LIGUE 1
It has been PSG + the rest, in France, much due to the
fact that the Paris team has a sugar daddy that invested very well in his team,
making it an assurance for the title and always a possible contender to the
Champions League. Their dominance had its pinnacle last year, where they were
champions by March and surely teams like As Monaco or OL. Lyon want to be a
bigger threat to PSG.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
Unai Emery has a real task in his hands. Not because
it should be that difficult to win the league – PSG has the best and most deep
squad in France by a large margin – but rather because he needs to motivate his
team and present them new challenges, while coping with the absence of Zlatan.
The Swede was a big influence, and without him is up to players like Cavani or
Di Maria to step up. You feel that the Spaniard will focus his attention,
mainly, in the Champions League but he needs to be aware of teams that are
going to give it all domestically. They had a little taste of that with Monaco,
a game that surely raised some alarms and PSG will be keen to not repeat
anytime soon.
AS MONACO
Leonardo Jardim starts another season at Monaco
knowing that it’s going to be very hard to compete with PSG, but that he has a
solid team that he has been developing in recent years and he has a world-class
(though destroyed by injuries) striker in Falcao to score the goals that have
been lacking. If Monaco fixes that problem, with their defensive consistency,
they can be a nuisance, as Fenerbahçe and Villarreal will attest, teams that
Jardim’s squad eliminated en route to the Champions League group stage
OL. LYON
It’s all
about Alexandre Lacazette. The striker was wanted by many teams but Aulas has
convinced him to stay and the French has repaid him by being in excellent form
in the beginning of the season, scoring all the goals for his team. A strong,
pacey striker, much like Benzema that also came from Stade Gerland, Lacazette
will be in the headlines if Lyon get themselves in the fight for the title.
With good background teammates in Valbuena, Rybus e Jallet, and as long he
keeps injuries away, Lacazette will probably replace Ibrahimovic as the main
goalscorer in France.
The League
Two very disappointing away games, with a scrappy win
at Bastia and a convincing loss at Monaco, showed us that PSG might not have
its full attention in the league until the end of group stages in Europe. If
that happens, Monaco and Lyon are the teams that seem more likely to try and
fight the Paris dominance, with Jardim’s team displays in Europe and against
PSG giving good indication, as well as Lacazette for Lyon, he’s been completely
unstoppable.
What its
expected, definitely, is that this year the French league will be more
entertaining, something needed to establish themselves as top dog in club
football, something they always lacked.
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