It's official, Ligue 1 clubs are really mediocre...

[Ballon d'or Identity]

at best.
You know there's something's wrong when th fourth of Ligue 1 goes out against the 14th of CFA 2.
No wonder Liverpool could put 4 in the net in the Velodrome.
I'm not even angry towards the players of the Ligue 1, they just try to do their best, but they are not good enough.
They hardly qualify for the next rounds in coupe de France against lower ligues clubs, how could they ever win a european cup ?
Sad, very sad.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I'm won't argue that L1 is less competitive in the sense that all of the top players often leave to go abroad which basically leaves a bunch of stars in the making as opposed to established stars, but really the upsets in the CdF have been going on for decades. It's actually part of the magic, I'd say, though yes, I doubt anyone in Marseille feels that way this morning.

Besides, Barnsley knocked out Chelsea a week or two ago in England. Yet aren't half of the quarter-finalists in the Champions League EPL clubs?

[SportBoy333]

It's official, Ligue 1 clubs are really mediocre...at best.



Most of us already knew that. I myself as a fan hope for improvement but if it doesn't happen I'll still be there.

[SportBoy333]

Besides, Barnsley knocked out Chelsea a week or two ago in England. Yet aren't half of the quarter-finalists in the Champions League EPL clubs?

I hope your're not comparing Chelsea losing to Barnsley to OM losing to Carquefou. Barnsley are a 2nd division professional team so I dont think them beat Chelsea is nearly as bad as OM losing to a 5th division amatuer team. There is no comparision. Om losing was beyond embarassing. I know Coup de France has a lot of upsets but how can you quantify a team with the 2nd highest budget in the country losing to a bunch of amateurs. Could you imagine any EPL team getting beat by a football conference team ? I cant.

[Catel]

Most of us already knew that. I myself as a fan hope for improvement but if it doesn't happen I'll still be there.
The only hint I have about that is the results of the D1 in the 80's: Cup runner-up 86 and 87, best striker 87, Marseille and Toulouse ranking in the championship 86-87... :o

[SportBoy333]

Here's a thought. Why not give the managers the final say on transfers rather than the club presidents.

At OL, OM, and PSG the managers dont get total control. The club presidents are the ones with the power to make the decisions.

I guess at the smaller clubs the managers do get the final say but I really dont know for sure.

[Pierre-Henri]

Carquefou is currently ranking 13 in its group of CFA2.

So
- Ligue 1 (20 teams)
- Ligue 2 (20 teams)
- National (20 teams)

=== pro/amateur line

- CFA 1 : 4 groups of 18 teams (72 teams)
- CFA 2 : 8 groups of 16 teams (128 teams)

That makes 260 teams in all (that includes the reserves of pro teams).

Since Carquefou is 13 on 16 in its group, it means Marseille lost to a team that's around rank 220-240 in the national charts. In its league, Carquefou is currently struggling vs world-class powerhouses like Locminé, Concarneau and Inzinzac. And, strategically, technically and physically, they dominated Marseille from A to Z

It's like the LA Lakers loosing vs some amateur team from Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

[Catel]

Or FC Metz beating Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the Cup of Cups. :cool: :o

[NicolasN.]

I'm not regarding OM loss as a symbol of L1 mediocrity. FA cup upsets make this cup entertaining. La Coupe de France would be meaningless without it. A small club like carquefou beating a bigger club like l'OM isn't that the purpose of this cup ? That's what people are expecting from these games. Plus, it allows people from little cities where there isn't a professional football team to be passionated with soccer. Medias are talking about them and so on.

It also happens because bigger clubs regard them with arrogance. In my opinion, this loss has to be consigned to history.

To be fair, l'OM won to Anfield.

