After an interesting and entertaining Summer of football provided by Euro 2020 the domestic League is back! Eleven new Managers, some interesting transfers and a lot of business yet to be done gives us an intriguing start of the new season. Will Lille be able to defend their Ligue 1 Championship without Manager Christophe Galtier? How will Galtier fair with new club Nice? Will PSG push on after being narrowly pipped to the title? Will Mbappé stay? Can this possibly be as exciting a season as we had in 20/21? A potentially enthralling season kicks off in Monaco this evening.
Monaco V Nantes - Kick off at 2000 Friday 6th August - Live on BT Sport 2
Monaco had a very good 20/21 season finishing third in the League and runners up in the Coupe De France. They started their season earlier this week with a good 2 -0 win at Sparta Prague in the Champions League qualifying round. Manager Niko Kovač has found a good balance to the team and, so far, managed to keep hold of his talented young players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Sofiane Diop and Youssouf Fofana (pictured).
Kovač has goalscorers in Kevin Volland (20 league goals in 20/21) and Wissam Ben Yedder (17 League goals in 20/21) and has strengthened his attack with the signing of Myron Boadu from AZ Alkmaar. The 20 year old Dutch Striker scored 15 goals in the Eredivisie last season so could be a good signing for Les Monegasques. They have also strengthened their squad with the 2 year loan signing of Goalkeeper Alexander Nübel. Nübel has been under study to Manuel Neuer at Bayern Munich and is seen as his eventual replacement. A two year stint in Ligue 1 will give Nübel value experience which Bayern must want so presumably he will play. The 24 year old German Keeper played in the match at Sparta Prague with Benjamin Lecomte injured so it could be Nübel who starts this match. Monaco have also added youth to their squad with German defender Ismail Jakobs and Brazilian Midfielder Jean Lucas. The latter has come from Lyon and it's surprising that Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas has let such a promising player go. Monaco have improved on what was already a very good squad and could be the team that pushes PSG for the title this year.
Nantes had a very difficult season finishing 18th and having to play off against Toulouse over two legs to stay in Ligue 1. Coach Antoine Kombouaré came in last February and made Nantes harder to beat. Les Canaris finished the season relatively strongly and will hope to carry that form in to this season and not get dragged in to a familiar relegation scrap early on. Les Canaris do have talent particularly in young forward Ludovic Blas who had 10 goals and 4 assists last season. The signing of central midfielder Wylan Cyprien should strengthen them but they could do with a little more creativity. We could see Nantes improve on last season but I still think they'll be in a fight to avoid the drop.
Frenchfooty prediction: Monaco 2 - Nantes 0
Lyon V Brest - Kick off at 1600 Saturday 27th August - Live on BT Sport 3
Lyon finished 4th last season and will be disappointed to have missed out on Championship League qualification by just two points. New Manager Peter Bosz will have to get to grips with the French League and his new squad quickly if he is to improve their league position. The Dutchman favours an attacking game which should be exciting to watch and suit his new team who were the second highest scorers in Ligue 1 in 20/21.
Lyon have lost their best player, Memphis Depay, on a free transfer to Barcelona. Depay scored 20 League goals during the 20/21 season so will be very hard to replace. Les Lyonnais do have Striker Moussa Dembélé back in the squad after his unsuccessful loan to Atletico Madrid last season ( 5 appearances no goals). In his two previous seasons at Lyon he scored 15 and 16 league goals respectively. If Les Gones have any chance of pushing for the title this year then they need Dembele to hit the ground running. So far they have only signed two players, veteran defender from Rennes Damien Da Silva and Brazilian right back Henrique from Vasco Da Gama. Neither of which will have inspired the Lyon fans who will be desperate for more signings before the end of August. Lyon do have good players particularly in their dynamic young midfield of Caqueret, Aouar and Guimarães. It will be exciting to hopefully see the emergence of the much touted 17 year old Rayan Cherki. Will he get more of a chance to show his talent this season?
If Lyon don't sign another Striker they will be hoping to get more out of Islam Slimani who only scored three times in the last campaign. There is no doubt that Lyon are a good side but I feel they are a couple of players short of improving on last season. There is still time for them to get more players in.
