The French Connection : Bordeaux

What is wrong with Yoann Gourcuff?

James Horncastle — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:06:00 GMT

Yoann Gourcuff has carried a weight of expectation on his shoulders ever since he was a local ping-pong champion aged 12 in Morbihan. But the scale of the pressure that the France international is currently burdened with is arguably unlike any he has experienced before.

When Gourcuff moved from Bordeaux to Lyon late in the summer in a transfer that could well end up costing Jean-Michel Aulas as much as €26.5m, the gates to the Stade de Gerland were opened up to allow 15,000 adoring fans to witness France’s first ever Gálactico-like unveiling. The 24-year-old described the whole affair as “pleasant” but “embarrassing” before telling the assembled journalists: “I don’t consider myself to be the messiah.”

And yet after 18 months of treating Gourcuff as the second coming, some are now beginning to wonder whether he is in fact a false idol. It wouldn’t be the first time France has been taken in by the charm of a playmaker with the face and feet of an angel. After all, for every Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini there is usually a Philippe Vercruysse and Jean-Marc Ferreri left by the wayside. Both were without doubt talented playmakers who ultimately dazzled only to deceive. And just like Gourcuff they each won a league title at Bordeaux, something that eluded Zidane, which is surely more of a coincidence than a bad omen. Yet the sudden fall off in Gourcuff’s performances this year means the possibility is at least now being considered.

Between August 2008 and December 2009, his rise was seemingly irresistible. Gourcuff’s star was in the ascendancy like few others in the world at the time. Two magical goals against Toulouse and Paris Saint-Germain showed a Houdini-like appreciation for escapology, the skill and conception of which prompted France to let out a collective gasp of “oh là là là, c’est magnifique.”

The jaw of the French press was on the floor, it’s tongue wagging. “Gourcuff isn’t the new Zidane. He is Zidane,” read one headline. His 12 goals and 10 assists inspired Bordeaux to their first title in a decade. And initially at least Gourcuff’s form was carried into the national team too, his 30-yard screamer against Romania in October 2008 saving Raymond Domenech’s job after France’s early exit from the European Championship that summer.

He seemed to be the complete package, both on and off the pitch. Gourcuff’s clean-cut image and good looks served to make his appeal stretch way beyond the game itself, yet any risk of a Beckham-like phenomenon within France were curtailed by a desire for privacy that stemmed from his childhood being firmly rooted in football.

Gourcuff was also the thinking fan’s crumpet. While at Bordeaux, he lived at No 21 on the Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau and according to Julien, the waiter at Gourcuff’s local café: “Yoann read books never newspapers.” Take into account his father Christian’s past as a player and present as an aesthetically minded coach at Lorient, then Yoann’s graduation from Rennes, the best academy in France, and subsequent two-year spell at Milan, and it’s fair to say Gourcuff’s education in football appeared to be second to none.

When asked why he’d decided to make Gourcuff the second biggest signing in Lyon’s history, Aulas smiled: “It’s the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime.” Yet while the high-profile investment would have once looked like a guarantee of success with no risk entailed, it now bore a greater resemblance to a leap of faith, the hope being that 2010 has been an aberration in Gourcuff’s career so far. A study published earlier this month laid bare the scale of his Année Noire in all its miserable detail.

Astonishingly, Gourcuff has won just 30 per cent of his matches in 2010, scoring half as many goals and laying on half as many assists as he did last year. Ranked 151st in L’Équipe’s individual player ratings with an average score of just 4.73 out of 10, the extent of his poor form was put into even starker relief.

“His balance is mixed,” said Jacques Crevoisier, a respected psychologist who worked as Gerard Houllier’s assistant at Liverpool. “He is not decisive in spite of the enormous attention that he sparks. He has cost a lot of money. He plays very deep. He often takes several touches of the ball before passing. He is inconsistent. He doesn’t justify his transfer at the moment.”

France’s investigation into Gourcuff’s malaise has been a forensic one with no stone being left unturned in the effort to discover the reasons he has become a shadow of his former self. A page of Carlo Ancelotti’s autobiography, I prefer the Cup, in which he described Gourcuff as a “strange lad” who was both “egocentric” and “a little mad” was quoted at length.

Paolo Maldini was interviewed before Auxerre’s Champions League match with Milan on the 25th anniversary of his European debut at the Abbé-Deschamps. His opinion of Gourcuff was candid to say the least. “He got it 100 per cent wrong at Milan,” Maldini said. “Yoann’s problem was his behaviour. He didn’t study Italian at all. He didn’t want to work on tactics. He wasn’t always on time. A lot of things happened. But he knows very well what he did.”

The Italian perception of Gourcuff simply didn’t correlate with the one held in France. If anything, he had a reputation as a teacher’s pet. “It was completely the opposite,” explained Bordeaux goalkeeper Cédric Carrassso. “He was here an hour before training and worked a lot. It’s true, he had a bad season, but he also had such an exceptional one the year before, it’s tough to stay at the same level.”

Gourcuff had clearly ruffled a few feathers on L’Hexagone, though, primarily because of the timing of his decision to quit Bordeaux, which came late in the transfer window when the season had already started. “The manner in which it happened irritated me coming on the Saturday evening before an important match,” Bordeaux coach Jean Tigana said. “We were coming off two defeats and going to face PSG at the Parc on Sunday. Asking to leave on that day shocked me a little. It could have come on Monday. It would have shown respect to the group. If he is at the level he is today, it’s because of Bordeaux.”

Jean-Louis Triaud, the club president, had also been left with a bitter taste in his mouth, snidely commenting that Gourcuff’s loss would be minimal because there are other players in the team who could take corners. Bordeaux’s Ultra Marines followed that up by drafting a press release insisting that Gourcuff is no longer considered welcome at the Stade Chaban-Delmas and that they were actually more dismayed at Fernando Cavenaghi’s departure to Mallorca. Unsurprisingly he was whistled on his return to the ground in September.

