French Ligue 1, 2011, Week 10: Big Wins For Lyon, Lille And Montpellier

Lille survived an early scare to keep pace with Lyon and draw level with Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table, while Bordeaux and Marseille continued their poor starts to the season with a defeat by Nice and a goalless draw against Toulouse respectively. The game of the day was undoubtedly Montpellier vs. Dijon, with eight goals scored in a match that saw Montpellier come from 2-0 down to earn a 5-3 win.

Auxerre had the better of things against the defending champions for much of the match, going ahead thanks to a Dennis Oliech strike in the first half and keeping a clean sheet for more than 70 minutes before finally allowing the combination of Eden Hazard and Dimitri Payet to unlock their defence and equalise, that goal coming after a series of good chances for the hosts to double their lead. Lille weren’t done at 1-1, and former Auxerre man Ireneusz Jelen grabbed the winner with a well-taken goal eight minutes from time. The home side pressed forward looking to level matters before time ran out, but their luck failed them and it was the visitors who’d score to finish things off, earning a penalty when Alan Traore fouled Florent Balmont. Mathieu Debouchy slammed how the spot kick with the last touch of the match to give Lille a 3-1 come-from-behind victory.

Nobody expects Brest against Caen to be much of a thriller, but the home side very nearly managed to pick up its first win of the season (in ten matches) in this one. Bruno Grougi was very nearly the hero for Brest, smashing in a wonderful free kick just before the stroke of halftime, but their defence couldn’t help out against Caen and finally caved in the 85th minute when they let Thomas Heurtaux latch onto the end of a Benjamin Nivet free kick and notch the equaliser. At 1-1 result meant that Brest were consigned to what is already their eighth draw of the season.

All the action occurred in the second half of this rather odd game, with not goals, no cards and not really much of anything marking the first 45 minutes. Everything turned around with three goals right after the interval, with St. Etinne’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Laurent Batlles each providing the other with an assist in the six minute following the restart, and the hosts replying with a Yannick Sagbo goal just before the half hour mark. The game turned feisty too, with six booking issued in the second half. Ultimately Evian couldn’t get the second goal they needed, and the match would end 2-1 to St. Etienne.

Nancy might be good at holding out, but a five minute spell in the first half saw Lyon steal three goals and they could then coast to an easy win at the Stade de Gerland. Michel Bastos got things going with a free kick went straight through the wall and inside Damien Gregorini’s near post, and two minutes later Bafetimbi Gomis slid home a Jimmy Briand cross to make it 2-0. Within three minutes, the deficit had widened yet further - Clement Grenier was felled in the box and Bastos made it 3-0 from the spot. Nancy wouldn’t score until the very end of the match (missing a penalty of their own in the process), when Jo-gook Jung got the faintest of consolations with a long-range stunner. After disappointment at Paris Saint-Germain last time out, Lyon ended up notching an important 3-1 win here.

Say what you will about Montpellier but they’re rarely boring. Hosting Dijon, they found themselves quickly two goals behind after a double strike by Benjamin Corgnet in the first dozen minutes, but the title challengers shrugged it off and battled back to an eventual 5-3 victory. Visiting defender Steven Paulle handed Montpellier a lifeline by deflecting a free kick into his own net, but the hosts saved the good stuff for the second half, where Olivier Giroud tapped home a rebound and then scored a penalty to give Montpellier a 3-2 lead. A Souleymane Camara made it 4-2 a few minutes later before Giroud finished up his hat-trick with another easy finish, and Thomas Guerbert’s 90th minute strike was scant consolation for the visitors, who had Montpellier under the cosh in the early going and wasted the chance of a big win.

Bordeaux can count themselves unlucky to come a way from this match with no points, having many opportunities to overcome the early deficit Nice inflicted upon them but taking none of them. The hosts went ahead in the 11th minute via an Eric Mouloungui effort that rifled past Cedric Carrasso and into the back of the Bordeaux net, and although the visitors controlled play after that Nice were able to take advantage of their opponent’s need for a goal to rack up another score on the counterattack, with David Hellebuyck finishing up a quick move to make it 2-0 before halftime. Again, Bordeaux attacked, but could fine no joy against the impressive David Ospina, and their hopes were finally ended when Francois Clark grabbed a third for the home side. 3-0 to Nice was the final score - 2-2 might have been fairer.