League Focus: What We Know at the Halfway Point in Ligue 1 2014/15

Transfers are overrated

Champions Paris Saint-Germain’s taste for eye-catching transfers in recent years has given Ligue 1 a new dimension. For a while, Monaco were joining in, counting high-end additions such as Radamel Falcao, James Rodríguez and João Moutinho as promotion presents to themselves.

If PSG have been hamstrung by Financial Fair Play and Monaco likewise by the same issue (added to owner Dmitry Rybolovlev’s costly divorce) more recently, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, plenty of Ligue 1’s success stories have made it work with very little in the way of new blood.

The most obvious example are Nantes, currently serving a transfer ban after the Ismaël Bangoura affair, but sitting pretty. Les Canaris are in 7th place with a very satisfactory 30 points. It is their highest tally at the halfway stage, in fact, since 2000/01 – the season in which the club last lifted the Ligue 1 title. As discussed in this column before http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/rjdn2qskj0kwz1rq7zjp_q/Show/Team-Focus-Nantes-Unlikely-Climb-Continues-Due-to-Mastery-of-the-Basics , the improvement of highly-rated midfielder Jordan Veretout has been important (6 goals and 4 assists already this term, after 1/5 last season), but star defender Papy Djilobodji (7.53 average rating this season, after 7.26 last) and Olivier Veigneau (7.45 as compared to 7.14) have also built on their achievements.

Lyon, on a far tighter leash than in the days when they splurged astronomical sums on Abdulkader Keita, Ederson, Lisandro Lopez or Yoann Gourcuff, parted with just €2.25m last summer to sign centre-back Lindsay Rose from Valenciennes and Paris Saint-Germain’s right-back Christophe Jallet. The 22-year-old has started just 3 matches so far. Experienced France defender Jallet, on the other hand, has been one of the buys of the season at a paltry €750,000 initial outlay, but is an exception in a squad of youth products.

Playmaker Nabil Fekir (21 years old, 7 goals and 4 assists) and 23-year-old top scorer Alexandre Lacazette – more of whom below – have shone, while defender Samuel Umtiti is approaching the 100 league appearance mark at just 21. Both Nantes and Lyon, in their differing situations, underline that familiarity is a useful tool.

Leaders Marseille do too, despite having spent more than any other team apart from PSG, albeit a relatively modest sum in general European terms of €20.5m. Yet their new boys haven’t exactly set the world on fire. Abdel Barrada and Romain Alessandrini have made just 3 Ligue 1 starts apiece, striker Michy Batshuayi only made his full league debut in the last game before the winter break – scoring against Lille – while Brazilian defender Doria has not played a single minute of the league campaign to date.

This is partly due to Bielsa’s dissatisfaction with the club’s transfer policy, as he voiced vehemently shortly after the season’s start, but it also pays tribute to the transformative effect that the Argentinian has had on players already at the club. Each one of his go-to XI was at the Stade Vélodrome last season. Dimitri Payet (who the club attempted to sell to Swansea in pre-season) is one of the best examples, providing 8 assists and making 68 key passes, more than anybody else in the division. Stability works.

It’s not just about Zlatan

If you’d have been told before the start of the season that Zlatan Ibrahimovic would miss almost half of the games in the first part of the campaign – he has started 10 and been a substitute once in PSG’s 19 matches – you’d have thought that Ligue 1 might be a significantly duller proposition.

It’s not been like that. Both Marcelo Bielsa’s Marseille revolution and Lyon’s effervescent youngsters have offered plenty of entertainment and – interestingly in a competition often defined by a perceived circumspection – goalscorers of genuine pedigree have stepped up to fill the gaping void left by Ligue 1’s Swedish maestro.

Alexandre Lacazette goes into the holidays clear at the top of the goalscoring charts with 17, 5 clear of André-Pierre Gignac on 12. The young Frenchman recently expressed his doubt that he will stay ahead of Ibrahimovic for too long, despite having a 9-goal start for now, but he is useful in the creative stakes too, having provided 5 assists (Ibrahimovic, having laid on 11 last season, is yet to supply any this time). Lacazette’s resilience is also clear. Having missed a penalty in the derby defeat to Saint Etienne at the end of November, he has responded magnificently, scoring 6 times as Lyon have soared to four straight wins.

Honourable mentions must also go to Cheick Diabaté of Bordeaux – 8 in just 13 starts – and free-kick specialist Daniel Wass, with the Evian man also on 8.


Goals are more important than defending

Going back to the cliché of Ligue 1 being about defending, let’s be clear – it really isn’t. A tight backline is unlikely to either save a team from the drop or get them to fulfil loftier ambitions. Ninth-placed Reims, for example, have conceded 30, only two less than bottom team Caen and third-bottom Evian Thonon Gaillard. Bordeaux are still in the top six after conceding 27, though the number is slightly skewed by the 5-0 beating suffered by Lyon in the last game before the break.

Lille, meanwhile, have been frugal, giving up just 17 in their 18 games so far, as good a defensive record as the top two of Marseille and Lyon. The 2011 double winners have scored a meagre 15, however, and are thus struggling in a lowly 13th. Monaco have leaked only one more (18), but scored fairly modestly (23). An upturn of 9 in 6 in all competitions has seen Leonardo Jardim’s team win 6 in a row since defeat at Rennes (if we’re including the penalty shootout win over Lyon in the Coupe de la Ligue) and progress in two cup competitions. Certainly the contrast with the opening part of their season is notable – it took Monaco 12 matches to score more than once in a game for the first time.

At the other end, league top scorers Lyon (40 goals) and Marseille (38) are sitting pretty in the top two places. He who dares wins, so far.

Do you think Marseille can hold on to top spot and secure the title? Who do you think needs the winter break most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below