PSG 1-2 Bordeaux

When I covered a PSG game exactly one week ago I launched into a polemic of how awful the game was. This evening I watched another PSG game and was delighted by how it enthralled me and was a genuinely enjoyable experience. In the end the better team lost from two corners and will prove to be an invaluable lesson to PSG on the importance of defending set-pieces.

This is the second time that I have now watched PSG for this blog and they interest me greatly. Again, like last week, they were an impressive defensive unit at the back when they were called into action. In front of them were Makelele and Bodmer who are hard to describe as a central midfield pairing as they sit so deep. This role, on many occasions was taken up by the two wingers who often came in to fill the gap. This in turn allowed Cesara and Jallet to come forward from the wing-back positions. Up front, Erding plays so far in front of Horau it is hard to place the latter. I would put him down as a trequartista but am interested to hear others opinions. Bordeaux meanwhile played a very tight shape with Wendel and Plasil rarely venturing out to the wings as might have been expected.

In the past five meetings between these two teams, PSG had won three and Bordeaux two with no draws so the form showed that this was going to be a tightly contested match with goals. In the opening part of the game it was PSG who really dominated and constantly looked a threat to the Bordeaux defence. Their first clear cut chance was on ten minutes when a PSG attacker was presented with a one-on-one situation but Carrasso saved brilliantly. PSG continued to push and Sessegnon came close to put his team one up when he stretched for the ball from a free kick. His effort was wide though. The final chance of the half, and for PSG to take what would have been a deserving lead, fell to Erding who powered a header towards goal. The effort was once again saved by Carrasso though and the teams went in level at half-time.

PSG continued to press with the same force as the first half as soon as we entered the second half as a cross flew across goal only a few minutes in. Bordeaux's first real chance then fell in the 50th minute as a long range strike from Wendel flew over the bar. The game then started to open up a bit more and after Erding had yet another one-on-one saved, Josue up the other end managed to bustle his way through the home sides tight defence and went down. The referee judged that the player dived and the Brazilian got a yellow card for his troubles.

The first goal came 10 minutes later and against the run of play. Bordeaux won a corner, Diarra lost his man and the captain headed his team in front past a despairing Coupet. PSG could only respond with what they were doing all along and attacking the Bordeaux goal. They were eventually rewarded 76 minutes into the game as Horau was played in and slotted home. There followed a passage of play where Bordeaux could have scored twice more with good chances and Horau had a chance for a second up the other end. All these were squandered and the game looked to be heading towards a draw. That is until Ciani popped up with a header from another corner which somehow squeezed past the diving Coupet and the post to go in. An undeserved victory no doubt and PSG will be kicking themselves wondering how they managed to lose. This though will become abundantly clear this next week as manager Kombouare makes the team practice defending corners until they can do it in their sleep.

Man of the Match: Cedric Carrasso
The former OM and Toulousse goalkeeper kept his team in the game so many times with vital saves. In the end he had made six stops from the PSG attack and is the man Bordeaux fans will be singing the praises of all week.

Lille 0-0 PSG

Watching paint dry would have been a great laugh compared to this goalless draw. No, in order to replicate the experience I had whilst enduring this encounter in Ligue 1, I think I would have had to projectile vomit onto walls for 90 minutes and watch this dry instead.

When I chose to watch this match I thought that the current holders of the Coupe de France travelling to Lille to play against the team which finished 4th last season would be a fantastic game. Instead the match was one of those where neither team wanted to lose and I started to get the impression neither team wanted to be there (like me in the end).

The start of the match was not helped by the referee who seemed to blow his whistle as often as he exhaled. This stop-start pattern continued for around the first 20 minutes, saw two yellow cards and allowed neither team to get into their natural rhythm.

As the teams eventually settled into their formations we got something interesting to look at. Lille played with a 4-4-2 diamond which was extremely narrow. This though allowed Benia and Debuchy to really push forward and these two players were often seen throughout the game putting crosses into the PSG box from within the attacking third. This, in some games could have left them vulnerable defensively but Erdinç played very high and there wasn't a great connection between him and Hoarau. Furthermore, Mavuba would often come back to defend as part of a make-shift back three and Cabaye is widely regarded as a 'box-to-box' midfielder.

Meanwhile PSG proved time and time again that their defensive back four could have held out Attila the Hun never mind the Lille attack. In front of them PSG generally appeared to play as a 4-2-3-1 but Nenê and Sessègnon would often drop back to make more of a standard 4-4-2 with Hoarau playing off Erdinç.

PSG had the first real chance of the game after 31 years minutes when Erdinç went close with a header, Nenê then had a powerful shot from the edge of the area ten minutes later but this was a relatively comfortable save in the end for Landreau. Although PSG had the only noteworthy chances, Lille were far and away the better team in the first half. They dominated possession (almost 2 to 1) as PSG refused to press and Lille were allowed to play the ball around before coming forward. Before they even got into a relatively dangerous position though, they were closed down and depossessed.

In the second half I prayed for something to happen that would spark the game off. I thought this was what happened in the 56th minute when a free kick from the Brazilian Nenê was swung into the near post and pushed away by Landreau for a corner. Nenê again swung in the corner and it nearly went in as the Lille keeper was forced into another save, this time punching the corner from off his goal line. This wasn't enough though to set the game alight and an attempted Lille counter-attack was soon broken down.

Lille eventually started to look threatening in the 64th minute when Melo struck wide from a corner. A few minutes later and Debuchy put a dangerous cross into the middle that was headed away by Jallet for another corner. Debuchy met this corner with his head and the ball bounced dangerously across the face of goal before the ball was cleared by PSG.

My patience, matched only by saints, in enduring this match was not helped by the referee who kept on whistling more than an entrant to 'One Man and his Dog'. In particular a soft yellow card given to Makélélé was nearly the final straw for me. I needn't have bothered holding on though, the only chance that reared its head after this point was another Nenê free kick in the 92nd minute that went a couple of feet wide. Overall I guess he was the man of the match though it pains me to award one.