Brest only avoided the relegation play off place last season by one point. Manager Olivier Dall'Oglio left at the seasons end to join Montpellier. The Breton club then replaced Dall'Oglio with Montpellier's recently departed Manager Michel Der Zakarian. Brest seem to have got the better end of the deal there as Zakarian had put together a decent attacking team at Montpellier. The Armenian got Montpellier to the Coupe De France semi finals last season and only narrowly missed out on European Competition. Can he move Brest forward? It will be difficult given Les Pirates' transfer business so far. They have sold veteran striker Gaetan Charbonnier to Auxerre, promising midfielder Jean Lucas came to the end of his loan spell (now signed for Monaco) and left back Romain Perraud has gone to Southampton. No one of particular note has come in so it's difficult to see how they improve. Top scorer Steve Mounie (9 goals 4 assists) will be the player they look to keep them out of trouble but this could be a long hard season for the Bretons.
Frenchfooty prediction: Lyon 1 V Brest 0.
Troyes V PSG - Kick off at 2000 Saturday 27th August - Live on BT Sport 1
Ligue 1 football comes back to Troyes for the first time since 2018. Coach Laurent Batlles took over in 2019 and took the Grand Est side to a 4th placed finish before winning Ligue 2 last season by five points. The last three times Troyes have been promoted they have gone down immediately the following year, Batlles will be hoping he can break this trend. Troyes were taken over in September 2020 by City Football Group. CFG are the same Company that own Manchester City and and a handful of other clubs around Europe. Troyes fans will hope that the CFG ethos of combining scouting networks and sharing players will pay off for them. City have loaned Troyes 20 year old full back Issa Kaboré for the season. Could more follow? Troyes's best signing of the summer though has to be that of Nimes forward Renaud Ripart. Ripart (pictured below) was a talisman for Les Nimois, sometimes Captaining the team and performing consistently well for them. The 28 year old is versatile and scored 11 League goals last season in a team that finished 19th. Can he keep that consistency away from his hometown Club? It will be interesting to see how veteran Striker Yoann Touzghar does in Ligue 1 this season. He scored 16 goals in Ligue 2 last season with four assists. If Troyes are to break the cycle of immediate relegation they will need to provide these Strikers with good service.
PSG will still be reeling from not winning Ligue 1 or the Champions League last season. In what has been a quiet transfer window thus far, PSG's recruitment has been the most impressive. Legendary Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, the best Goalkeeper of Euro 2020 Gianluigi Donnarumma and Dutch midfielder Gigi Wijnaldum have all been brought in on free transfers. Wijnaldum could slot straight in to the team but will he play in midfield as he did for Liverpool or further forward as he does so effectively for Holland? Ramos should lend leadership and experience to an already impressive defense. Could his arrival disrupt the harmony of the dressing room though? Ramos is used to being Captain but Marquinhos already Captains PSG from Centre half. Marquinhos and Ramos as a partnership should be a formidable pairing but means Kimpembe, who has been impressive, will be pushed out. Could this lead to Pochettino possibly playing three at the back in a bid to appease them all? Potentially more unsettling is the arrival of Donnarumma from Milan. He is arguably the best Keeper in Europe at the moment so to lure him from Serie A on a free transfer is fantastic business. The problem is current Keeper Keylor Navas is a top quality player who performed outstandingly last season. Who will Pochettino start with? Neither will be happy with rotation so how is it going to work? Will he start with Navas for this game and let Donnarumma settle in before starting to rotate after a few games? The most necessary signing Paris have made is that of Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan. The 22 year old right back is a class act. He won Serie A with Inter last year playing 37 times and scoring seven goals. He can also play on the right or left wing so it's hard to see why Inter let him go. PSG have not had a consistent right back for some time so this looks like a great signing for them.
PSG were surprisingly beaten in the Trophée des Champions last Sunday by Lille. The equivalent of the Community shield was played in Tel Aviv in a bid to promote Ligue 1. I can understand the need to promote French Football but I wish competitive games would stay in their own Countries and let home fans have a chance of watching the matches from the stadiums and not just on TV. Particularly after so long of not having fans in grounds due to Covid. Although Lille are the reigning Ligue 1 Champions they have lost their Manager and two important players so PSG were big favourites to win. Pochettino's team were beaten 1 - 0 after a wonder strike from Xeka. PSG were without Neymar, Mbappe and Marquinhos but this was still a bad result for them and the first time they have not won this trophy in eight years. The Parisians should be the favourites for the League Championship let alone this game but it will be fascinating to see how their season plays out with so many established stars. There could be more players to come in, the transfer window doesn't shut until August 31st but PSG's priority now must be to keep Kylian Mbappe for at least one more season. Anything other than a win here for Paris will be a terrible start.
Frenchfooty prediction: Troyes 0 V PSG 2
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