In Gourcuff’s defence, there are mitigating circumstances. Things fell apart at Bordeaux in January when the-then president of the French Football Federation Jean-Pierre Escalettes made it clear that the search for Raymond Domenech’s successor had begun. He made no secret of the fact Laurent Blanc was the No 1 choice to replace him. It destabilised the club, as Blanc’s head was turned and knowing that he was considering his future, some players did too, notably Marouane Chamakh. Bordeaux incredibly threw away a nine-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 and finished sixth. It was an epic collapse, the psychological effects of which are still being felt within the squad today. Gourcuff is no exception.

The World Cup only served to make matters worse. Gourcuff’s confidence had taken a beating even before the flight to South Africa. In the build up to the play-off with the Republic of Ireland, Domenech had stripped him of his set-piece taking duties. He then lost his place in the team on the eve of the finals and started the opening match against Uruguay on the bench. Reports claimed Franck Ribery was bullying Gourcuff. Then came the notorious strike at Knysna and his harsh sending off against South Africa in the final group game. It was a personal nightmare.

When cast in that light Gourcuff’s desire for a new challenge at Lyon appeared acceptable enough. The presence of his friends Jérémy Toulalan and Hugo Lloris would naturally help with his rehabilitation. But Gourcuff unwittingly walked straight into another mess. Lyon made their worst start to a season for 13 years. Claude Puel was given until the end of October to save his job. There was reportedly dissent within the dressing room while the spine of the team itself was mostly missing with the exception of Lloris, as Cris and Lisandro Lopez suffered niggling injury problems and Toulalan needed time to deal with his own inner demons after playing a surprising role in the strike in South Africa.

Suffice to say that Lyon’s current problems haven’t exactly been conducive to Gourcuff finding his feet. The composition of the team has changed so regularly that the development of any chemistry has been difficult. “Yoann needs reference points,” said Lyon director Bernard Lacombe. “At Bordeaux he played with the same players for two years in an identical formation: Fernando, Alou Diarra, Wendel, Chamakh and Gouffran. It’s normal that he has different sensations here. The team alternates between good matches like against Rennes and complicated matches.”

Puel’s dedication to a scientific rotation policy has also seen Gourcuff often replaced before the 90-minute mark, which has frustrated the player in his efforts to find any match rhythm after the World Cup. “Ask the coach why I came off,” Gourcuff said after being replaced against Nancy despite playing well. “I wasn’t knackered. It bothered me.” And yet signs of recovery have been forthcoming. “He’s a lad who is in need of reconstruction,” Blanc said. “His qualities haven’t disappeared.”

Gourcuff has received no special treatment from his former mentor. But Blanc has used him wisely for France, nurturing the player’s confidence with care. He scored from the bench against Romania and from the start against Luxembourg in October, going back to his club on a real high. Gourcuff subsequently found the net in a key match at home to Lille to make it three goals in nine days, only for Puel to undo all of Blanc’s good work by taking him off at half-time against relegation strugglers Arles. Gourcuff was then desperately disappointing in the League Cup against PSG and seemingly back to square one again.

Last week’s events epitomised his year. Just three days after Gourcuff’s best showing of the season in a 3-1 victory away to Lens, where he made an inspirational second half cameo, a spanner was thrown in the works yet again, as he suffered a nasty Achilles injury against Schalke.

Gourcuff now faces a three-week spell on the sidelines, leaving little if no time at all to salvage what has been a rotten 2010. Lyon fans can only shrug their shoulders in dismay. Gourcuff famously once likened himself to a “diesel engine” because of the time it takes for him to get going, but it would appear someone has actually filled his tank up with the wrong fuel, as this year has seen plenty of spluttering and an eventual breakdown.

The faith in Gourcuff’s potential remains, though. “He is the prototype of a Barcelona player,” Xavi told France Football earlier this month. “I adore him.” Nevertheless, Gourcuff now has to lay the doubters to rest. “I don’t agree with the journalists on their analysis of my performances,” he said. ”But one thing is certain. We have yet to see the real Gourcuff.” Meanwhile, France and Lyon are asking if he’ll please stand up, Achilles injury permitting, of course.

PSG turn 40, Giuly strips and the hate turns to love

James Horncastle — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:37:00 GMT

Before all greetings cards became a 1950s setting of domestic bliss juxtaposed with a lewd speech bubble, the greetings written inside were sweet and innocent, wishing you all the best with unbridled optimism. One nauseatingly hopeful message became a cliche in its own right: ‘Life begins at 40’.

So when Paris Saint-Germain hit the Big Four-Oh this year, even France Football felt compelled to ask: "Can it be the start of a different story?" Of course, such an open and ambiguous question is a catch-all loaded with meaning, as it not only hints at a new dawn and today being the first day of the rest of your life, but also that a page needs turning and that it’s time the past was put to one side.

Mid-life crisis doesn’t even begin to describe the situation at PSG in the last few years. "It’s a club where things have happened in 40 years that don’t happen to others in 400," wrote L’Equipe. Indeed, celebrations marking the anniversary of PSG’s inception on August 27, 1970 had at their centre the ambition of becoming a national power again – an ambition, pundits mockingly add, that the club appears to have every summer.

It’s certainly no exaggeration to suggest that last season was a rollercoaster both on and off the pitch. PSG were second after four games, only to finish in 13th place. Sebastien Bazin, the club’s majority shareholder, was so angry that he stormed into the dressing room after a 2-2 draw against Valenciennes in May and raged: "I don’t think you understand the financial consequences of our final position in the championship."

HITTING ROCK BOTTOM

PSG didn’t win any of their last six games of the campaign, their slide down the table costing an estimated €3m in prize money. So it’s really little wonder that Bazin was still doing the rounds as recently as this week, calling for players’ wages to be reduced and more emphasis to be put on performance related bonuses.

To borrow a headline from L’Equipe, PSG did at least manage to save their season with another victory in the French Cup, their third triumph this decade also booking a place in Europe. But even that achievement had to be taken with a pinch of salt as they met just two Ligue 1 teams in six rounds, beating such domestic minnows as Aubervilliers, Evian, Vesoul and Quevilly en route to the final.

Speaking in July, PSG’s coach Antoine Kombouare – a living relic of the club’s 1990s glory days when his ‘golden helmet’ helped complete one of the greatest comebacks in the history of European club football – was under no illusion as to the scale of the task ahead of him. "I’ve had pressure since the very start," he said. "But I know that having the same season this year is not allowed."

