[tebthereb]

Originally Posted by SuperSebGrimaldi

If we considered form and ability, I think that the team would be almost all-OL except the back line

Is there really so few players outside the big teams playing well? I am surprised nobody has waded into this thread yet saying "can't believe you are not mentioning X or Y just because they are at a less fashionable club". I know the French transfer market is not quite the same as the one I know in England, but must be players that the big clubs are being linked to from the lesser sides...?

[Catel]

Originally Posted by tebthereb

Is there really so few players outside the big teams playing well? I am surprised nobody has waded into this thread yet saying "can't believe you are not mentioning X or Y just because they are at a less fashionable club". I know the French transfer market is not quite the same as the one I know in England, but must be players that the big clubs are being linked to from the lesser sides...?

Probably there are (Leroy, Mouloungui, Gouffran, Koné...) but except Lyon, all French teams are very, very irregular because the difference between them is very thin. Win 3 matchs in a row, then loses 4, then 3 draws, and so on... So it's very difficult to find players who show a performances continuity.

[tebthereb]

Fair enough, but I notice a team like Nancy have been beaten less than any other team in the league. That suggests their defense is good of course (so can understand Chretien and Puygrenier being mentioned on this thread), but surely they must have some good players higher up the pitch supporting these guys? Gavanon for instance, seems to be an ever present in a winning side. Is it more a case of team spirit and organisation keeping Nancy in second rather than talent?

[Catel]

Originally Posted by tebthereb

Fair enough, but I notice a team like Nancy have been beaten less than any other team in the league. That suggests their defense is good of course (so can understand Chretien and Puygrenier being mentioned on this thread), but surely they must have some good players higher up the pitch supporting these guys? Gavanon for instance, seems to be an ever present in a winning side. Is it more a case of team spirit and organisation keeping Nancy in second rather than talent?

Absolutely a team spirit and there's nothing new. Nancy is known well as the "we're not stars but we're united" team. Puygrenier, Kim, Fortuné may be good players but really nothing above other talents in Ligue 1 - though Kim was suddenly compared to Ronaldo when he scored 2 or 3 goals at the beginning of the season...

But the spirit of Nancy is made of players like Berenguer, Duchemin, Brison, Curbelo or Biancalani: nobody knows them. They're just workers. They don't have fans, they don't make their hair a Broadway show, they don't wear sunglasses, they drive a familial car and if you look for the definition of "glamor" in a dictionary, you'll probably read: "antonym: ex: AS Nancy Lorraine". But they're totally interdependent and the cohesiveness of the group is as much strong as Nancy is the only club to NOT have recruited last summer.

How could you even think a soccer player named "Emmanuel Duchemin" could become a world star player ? It's rather a name for a French character in a Hollywood movie !

[Inara]

Yeah, the thing with Nancy is that they don't really have a single player that stands out above the others. So it's hard to put them in any Bext XI over the course of a season. But they work well together. Plus their coach Pablo Correa knows how to get the best out of his players. It's truly nothing short of amazing what he's done with his squad. At the beginning of the season, when Nancy first started doing well, I didn't expect them to last until October. And here we are in December, and they aren't even slowing down.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Issiar Dia would arguably be the "highlight reel" player at Nancy along with Kim, but he's developing. That is, he's not a finished product yet, though he does have speed and dribbling skill that is similar to Ribéry/Ménez. Bracigliano Nancy's goalkeeper, deserves plaudits to I think, though arguably Lloris/Mandanda are these days more important to team performance.

[midknight]

I'm suprised no one's mentioned Mahmadou Niang as yet.

[tebthereb]

Well he has been in good form, but would anyone really put him ahead of Tulio, Benzema, or Elmander?

I see Elmander has won the LFP Striker of the Month award for Decemberand broken the monthly record total for Ligue 1 with 7 goals! The more I read about this guy the more I like the sound of him.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Originally Posted by midknight

I'm suprised no one's mentioned Mahmadou Niang as yet.

Sorry, we should have, though you know I'm pretty anti-OM in general. J/K, I tried to be as impartial as I could (I haven't mentioned any ASM players, though none arguably deserve singling out), and Mamadou has been the inspiration for Marseille this season, though he's not been as good as Benzema, while Mamadou actually receives support, Elmander gets almost none from his team.

Also, I know this isn't about skill, but I'd have to give the edge to Elmander on that as well since he's better all-around (has an aerial game, etc.).

[tebthereb]

Not entirely on topic as I was talking originally about the 2007/08 season, but apparently the team of 2007 has been elected by french sports newspaper L'Equipe as follows:

Coupet
Sagna, Cris, Puygrenier, Abidal
Govou, Juninho, Toulalan, Malouda
Elmander, Benzema

Seems pretty fair from what I have read, but surprised Coupet is in there having barely played this season. Cris got injured back in August as well, didn't he?