Who will win the French League in 04-05 and why?

[parissgfan]

Which team do you think has what it takes to take the league and why?

My pick is the capital club, Paris St. Germain!

[Arsenal_fanUK]

same,
buy the way. on not studying the french league too much last season did FLAMINI who now is a gooner play well for his club? if so how good is he, considering he's only 20

[Bosanac]

Vahid is a key reason I think..he has done really well putting together PSG. He is a good teacher and he makes his teams organized.

I think PSG too!

[Mel Brennan]

PSG. Vahid is smartly putting together two squads; thus they will be fresher at season's end run than other top squads...

[SportBoy333]

Based on what the teams have done this offseason so far I would say the title is PSG's to lose. Marseille losing Drogba hurt their title chances and Lyon losing 2 key starters this week killed their title chances. Monaco lost too much and what they replaced it with is decent but weaker than what they had before. if PSG doesnt win it now it will a major disapointment.

[ZoltaR]

Marseille losing Drogba hurt their title chances
marseille sold drogba, but they baught pedretti, eduardo costa, bixente lizarazu, peggy lutindula, bruno cheyrou, frederic dehu( former psg's captain)...
i think marseille could make a good surprise, with their team:
------------------------------Barthez--------------------------------
-----------------------------(Gavanon)------------------------------

---------------------Beye------Déhu-----Meïté-----------------------
--------------------(Ribault)-(Hemdani)--(L.N'Diaye)------------------

Ferreira-----------------Pedretti----------Costa---------------Lizarazu
(Hemdani, Léo)---------(Hemdani)--------(N'Diaye)------------(Olembe)

-----------------Marlet------------------------Cheyrou---------------
----------------(Bamogo, Koke)----------------(Battlès)--------------

---------------------------------Luyindula----------------------------
--------------------------------(Bamogo, Marlet)---------------------
1-OM ( no champion's league, a good team.)
2-PSG ( the most complete team, but plenty of games to play with the champion's league)
3-Monaco ( with their 4 or 5 south-ameriacans players : chevanton, kallon...)
4-Lyon ( too mani players sold : carriere dhorasso, luyindula, muller, edmilson etc... with just a few arrivals)
well it must be very close, the four teams are quite close, and the championats might be very tight this season again.( i repeat that marseille have managed to make a good team considering they're not playing any european cup, they will be fresher physicaly by the end of the season....)

[mikeb3142]

Marseille would be my guess too. They are a much better balanced team than last year.

Monaco is really the dark horse (which is a surprise considering their run in the CL). But Chevanton and Kallon could really be great in this league.

[gaijin]

Wish PSG could do it.... :)

However looking at the signings made by Marseille its quite frightening.
Lyon to win another title is a big ask but not out of the question. Bordeaux, Nantes and Lens have no chance as they lack quality. Auxerre have lost big this year with Cisse and Boumsong. Monaco can give a good run for their money, but they looked highly suspect at times last season (especially at home.) Looks defintely like a two way battle this year between l'om et le psg.

[SportBoy333]

If Monaco gets Saviola(Monaco president quoted saying he wants him) and Lyon get Nicholas Anelka(Anelka quoted recently saying he wants to play for Lyon) then things could change slightly.

[cdeboissard]

Marseille spent a lot of money on new players but that's not always enough ! Remember what PSG did over the last 4 years : nothing but we owned players lik Anelka, Ronaldinho, Vampeta, Arteta.....

I think we will have a better idea in a month when the mercato closes

PARIS EST MAGIQUE !!!!!!

[Pierre-Henri]

PSG is my personnal favorite. They have the best coach, and are a real, homogeneous team (While Marseille is more a collection of good players than a team). In his best days, Ljuboja is one of the best 10 players in the world, and Pauleta can score anytime, any place. Add Rothen and ...

Monaco is in deep financial crisis (the Prince is tired of paying bills).
Lyon has lost too many players, especially Luyindula.
Marseille ... well, is Marseille: a lot of noise, but no real team play.

[Montréal United]

Well St-Etienne of course!!!

Oh, you mean the 04/05 season... :rolleyes:

Since I'm pretty neutral to Monaco, PSG & Marseille (I hate Lyon, so they're out of consideration), I tend to favor PSG or Marseille in the long run.

Why not PSG outright? I'm worried that European play will take some of the edge off the club's form. Players will be far more motivated by playing Milan than going away to Strasbourg. This could lead to some very precious points being lost. I don't remember if Vahid succesfuly managed that part while at Lille.

As for Marseille, their new additions could make quite an impact. All they need is to avoid falling in the same trap as last year when they were too much "Drogbadependent".

P.S.: to all newcomers, there's still time to join the French Prediction game http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121816

[SportBoy333]

Monaco is in deep financial crisis



They were but they aren't anymore. Their finances have been straightened out.

[Catfish]

I'm going with Marseille, but hope PSG claims the title.

Allez PSG!

[prk166]

Well St-Etienne of course!!!


I was thinking it'd be Bastia or Istres. =)

[SportBoy333]

I read in FranceFootball that right now St.Etienne has a budget of 12 million which is tied with Ajaccio for 18th in the league. Caen at 17 million even has a higher budget than the Greens. Istres is at 7 million in last. Here is the full list.

1 Lyon- 80 M
2 PSG- 78 M
3 Marseille- 62 M(without counting trasnfer of Drogba)
4 Monaco- 50 M
5 Lens- 45 M
5 Bordeaux- 45 M
6 Nantes- 44 M
7 Sochaux- 30 M
8 Rennes- 28 M
9 Toulouse- 24 M
10 Auxerre- 22 M
10 Lille- 22 M
11 Strasbourg- 20 M
12 Nice- 19 M
13 Bastia- 17 M
13 Caen- 17 M
13 Metz- 17 M
14 St Etienne- 12 M
14 Ajaccio- 12 M
15 Istres- 7 M

[Montréal United]

I read in FranceFootball that right now St.Etienne has a budget of 12 million which is tied with Ajaccio for 18th in the league. Caen at 17 million even has a higher budget than the Greens. Istres is at 7 million in last.

That's because Les Verts were in deep financial problems before a few ownership moves last winter.

A year of Ligue 1 will do wonders for your budget (hence Ajaccio) with the TV rights money.

Istres is wise to keep such a low budget. No need to take huge salaries if you're the favorite to drop back to Ligue 2.

[Marsiglia29]

St-Etienne à 25 M

in "aujourd'hui"

1 Lyon- 85M
2 PSG- 80 M
3 Marseille- 61,5 M
4 Lens- 45 M
5 Bordeaux- 45 M
6 Nantes- 44 M
7 Monaco- 40 M
8 Sochaux- 32 M
9 Rennes- 28 M
10 St Etienne- 25 M
11 Toulouse- 24 M
12 Strasbourg- 24 M
13 Lille- 22 M
14 Bastia- 21 M
15 Nice- 19,5 M
16 Auxerre- 18,5 M
17 Caen- 18 M
18 Metz- 16 M
19 Ajaccio- 12,5 M
20 Istres- 12,5 M

[tomvandamn]

TVDs Predictions

1 PSG-
2 Marseille-
3 Monaco-
4 Lyon-
5 Rennes-
6 Lille
7 Bordeaux-
8 Lens-
9 Auxerre-
10 Strasbourg-

11 Sochaux-
12 Nice-
13 Metz-
14 St Etienne-
15 Nantes-
16 Bastia-
17 Toulouse-
18 Ajaccio-
19Caen-
20Istres-