It was an aberration off the pitch, too. Nike and PSG were on trial for allegedly hiding payments between 1998 and 2005 to attract top players like Nicolas Anelka and Gabriel Heinze to the Parc des Princes. But the nadir came in February when a second PSG supporter in three and a half years was killed, this time before the Clasico against Marseille in violent fratricidal clashes between the Boulogne Kop with its racist element and the Auteuil stand with its ethnic minorities.

"Once again it’s the club’s image which suffers," the goalkeeper Gregory Coupet said. "At a sporting level, we feel strongly responsible because if there had been good results there maybe wouldn’t have been all these problems and this rise in violence. It’s also a reflection on society. People fear police less and less and that creates riots."

So PSG’s 40th year was also Year Zero – time to go and take a good hard look in the mirror and reassess everything. Club president Robin Leproux implemented a courageous plan called ‘Everyone PSG’ whereby 13,000 season tickets in the Boulogne and Auteuil ends were prevented from being renewed to root out the hooligans and pacify the Parc, while families were welcomed to sit in the lower tier behind the goal with an attractive ticketing operation.

"If we don’t take these measures," he said. "The club’s future is in danger." But as Coupet had said, the team itself had a role to play – winning games would help alleviate the tension. Marseille midfielder Edouard Cisse, whose decade at PSG was punctuated with loan spells at Rennes, West Ham and Monaco, indicated as much only last month, joking that: "When things go bad in Paris, they go really bad. But when things go well, they go really well."

BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

Mindful that PSG’s very credibility was at stake after just two top-five finishes in 10 years - the most recent coming in 2004 - and that sponsors or potential investors were also beginning to shy away from the club, its much-maligned owners Colony Capital were wary of investing any more money in the playing staff. The purse strings were prised open just enough to sign three players at a cost of £7.9m.

The most important was Nene - the lithe playmaker brought in from Monaco - whose ability to play on the left-hand side resolved a problem PSG have been wrestling with since they fell out with Jerome Rothen. The Brazilian’s arrival brought balance to the side, as it allowed Kombouare to move Stephane Sessegnon back to his preferred position on the right.

Sessegnon, Sakho & Nene find the formula

It sounds simple, but PSG were no longer putting square pegs in round holes, as they now had four specialists in four offensive positions – a lefty, a righty and a big-man/little-man partnership up front in Guillaume Hoarau and Mevlut Erdinc.

But Nene was immediately cast as the difference-maker, the heir to PSG’s other great Brazilians like Valdo, Leonardo and of course Rai, the protagonist of their last league title in 1994 and the club’s back-to-back appearances in the Cup Winners’ Cup final. Nene scored 14 goals last season, and laid on four assists.

Yet his ability from set-pieces perhaps showed that PSG were following the path to success trodden by Bordeaux and Marseille who based their recent title triumphs on being dangerous from corners and free-kicks via Yoann Gourcuff and Lucho Gonzalez.

"Nene gets us out of bad situations," said fellow summer signing Mathieu Bodmer. "He always scores a lot of goals, but he also draws many fouls and gets a number of free-kicks. Two defenders concentrate on him, which leaves more space for the others."

The initial indications were good too, as PSG beat Marseille on penalties to win the French equivalent of the Charity Shield in Tunisia and then opened their league campaign with a 3-1 win against Saint-Etienne in front of just 22,689 spectators, the lowest crowd for that fixture at the Parc des Princes for 10 years, a clear by-product of the new security measures. The atmosphere may have suffered, but the intentions were good and the results improving.

After starting the season with a three-match unbeaten run, true to form PSG lost three on the bounce. History was repeating itself. "We have to find out how PSG will cope with the crisis periods," Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez opined. Kombouare then did something inspired. Rather than throw the baby out with the bath water, he merely reshuffled his pack, striking upon a winning formula.

OUT OF ADVERSITY

The 4-4-2 was retained, but Siaka Tiene, the last of PSG’s summer signings, was thrown in at the deep end – or more precisely at left-back, where he replaced Sylvain Armand, whom Kombouare asked to move into the middle to partner the club’s 20-year-old academy product Mamadou Sakho.

PSG captain Claude Makelele had postponed his plans to retire in the summer to play one final season and wasn’t about to let it go south so soon. The former Chelsea man revealed how he told Sakho: "I've played with defenders who made strikers scared. You must become like them!"

A goalkeeping change was also in the offing with Apoula Edel coming in for Coupet. The 24-year-old occasional Armenia international from Cameroon looked shaky when called upon last season, especially after his former coach made the stunning allegation in December that he is actually 29 and someone else altogether, namely Ambroise Beyamena. But he has proven to be one of Ligue 1’s best shot stoppers this year.

Kombouare’s tinkering also saw two players who had been told they could leave in the summer surprisingly welcomed back into the fold. For a time it looked like Ludovic Giuly’s only highlights of the season would be an impromptu strip in a Parisian bar, but he has since ousted Sessegnon on the right and faintly resembles the player who won a Champions League winners’ medal with Barcelona.

Meanwhile Clement Chantome, the archetypal modern midfielder who ironically looked like yesterday’s news, took advantage of Bodmer’s injury problems to revive his career and earn a call-up to the France squad.

What happened next was a distinctly un-PSG revival, or at least one that hasn’t been seen since Vahid Halihodzic made very similar changes in the 2003-04 campaign: club aficionados should read Gabi Heinze for Tiene, Frederic Dehu for Armand and Jerome for Edel. That team went on to finish second, something Kombouare no doubt hopes to replicate.

BACK IN THE BIG TIME

Immediately after the changes, his side kept seven straight clean-sheets and got back on the podium. When PSG beat Marseille 2-1 in Ligue 1 for the first time in six years at the Parc des Princes on November 7, L’Equipe’s headline screamed "Paris are candidates". They had dominated the champions, Nene’s assist for Hoarau being put forward as Exhibit A in the case for the club to be considered a serious title contender. PSG had made the jump in quality. After all, they had only recently knocked Lyon out of the League Cup.

