, Sauget, Vitakic – Batlles, Courtois, Dieuze, Juan, Macquet, Matsui, Romao – Akrour, Boya, Ljuboja, Ravet.  I want to see this lineup tomorrow…

Edel

Ceara-Camara-Sakho-Armand

Makelele-Clement

Jallet-Chantome-Sessegnon

Erding

The other PSG related things I want to find on Christmas morning are..

• Paul Le Guen/Luis Fernandez. Yes, I’m calling for a new manager. Sure Kombouare hasn’t had the best of luck, but I think it’s time for a new tactics scheme.
• A healthy, in form Hoarau.
• Milan Bisevac
• Jerome Rothen. Yes, I want him back. We’ve missed him on the left this season. Sess can take the right.

ALLEZ PSG!

Bordeaux 1-0 PSG

PSG 3-0 Saint-Etienne

11 ‘ LUYINDULA
13 ‘ SESSEGNON
39 ‘ ERDING

PSG 1-1 Lens

70 ‘ MAKELELE

News Roundup:

• Rangers no longer want Rothen, he’ll be returning in January. (Telegraph)
• There’s some crazy scandal going on involving Apoula Edel and his former coach. Apparently he’s lying about his name and age… (Soccerway)
• We may be looking at Brazilian DM Rodrigo Souto. (Ligue 1 Talk)
• Or Norwegian right back Jakob Poulsen. (Ligue 1 Talk)
• Or Sidney Govou. (Ligue 1 Talk)

We’re heading to Rennes tomorrow, with a win sending us into the European spots…

ALLEZ PSG!

Those two straight wins (a first since August) put us in seventh place, in front of Olympique de Marseille. However, going away to Bordeaux isn’t exactly the easiest way t gain points in Ligue 1. In fact, it’s probably the mos difficult. Let’s win this and get our season back on track.

Bordeaux Team News: Gourcuff is back, just in time to face us. Let’s hope he doesn’t replicate that absolutely stunning roulette/chip goal he scored against us last year. Their probable starting lineup is…

Carrasso

Chalme-Ciani-Planus-Tremoulinas

Diarra-Plasil

Gouffran-Gourcuff-Jussie

Chamakh

PSG Team News: Coupet and Hoarau are out, as are Ludovic Giuly and Papus Camara. Here’s the list… APOULA Edel, GRONDIN Willy; ARMAND Sylvain, BOURILLON Grégory, CEARA Marcos, JALLET Christophe, SAKHO Mamadou, TRAORE Sammy; CLEMENT Jérémy, CHANTOME Clément, MAKELELE Claude, NGOYI Granddi; SESSEGNON Stéphane, SANKHARE Younousse; ARNAUD Loris, ERDING Mevlut, LUYINDULA Peguy, MAURICE Jean-Eudes.

In terms of a lineup, the absence of Ludo should make things interesting…

Apoula

Ceara-Traore-Sakho-Armand

Makelele

Jallet-Chantome-Sessegnon

Erding-Luyindula

I’d like to see Sankhare come off the bench after a very good performance midweek. Otherwise, I think this is our strongest possible formation, although I expect Clement to be in the first eleven.

ALLEZ PSG!