I'm new and only know a few clubs: Monaco Lyon Marseille Auxerre Bordeux Please help me out! Thanks alot. Would love to hear your thoughts on the different clubs.
well i can share my opinion with you i like monaco because them being #1 is not a coincidence, they've been improving since last year and their team provides a pleasant and efficient game they're on top for good, and i'm sure they're gonna be THE french team in champion's league for many years. here we think it's the renewal of french clubs in european championships players to watch: ludovic giuly (woah!), jerome rothen, patrice evra, dado prso i don't support lyon much, cause i think their team relies too much on individuals, when i watch their games i think they're walking on a rope, i don't think they will do great things in C1 players to watch: juninho, sydney govou, liyundula ... marseille.. well, i don't like their team. they have some very good players but their game type is not clear to me, it's not the season of stability that they were awaiting it seems players to watch: didier drogba, daniel van buyten, dimitri sytchev auxerre provides a very pleasant game, sometimes, but they will soon lose their best players (cisse, mexes, kapo, boumsong) kalou and akale are very impressive players, and i guess they won't stay after 1 season or 2 bordeaux has done a bad 1st part of season, and it's lucky for them that they're #11 i think. they made a bad pre-season recruiting players to watch : ehm .. is there anyone worth watchin ? there's also PSG, who have proved to be a strong team. their games are not pleasant to watch, but it's efficient (with the help of luck often). but how long will it last ? players to watch: pedro pauleta, fabrice fiorese (diving bit*h ), jerome alonzo, gabriel heinze and... the team i'm supporting stade rennais (rennes). they had a terrible season last season, and were saved from relegation in the last match only. a new coach came and had to rebuild the team. at the beginning, the tactics were purely defensive, but that wasn't the right choice. since november, the team rose up and played some very good matches, victory against lyon (3-1), monaco (1-0) and a draw 1-1 against psg. we also have one of the best formation centres of france (well, the best one ex-aequo with nantes') and the upcoming generation of young players is very impressive (ie. stephane n'guema, or jimmy briand, who has done better than thierry henry when he was the same age). with the recent arrival of kim kallstrom who is one of the most promisive players in the world, rennes has maybe found its key-player in the midfield. i am sure rennes will be the biggest surprise of the 2nd part of the season players to watch: petr cech, alexander frei, kim kallstrom, stephane n'guema soooo.. pick your choice
Re: Why support Monaco? Definately not the richest...there was a real question before the start of the season as to whether or not they would be forcibly relegated because of their financial condition. Apparently the royalty is not permitted to just dump money into the club (although I don't remember the background behind why this is the case) and as a result although the Prince apparently wanted to provide funding, he couldn't. Don't recall now how this all was resolved in the end, but they obviously did not get relegated. Have to say also that Deschamps seems to be one of those (relatively rare) ex-players that has become a fine manager.
Re: Why support Monaco? the reason why they dont have many supporters is that most monaco inhabitants are old and rich people who don't care about football
Maybe you should also look at Lens and Nantes, they are having a down year, but they are pretty good clubs. Or join the trivial pursuit of promotion by Les Verts and celebrate this summer when St-Etienne comes back to Ligue 1. Allez les Verts!!! As for the ones you've listed, it depends on what you're looking for. Tell us what you looking for. Rabid fan base? Titles? A club that is on FSW often?
Thanks. Tell me which clubs fit these 3 descriptions. I would love to meet/chat with fellow supporters start our own supporters website if it doesn't already exist. I will learn French, if I have to. My wife is 1/2 French and took 6yrs of it! BTW...Montreal was our choice for a honeymoon, if we couldn't afford Europe.
Ok, but I'm not a full flegged expert since I started watching and following since a few years. FSW favorite (or TV5 if you're lucky enough to have a second game per week): Marseille, PSG They seem to be one every week (Why wouldn't everybody want to watch Le Mans - Guimgamp or Metz-Nice???) Rabid fans: Every team has its core (except Monaco), but from what I know Marseille has a great public. Special mention to St-Etienne in Ligue 2 with an average of 18,000 fans while the league's average is 6,000... Titles: Well, until Marseille gets its act back, St-Etienne has 10 titles. But in more recent time, Lyon is looking good (they might have the upper hand now, but only 8 more titles and they'll catch up to Les Verts). But looking at the other treads you've posted, since you support Arsenal, you couldn't go wrong with Monaco since Wenger and Henry started there. As for Montreal, living here it doesn't seem so great, but I'll admit the city has its charm.
Out of topic, it's funny you tought of Montreal for your honeymoon since we went to Chigago for ours...
You're not the first to ask that question, have a look there: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75122