So naturally the question everyone is asking is: are PSG for real? The party line is that a top-five finish remains the club’s objective. But Kombouare’s ability to dig deep into his squad and find the answers to turn things around suggests that PSG have greater depth than in recent years, although it’s no secret that the manager would still like to sign an orthodox centre-back like his former Valenciennes protege Milan Bisevac.

As of yet, PSG have shown they can cope relatively well on three fronts – despite losing three times after midweek commitments in the Europa League, in which they have beaten Sevilla and held Borussia Dortmund at home and away already this season.

The chief concern has lain up front. Before the Clasico, Hoarau and Erdinc had scored just twice in the same match together. Indeed, despite their apparent compatibility on paper – the former being tall and good in the air, the latter being short and full of running – Hoarau and Erdinc only exchanged four passes against Marseille and have seven goals between them in Ligue 1. The chemistry is lacking.

The pair’s confidence was in pieces at the start of the month. PSG supporters whistled Erdinc against Dortmund while just a few days later Hoarau was even seen crying after being substituted away to Montpellier. (In case you're wondering, Nene is the team’s top scorer.)

But in some respects Hoarau and Erdinc are exactly why PSG are unbeaten in their last six matches, because though they rarely make the team win, they both ensure the side is difficult to beat, the Frenchman’s height coming in handy at defensive set-pieces and the Turk’s stamina proving invaluable for pressing.

For now, it seems PSG are finally a team again. Side is definitively put before self. Sunday’s 90th-minute equaliser at Lorient showed the spirit within the camp, indicating that the psychological barrier has been crossed. The hate that had once so insidiously enveloped the club now appears to have been channeled in a positive way: "It’s the hate of defeat," says Kombouare with a wry smile.

Today PSG lie fourth in the standings, but with just eight points separating first and 19th place in Ligue 1, crisis is never far away in the tightest title race in Europe.

Past magic alone won't be enough for Tigana at Bordeaux

James Horncastle — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:04:00 GMT

Curiously, football managers are often defined more by the quirks they display on the touchline than the titles they win on the pitch.

Jean Tigana is one such example whose penchant for lollipops and toothpicks while sat in the Fulham dug out between 2000 and 2003 is perhaps remembered more readily than him getting the club promoted to the Premier League, winning the Intertoto Cup and of course his decision to sign Steve Marlet from Lyon for £11.5m. The less said about that the better.

Fulham is a club that has a more acute sense of nostalgia than many of its peers after spending 33 years outside the top flight, an exile that Tigana helped to end in 2001. So there are reasons aplenty, despite the acrimonious circumstances surrounding his dismissal seven years ago, for fans of the Cottagers to look out for Tigana, because they know that behind the lollipop there is a formidable football brain.

On Tuesday he was unveiled as Bordeaux’s new manager, replacing Laurent Blanc who agreed to succeed Raymond Domenech after the World Cup. It’s his first job for three years. “It was my heart’s choice,” Tigana said. “I would not have come back to coaching in France if it was any team but Bordeaux.”

"Who loves ya, baby?"

The 54-year-old is already a legend at the Stade Chaban-Delmas having made 251 appearances for Bordeaux as a player, winning three league titles and two French Cups between 1981 an 1989 in a period of dominance remembered to this day as the best in the club’s history. He was a member of the famous Carré Magique or Magic Square, the midfield quartet composed of Michel Platini, Alain Giresse and Luis Fernandez, which inspired France to glory at Euro 84.

But yesterday’s man is tomorrow’s fool and Tigana is under no illusion as to the task that awaits him. Bordeaux were top of Ligue 1 for 30 of 38 rounds last season, but they collapsed in the spring when rumours of Blanc and then Marouane Chamakh leaving gathered pace.

Le Girondins finished sixth, outside of the European places and without the €20m windfall that comes from playing in the Champions League. The cycle was over; the coffers hardly empty but far from being full enough to compete with Marseille and Lyon. After all, it’s only right we remember that Blanc built his defence with just €3.8million.

So it’s unsurprising then that Tigana was at pains to remind France’s journalists that he was a member of the Magic Square and not the Magic Circle. “Unless M6 [Bordeaux’s owners] give me €100 million, I will have to be clever in the recruitment. I am not a magician. There are things that I can’t control, like the buy-out clauses,” Tigana grimaced, no doubt alluding to one for €8m, which would allow Marseille to wrest Bordeaux’s captain Alou Diarra away from the Chaban-Delmas.

And therein lies the rub mon petit Girondin. Tigana’s first job at Bordeaux after finding Chamakh’s replacement will be to convince the club’s stars like Diarra and most notably Yoann Gourcuff that staying put is worthwhile.

"...and for my next trick..."

He can use his hero status for leverage, but also point to the fact that he replaced Arsène Wenger at Monaco and won Ligue 1, even reaching a Champions League semi-final in 1998 only to be knocked out by Juventus.

Perhaps a more pertinent question, though, is one Tigana has to ask himself: Do I really want the job? Despite the comments made by Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud that Tigana was “the first path explored”, it’s no secret that his No 1 choice to replace Blanc was Auxerre manager and Ligue 1 Coach of the Year Jean Fernandez, so much so in fact that L’Équipe claimed Le Girondins made a final approach for him on Monday after earlier rebuttals.

Tigana apparently took some convincing. He hasn’t coached since 2007 when Turkish club Besiktas fired him and admits he has also had some recent health problems. Tigana spent the last year in Mali, his native country, doing charity work and is said to have had reservations about returning to the daily rigors of running a football team.

When pressed on reports that he hadn’t watched Bordeaux at all last season, he said: “I am going to form an opinion with a fresh perspective.” However, it won’t be long before Bordeaux fans know whether to change their opinion of him from the one they formed in the `80s.

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Blanc quits Bordeaux for France as the curtain falls on Ligue 1

James Horncastle — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:36:00 GMT

If Bordeaux let out a whimper on Sunday morning in recognition that the sun had already set on what had only recently seemed like a bright new dawn, the rest of France breathed a collective sigh of relief, as Laurent Blanc revealed that he would be quitting the Stade Chaban Delmas to take charge of the French national team after this summer’s World Cup finals.