[Ballon d'or Identity]

I don't deny the magic of the cup. But there are limits. If french clubs were good in europe, i wouldn't even have started this thread. But here it's symptomatic. Losing to lesser teams in Ligue 2, ok. To clubs from national, hmmm ooooook. But to a club that plays in CFA 2, four leagues below !!! No, it's not possible. It can't happen. Ligue 1 clubs lose way too much against lower leagues clubs.
I don't know how to look for that info, but i'm sure this doesn't happen in big championships to that extent.
We had Calais, now Carquefou. And i'm not counting all those Ligue 1 clubs that lose frequently against lower oppositions.
This shouldn't happen as often...not if the aim of those clubs is to win a euro cup someday.

[lefutur]

judging from the highlights Carquefou play some good football. I would never have guessed they were in CFA2 from their style of play. Does that say anything about the parity of football throughout the leagues in France?

Besides, didn't they already beat Nancy?

[Pierre-Henri]

judging from the highlights Carquefou play some good football. I would never have guessed they were in CFA2 from their style of play. Does that say anything about the parity of football throughout the leagues in France?


It's a consequence of our excellent formation system. Many players in these small teams were once students at the pro soccer academies, but somehow never made it into the big leagues. For example, a team like Strasbourg has a soccer academy with 60 young wannabees, but only 3 or 4 of them, on average, turn professional every season. The others 50 or so end in the lower leagues. Such players are amateurs, but they received some pro-level training earlier in their careers.

Plus, the Coupe the France is organized in such a way that amateurs are advantaged. This is not a 2 games home-away competition, but a 1 game contest, with home advantage for the lesser team.

This said, I rather agree with Ballon d'or. It is not normal that such things happen with this kind of regularity. If the OM can't beat a friendly bunch of homeboys, how could they seriously compete with Arsenal, Barça or Manchester ?

[lefutur]

If the OM can't beat a friendly bunch of homeboys, how could they seriously compete with Arsenal, Barça or Manchester ?

They can't, just the same way Fulham can't either.

[zippy85]

You still have the 2nd deepest national team in the world, plus France is a rich country, your domestic t.v rights are huge.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I know, but it's going to be tough to beat the depth those Brazilians have.

[zippy85]

I know, but it's going to be tough to beat the depth those Brazilians have.
They have unfair advantages, they don't value education and they have a huge population, plus one in every three people kick a ball.

They own world football.:(

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Hey, that's a good comment from a fellow MU fan. Though Anderson hasn't been so bad, has he?

Not to sound a chauvinist or my girlfriend would kill me, though they also own the (super)model industry too. Not that I'm complaining. :D

[Pierre-Henri]

According to Le Parisien, 66 French players currently play in the various English leagues (and you must add the great number of African players who were trained in France but have also crossed the Channel).

While, on the other hand ... 0 (zero, nil, nada, zilch) English players play in the French leagues.

It seems the sovietic model.... I mean the French model of society doesn't attract the masses. The traitors still prefer the filthy anglo-saxon capitalism ! If France wants to keep its sportsmen (and researchers, and surgeons, and engineers, and entrepreneurs...), we'll soon have to apply some innovating solution :

http://www.berlinermauer.se/bilder4/b_mur8x.jpg

[guignol]

but don't forget all the brits who have chosen to live in france; notably in dordogne (where they even have their own local paper) but also in the alps, in provence...

most of them are... of independant means, but quite a few work here, and there are even some who commute. i read an article somewhere recently about three of them. one's a policeman, one runs the weekend shift in a factory, the other i forget, but their work schedules allow them to really reside in france, not just come on weekends and holidays like so many. they all say they love it here and would never go back to blighty to live.

[Catel]

Besides, English players are overpaid.

I mean that a Wes Brown who is a Manchester United player, considered as a star and paid with des milles et des cents, is probably no more talented than any Bernard Mendy.

In the modern era, about 15 English players tried to make their way on the other side of the Channel, from Jantzen Derrick to Chris Makin, and very few of them really achieved something: Waddle, Hoddle, Hateley and partly Clive Allen.

I think the French League is not really adapted for them. It looks rather like Calcio: a more technical and tactical gaming style.