The news couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune time, come as it did just four days after a L’Équipe poll showed that only 22% of French people have confidence in Raymond Domenech following his antics on Monday evening when he unveiled an eccentric provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup.

This morning’s editorial in L’Équipe read: “The country doesn’t need a president, rather a surgeon willing to operate without anaesthetic. Let Blanc play doctor.”

It’s no secret that Blanc was the favourite to replace Domenech, but speculation really started to mount in January when the president of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, told radio station Europe 1: “Laurent is an exemplary man, he proved it as a player and as a coach. He is certainly a good candidate.”

To say his comments were unwelcome is an understatement. Bordeaux were on course for the treble at that stage of the season and quite rightly considered the toast of French football. Since then, they have been in free-fall, losing the League Cup final, getting knocked out of the Champions League and throwing away what looked like an unassailable eight-point lead over eventual Ligue 1 winners Marseille.

FEATURE: Vieira and Benzema left on the shelf after 'Mad' Raymond's Supermarket Sweep

Saturday’s 4-3 defeat to Lens ensured that Bordeaux finished the season in sixth place, and would not qualify for Europe for the first time in five years. Les Girondins took just 21 points from their final 19 games of the season. It’s little wonder Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud said: “The uncertainty around Blanc has not had a positive effect on the team.”

Blanc flatly denied that accusation in quite a persuasive manner. “Do you believe that if I had said in January that I wasn’t interested in the France job, I would have been spared the injuries and lack of fitness that hit us, and the hellish fixture list that wore out my team? Come on! It’s just not serious.”

France Football had claimed on Wednesday that Blanc would announce his decision to leave Bordeaux ‘on Saturday night or Sunday morning,’ and their sources didn’t disappoint. Didier Deschamps sounded if he knew something about a deal with the French FA on Friday when he told L’Équipe TV: “It's very good, It's a very good choice.”

An official statement from Bordeaux confirming the news read: “The club wanted to keep Laurent Blanc as coach of the team until the end of his contract on June 30, 2011…Despite the damaging comments made by members of the French Football Federation, which have undoubtedly affected the end of Bordeaux’s season and future seasons, Bordeaux express their willingness to reach a solution acceptable to the club and respectful of its interests and damages.”

Even the most exaggerated Gallic shrug wouldn’t do justice to the grievances running through the club’s boardroom right now, even though it has been widely reported that Blanc had a gentleman’s agreement to leave if the right offer arrived.

Many of Bordeaux’s stars have tied their flag to Blanc’s mast, insisting that if he leaves, then they might too. Marouane Chamakh’s decision to up sticks for Arsenal has also further cemented the idea that the cycle is over at Bordeaux.

NEWS: Blanc set for France post

Saturday’s edition of L’Équipe even claimed that Lyon are preparing a €20m bid for Yoann Gourcuff, who was apparently in tears when Blanc revealed his decision in the dressing room at the club’s training ground yesterday morning. Marseille are also circling around Bordeaux’s captain Alou Diarra.

So the question is: who will pick up the pieces at the Chaban Delmas? Former Marseille boss Erik Gerets has repeatedly been linked with the post, but France Football claimed on Saturday that contact has already been made with Shakhtar Donetsk’s UEFA Cup-winning manager Mircea Lucescu.

However, if Bordeaux are serious about keeping Gourcuff then they could do a lot worse than hiring his father Christian whose work at Lorient suggests he is ready to coach one of France’s big clubs.

Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Lyon’s 2-0 victory over Le Mans meant they leapfrogged Lille who unexpectedly lost away to Lorient and so missed out on the €20m prize that comes with playing in Europe’s premier club competition.

Lyon therefore ensured their 11th consecutive qualification for the Champions League. And that wasn’t the only reason why things got emotional at the Gerland on Saturday night, as Sidney Govou bid goodbye to the club after nine years in which he won seven league titles.

Meanwhile, Auxerre will join Marseille and Lyon in the Champions League if they make it through the preliminary stages. France will be represented in the Europa League by Lille and surprise package Montpellier.

RESULTS Sat May 15 Marseille 2-0 Grenoble, Lorient 2-1 Lille, Lyon 2-0 Le Mans, Sochaux 1-2 Auxerre, PSG 1-3 Montpellier, Lens 4-3 Bordeaux, Toulouse 0-0 Monaco, Boulogne 1-0 Rennes, Nancy 1-1 Valenciennes, Nice 1-1 Saint-Etienne.

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Marseille finally clinch title as Arsenal-bound Chamakh breaks down

James Horncastle — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:09:00 GMT

For the people of Marseille, Wednesday night was arguably the longest in 18 years.

It started at exactly 7:50pm just over 330km to the north where Champions League chasing Lyon were playing host to second-placed Auxerre at the Stade Gerland.  

Auxerre had taken the lead 20 minutes earlier thanks to a strike from the opportunistic former contraband-running Pole, Ireneusz Jelen, and the game was as good as won.  

Or so the French Connection thought, as Auxerre hadn’t lost any of the other nine games this season in which Jelen had found the net.  

However, Lyon were reading from an entirely different script altogether, perhaps a French-dubbed Diehard, as just before half-time, their full-back Aly Cissokho won a penalty, which Lisandro López comfortably dispatched to level the score at 1-1.

 Back down south, Marseille fans were filtering into the Stade Vélodrome ahead of their team’s match against Rennes at 9:00pm with pocket radios clutched to their ears like mobile phones from the 1980s.

 The conversation was one-way. If Auxerre lost, which they surely wouldn’t now that Jelen had scored, Marseille could win the title for the first time since 1992 when Didier Deschamps, their current coach, was captain.

 A cry of ‘Allez l’OM’ came over the loudspeaker and the fans started their work early, running through a number of Andrew Lloyd-Webber inspired voice exercises that just might have included gargling copious bottles of Evian to loosen up their vocal chords.

Sébastien, a Marseille supporter, told L’Équipe: “It was bizarre, but we had to support Lyonnais.”

No doubt inspired by the 12th man residing in the Vélodrome and not the Gerland, the Lyonnais didn’t disappoint. Miralem Pjanic scored their second, a penalty, at 8:40pm to make it 2-1, and the Bosnian’s timing was perfect.

Auxerre were beaten and with 20 minutes still to go until kick-off Deschamps knew he couldn’t keep it from his players. There was no need for a motivational speech. Marseille’s players would each receive a €330,000 bonus if they won the title. Deschamps apparently just said: “Go play.”

 And that’s just what they did, winning 3-1 with goals from Mamadou Niang and two of their key summer signings Lucho González and Gabi Heinze.

 The wait was finally over. The word ‘deliverance’ was on everyone’s lips. Even the rain and blustery conditions couldn’t dampen what this meant to Marseille.

Flares were lit, fireworks let off and clothes shed as fans headed for the sea in search of a celebratory dip to wash off anything that remained of those 18 title-less years.

Souleymane Diawara danced with his ‘cousin’ Mamade; Didier Drogba sent several texts from London entitled: ‘We are the Champions’; and Mathieu Valbuena, Marseille’s pint-sized winger armed with a bottle of champagne, took a leaf out of Tottenham’s book, only he chose not to soak his manager, but the journalists feverishly typing up their copy in the post-match press conference.

 Deschamps kept his restraint but allowed himself a modest little fist pump. “I didn’t want to dance on the table,” he said. “I am a bad dancer.”

His players then left for a local nightclub called Mistral where Heinze demanded that the DJ play the Gypsy Kings on repeat. But ultimately the party took its cue from America’s finest hip-hop artists as Marseille didn’t stop `till six in the morning. Snoop would have been proud.

“I got up at 7:00am for the kids, but I didn’t feel like driving them to school,” recalled a groggy-looking Édouard Cissé. “I left the car to my wife…” His team-mates Steve Mandanda and Niang even trained in sunglasses to hide the bags under their eyes.

 So when the hangovers subsided, how was Marseille’s title received elsewhere in France? Speaking after Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat, Rennes coach Frédéric Antonetti said: “Marseille are not the same champions as Bordeaux were, Blanc’s side played better football. Marseille are a more Italian-style champion.”

Thursday’s edition of France Football also felt inclined to ask: Are Marseille great champions? Deschamps’ leadership qualities were hailed and rightly so, but it was Jean Fernandez, the Auxerre manager, who was named Ligue 1 Coach of the Year on Sunday.

Marseille weren’t even the best-represented club when the Team of the Year was unveiled; that recognition went to Bordeaux whose spectacular fall from grace – they were once 12 points ahead of Marseille - is credited with being a major contributor to OM’s ninth League title.

 L’Équipe vowed to reserve judgment until next season’s Champions League, picking up on the fact that Marseille couldn’t get out of the group stages this year and only grabbed Ligue 1 by the horns when they were knocked out of the Europa League in March, proving that they don’t have a good enough squad at the moment to compete on the continent.

 OM look as if they will be joined in the Champions League next season by Lille, who were also their opponents on Saturday. Deschamps’ side looked weary, but still went in at half-time 2-1 up despite having Mandanda sent off.

They held out until the final 10 minutes when Tulio De Melo equalised for Lille and Mathieu Debuchy headed in an injury time winner.

Rudi Garcia’s side are now second going into the final weekend of the season, two points ahead of Auxerre who drew at home to Lens. They can still be caught by Lyon, who were lucky to get a point away to Valenciennes on Saturday.

OL were trailing 2-1 when Dianbobo Baldé who had come on to shore things up for les Athéniens ironically scored an equalising own goal for the visitors.

Lyon are now four points back from Lille, but they have a game in hand at home to Monaco on Wednesday, before Ligue 2-bound Le Mans travel to the Gerland three days later.

Elsewhere on L’Hexagone, sixth-placed Bordeaux saw their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League disappear despite recording a 2-0 win over Sochaux at the Chaban Delmas. Laurent Blanc’s side can still make the Europa League if they defeat Lens next weekend and Paris-Saint German do them the favour of beating Montpellier.

 Marouane Chamakh was in tears as he played his last home game before before moving to Arsenal later this month.

The Emirates-bound Morocco international said: “There have been ups and downs for the club, but I’ve always had complete support here. All my family and friends were here and whatever happens, Bordeaux will stay close to my heart.” The French Connection salutes him.

RESULTS Sat May 8 Lille 3-2 Marseille, Auxerre 0-0 Lens, Valenciennes 2-2 Lyon, Montpellier 2-1 Lorient, Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux, Rennes 2-2 Nice, Monaco 2-1 Nancy, Le Mans 1-0 PSG, Saint-Étienne 0-1 Toulouse, Grenoble 2-0 Boulogne.

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Marseille widen the gap as €100m loss revealed

James Horncastle — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:29:00 GMT

RESULTS Sat Apr 24 Nancy 0-0 Montpellier, Le Mans 1-2 Lille, Lorient 1-0 Bordeaux, Sochaux 0-3 Boulogne, Nice 2-1 Grenoble, PSG 1-1 Rennes Sun Apr 25 Toulouse 0-3 Auxerre, Lens 1-1 Valenciennes, Marseille 1-0 Saint-Étienne

Franck Ribéry wasn’t the only one associated with French Football to see red over the last few days.

L’Équipe got hold of a confidential eight-page document produced by the DNCG that revealed the sheer scale of the financial problems engulfing the game in France.

According to the DNCG, the current model is “unsupportable for the majority of clubs, in particular the small and medium-sized ones.”

French clubs tend to survive on TV and transfer revenues alone, devoting a staggering 71 per cent of turnover to paying wages. It is estimated that French football will make a net loss of around €100m across its top two divisions this season, prompting some to call for Ligue 1 to be reduced to 18 teams.

As far as matters on the pitch were concerned, Bordeaux had a full week to prepare for their trip to Lorient on Saturday, leaving fans optimistic that Laurent Blanc’s side would reverse their fortunes after three defeats in their last four league games.

Le Girondins had beaten Lorient 4-1 on two occasions already this season, so if there was ever a time to get back to winning ways it was surely this weekend.

However, despite a fine first half, Bordeaux lost again as Kevin Gameiro gave the Breton outfit a 1-0 win. Blanc’s side now look unlikely to finish in the Champions League places.

Marseille put in a clichéd performance at the weekend, showing the hallmark of champions by beating Saint-Étienne 1-0 despite being absolutely dreadful.

Of course, there were still several positives to be drawn from the result, as Didier Deschamps’ side retained their five-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 with four games remaining.

Mathieu Valbuena also scored his third goal in four games, making the leprechaun-like winger a dark horse for a place in France’s World Cup squad.

The title could almost be mathematically wrapped up next Friday when Marseille travel to second-placed Auxerre who thrashed Toulouse 3-0 on Sunday to extend their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

“The cards aren’t in our hands,” smiled Auxerre’s captain Benoît Pedretti. “If we don’t lose our next two matches against Marseille and Lyon we’ll feel very good about finishing in the top three places.”

Chapeau to Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez for exceeding expectations this season.

Elsewhere, Boulogne’s 30-year-old cult striker Grégory Thil scored his first goal since his return from eight months on the sidelines with a serious ankle injury.

Fans of the Ligue 2-bound side were left pondering what might have been as had Thil been fit for the entire season Boulogne might have stayed up.

His 78 goals over the last five seasons have seen Boulogne move up three divisions and will be needed next year, although he might not still be around with several clubs interested in his signature.

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Marseille hold the aces in French title race, despite car trouble

James Horncastle — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:49:00 GMT

RESULTS Sat Apr 17 Boulogne 1-2 Marseille, Auxerre 4-1 Lorient, Rennes 0-0 Nancy, Valenciennes 0-1 Le Mans, Nice 0-0 Lens, Grenoble 2-2 Sochaux, Bordeaux 2-2 Lyon Sun Apr 18 Montpellier 1-1 Toulouse, Lille 4-0 Monaco, Saint-Étienne 0-0 PSG

When Didier Deschamps took charge of Marseille last summer one could be forgiven for thinking he hopped in his Citreon C5 and rode the length and breadth of Europe sticking up posters that read: “Winners, L’OM needs you.”

After all, Dédé was the last person to win the league with Marseille nearly 17 years ago when he captained them as a precocious 25-year-old water carrying midfielder. Since then, they’ve taken a leaf out of Otis Redding’s book, adapted it a bit and lost that winning feeling.

Thankfully though, Deschamps’s imaginary posters got the desired response. Marseille spent a staggering €41.3m on no fewer than 10 players, including Gabi Heinze, Souleymane Diawara, Lucho González and former West Ham United flop Édouard Cissé.

L’Équipe’s hacks - perhaps stranded in one of Monaco’s casinos on account of the volcanic ash - branded Marseille’s key signings ‘the Four Aces’.

In all, they have won nine league titles between them, adding experience to a group that, with the exception of Hatem Ben Arfa and Brandao, wasn’t used to picking up silverware.

“They are players who know how difficult it is to win things,” Deschamps said after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Sochaux. “They have a role on the pitch, but also one off it too."

“When you want a team to keep winning, it’s important to have winners. They must communicate that spirit and also what it takes to impose yourself at a high level. That is seen through words, exchanges, but above all through actions,” Deschamps added, clearly feeling vindicated by his summer strategy.

Since their victory in the League Cup final against Bordeaux on March 27, Marseille have swept all before them, opening up a five-point lead at the top of Le Championnat.

They have a swagger and a character that hasn’t been seen for years, as was evident on Saturday night.

L’OM were due in Boulogne for their fifth match in two weeks. The pesky volcanic ash meant that they had to fly to Auxerre and then take a four-hour bus journey north just to get to the ironically named Stade de la Libération, rendering an already marathon schedule a veritable Tour de France.

The fact Boulogne went into the game 19th in Ligue 1, mattered little. After all, Laurent Guyot’s men have picked up points against Bordeaux and Lyon in 2010, and are fighting for their lives, albeit quite unsuccessfully as their run of four defeats in five games amply demonstrated.

However, rather than a banana skin, this was an opportunity Marseille couldn’t afford to miss. Bordeaux were hosting Lyon in a re-match of their Champions League quarter-final, a re-match that would knock one if not both of L’OM’s seasoned rivals out of the title race. If Marseille put Boulogne to the sword, their 17 years of hurt would be closer to being over.

Little by little, though, the tension was mounting. Mamadou Niang, Ligue 1’s leading goalscorer, slapped a fan on his way out of Marseille’s training ground after the peasant put his mucky little hands on the Senegal international’s sparkling Ferrari 360.

Lucho promptly followed Niang’s lead, only he misjudged the turning out of the exit and scuffed his Audi R8 on the railings.

However, regardless of the pressure, L’OM - to paraphrase Deschamps - now had the winners to keep winning.

Marseille took the lead just before half-time in Boulogne when Mathieu Valbuena cut in from the right-hand side and rifled the ball past Jean-François Bédenik. Things got really interesting a little later though, when Boulogne equalised through Jérémy Blayac with just eight minutes remaining.

Rather than resign themselves to a draw, Marseille went looking for a win. Dédé had brought on Taye Taiwo for Niang midway through the second half and his introduction proved inspired.

The Nigeria international, who scored the winner against Lyon last month, fizzed a cross into the box in stoppage time, which found Brandao’s head and then poor Yoann Lachor’s hand, winning a last gasp penalty.

As the referee’s watch struck 95 minutes, Taiwo stepped up to the spot and beat Bédenik to secure the three points that preserved Marseille’s five-point lead at the top of Le Championnat.

“My players have the desire to get the best possible result in every match. We’re in top spot and we’ll do what we can to stay there,” Deschamps smiled in his post-match press conference. “It’s great to be in front and to be winning.”

Meanwhile, Bordeaux and Lyon were knocking seven bells out of each other and both ended up on the canvas, drawing 2-2 in a bad-tempered game that saw three players sent off in injury time.

“One draw, two losers,” read the headline in L’Équipe on Sunday morning. Bordeaux and Lyon are now 11 and nine points back respectively, the latter focusing on their Champions League semi-final with Bayern Munich, volcanic ash permitting.

The threat to Marseille’s title aspirations now comes from Auxerre whose impressive 4-1 victory over Lorient keeps them second, setting up a potential decider against Deschamps’s men in two weeks’ time.

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Blanc an unhappy clown as Lyon down Bordeaux

James Horncastle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:52:00 GMT

Bordeaux and Lyon greeted being drawn together in the Champions League quarter-finals with the kind of phoney bonhomie that was reminiscent of the line from The Godfather Part II when Michael Corleone takes out a cigarette and recalls his father advising him to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.

“We were chatting with Jean-Michel Aulas before the draw and agreed we did not want to face each other,” Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud admitted to Eurosport. Thankfully, the affable Triaud chose not to continue The Godfather parallel and have his counterpart at Lyon whacked.

And while things didn’t exactly go to the mattresses, the whole affair did inevitably turn nasty. There was no Sicilian Message for Lyon manager Claude Puel and his players, only a phone call from Bordeaux’s offices to those of LFP president Frederic Thiriez.

Bordeaux made Thiriez an offer he could have refused, asking him to move Lyon’s match against Grenoble on Friday to the following day, so Blanc’s side, who were playing the League Cup final on Saturday, would have the same amount of time to prepare for the quarter-final first leg as their opponents. Capisce?

Anyway, that’s enough with these allusions to The Godfather. Admittedly, The French Connection should have followed Triaud’s example about two pars ago, but Puel was fuming as the much-maligned Thiriez accepted Bordeaux’s proposal. “Don’t talk to me about fairness when you know how things go, when Blanc directly calls the League president to try and influence him,” he raged.

And yet if Puel wasn’t so busy seeing red and powering a steam engine with the sheer amount of hot air pouring out of his ears, he would have no doubt recognised what a wonderful moment this is for French football.

After all, France would have a representative in the semi-finals of the Champions League no matter what for the first time since 2004. Only debt-loving England had as many teams as France left in the competition.

For Lyon, who were knocked out at the quarter-final stage three years running between 2004 and 2006, it was a real chance to break new ground. “We are not afraid of anything,” smirked Anthony Réveillère, Lyon’s 30-year-old right-back. “I’ve played in three, everything is decided by the smallest details. Being the outsider or the favourite doesn’t mean a thing.”

For Bordeaux, it was their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 1988 when the eventual winners, Guus Hiddink’s PSV Eindhoven, edged them out on away goals. “Just getting this far is a real achievement,” smiled Marouane Chamakh, the Moroccan striker who has a Chelsea haircut, but seems ever closer to a move to Arsenal.

But just as in Stalingrad, the sniping continued.

Aulas simply couldn’t let Grenoble-gate go. Speaking to Le Parisien on Monday, he said: “I thought that Bordeaux were sure of themselves, but when I saw them nit-picking for us to play on Saturday, I realised that Blanc was less confident than I imagined.”

Fresh from branding France’s performance against Spain earlier this month “a humiliation”, Lyon midfielder Jérémy Toulalan wagged his silver tongue once more, expressing his disappointment at not drawing ‘a foreign team who are a little bigger’.

Hugo Lloris, the Lyon and France No.1, even had the temerity to say: “We’re not playing against Bordeaux, we’re playing against ourselves.”

Never one to shy away from a slanging match, Chamakh hit back by revealing that “Bordeaux would have preferred to avoid playing Lyon because it doesn’t feel like a big European night.” The expression Touché probably then fell from his lips.

So it’s little wonder that Blanc predicted there would be “some spice” at his pre-match press conference. Mind games or not, the pressure was now more on his shoulders than Puel’s.

Bordeaux’s 3-1 defeat to Marseille in the League Cup final on Saturday couldn’t be ignored as they were facing another French team only this time in Europe.

And while Bordeaux had recorded more points than any other team in the group stages, also keeping clean sheets in each of their last three European away matches, Lyon had put in the more memorable performances, winning at Anfield and drawing at the Santiago Bernabéu.

December’s meeting between the two sides saw Bordeaux win 1-0 at the Gerland, but only in the 86th minute.

Alou Diarra, their influential captain, was magnificent on that evening, but he was suspended for Tuesday’s clash, while Toulalan who missed the game in December was back for Lyon.

In fact, if the season had started after Christmas, Lyon would be top of Ligue 1 instead of being just two points behind Bordeaux. So like an angry snowball covered in patches of yellow, careening down the side of a mountain, picking up momentum and leaving bodies in its wake, Lyon smashed into Bordeaux with some force.

Lisandro López, the bearded Argentinian gunslinger, took advantage of a mistake made by Bordeaux defender Michaël Ciani after just 10 minutes to give Lyon the lead.

Chamakh equalised almost immediately, scoring his 11th header of the season, but Lyon showed a proclivity for guerrilla warfare, lulling their opponents into a false sense of security, before launching an ambush.

Michel Bastos re-established Lyon’s advantage after half an hour, profiting on another uncharacteristic lapse in the Bordeaux defence to curl a lovely shot beyond former Crystal Palace ‘keeper Cédric Carrasso.

Only then did Bordeaux start to really dominate the play, carving out two great chances after the interval – one for Chamakh who forced Hugo Lloris into a great save and another for Wendel who hit the bar.

The match’s status as an instant classic was confirmed when Bordeaux full-back Mathieu Chalmé was judged to have handled in the box with 13 minutes remaining; López made no mistake, slotting his penalty away to give Lyon a 3-1 lead that left Bordeaux reeling.

Jean Makoun and Sidney Govou could have piled yet more misery on les Girondins, but it was job done for Lyon.

The victory was bittersweet for López whose match-winning performance was tainted by an undeserved yellow card that rules him out of the second leg. And despite stats showing that 77 per cent of teams with a 3-1 lead in the first leg go through at this stage of the competition, Puel was left thinking about what might have been.

“There is a little regret that we did not score a fourth,” he bristled. “The second leg is open. I know how good they are. They are a team who put lots of pressure on any side.”

Meanwhile, Blanc tried putting a shine on things, praising his players. “I might surprise you by saying I’m very happy with how my team performed tonight. It has been a long time since I’d seen them play that way.”

However, there is a definite sense that Blanc was actually the unhappy clown, smiling on the outside while frowning on the inside. His team have now suffered back-to-back 3-1 defeats to their title rivals, losing five of their last 12 matches.

Needless to say, the final straight is not the place to have a wobble.

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