Ligue 2 > 2016 - 2017

[clubgowi]

Ligue 2: Valenciennes - Clermont

We had very few goals on opening day last season and also no home wins, that was a little odd of course, but the previous two campaigns had produced an average of 2.7 goals, so I will see the start of 15-16 as simply a blip. Clermont were fun to watch last season, they produced a Ligue 2 high 109 goals and away starts averaged 2.95 per game. They finished 7th, seven points shy of a promotion spot, were in the mix most of the campaign and I doubt we will see too much difference in their approach, the six main "defensive" starters remain, are all in the squad and seem likely to start this evening, which kind of bears that out. They have lost two big offensive threats in top scorer Famara Diedhiou and Adrien Hunou, but winger Remy Dugimont had seven goals and three assists after the end of November and Corinne Diacre , who is in her third season in charge, believes in attacking football and has added a number of young strikers to the squad and to be honest, they have looked very similar to the Clermont of old in pre season, conceding and scoring freely.

Valenciennes were wildly unpredictable last season, as highlighted by a 5-1 win at high flying Red Star being followed by a 3-1 home defeat. They earned 24 of 44 points on the road and with a home record of 3-11-5 , it is clear where their issues lie, they lost 2-1 and 3-1 to Clermont (league and cup), winger Wesley Jobello scored twice in the latter and given that Diacre opted to leave him out of squad which travelled, she must be reasonably confident about her team's offensive options. Gambling and winning half of those home darws would have taken Valenciennes into the top 8 (they were 12th) and that is the aim this season (to take a few more chances) and they have named an offensive looking group for this evening, with little defensive cover (18 yo Kyle Duncan has only ever played three games for the B team).

Valenciennes: Kocik, Perquis - Duncan, Kantari, Nery, Nestor, Niakhaté - Azbague, Dabo, Diarra, Enza-Yamissi, Fulgini, Roudet, Tameze - Da Costa, Faustin, Ndao.

Clermont: Jeannin, Caillard ; Avinel, Djellabi, Fontaine, Rivieyran, Salze ; Busin, Ekobo, Espinosa, Guerbert, Lopy, Pereira-Lage ; Ajorque, Dugimont, Thiam.


I expect both to score and each to press for a winner, so it has to be ......

over 2.25 goals 2.16 asian line/Sportmarket

 

[DSK]

meatman is out of this forum?

[malabgd]

Bourg-Péronnas v Strasbourg

Bourg-Péronnas (last season): Louisy-Daniel (f, newcomer), Martin (f, newcomer), Dimitriou (24/1 m)

Strasbourg (last season): Belahmeur (21/1 m), Kanté (21/1 m), Blayac (31/8 f, top scorer), Liénard (29/2 f), Pouye (13/0 m)

 

Gazélec Ajaccio v Stade Brestois

Gazélec Ajaccio (last season): Jérôme Le Moigne (31/0 m), Boris Mahon de Monaghan (d, newcomer), Jacques Zoua (31/5 f), Mohamed Larbi (30/8 m, top scorer)

Stade Brestois (last season): Ali Keita (25/0 d), Youssef Adnane (28/10 f, top scorer), Eric Tié Bi (28/0 d), Manuel Perez (26/0 m)

 

Daily updated injuries and suspensions information from more then 90 football leagues and competitions at: www.injuriesandsuspensions.com

[Radar]

2 hours ago, DSK said:

meatman is out of this forum?

I think it was start of last season, or the season before that, that he said he wont be doing this league anymore if i remember correctly!

[discipline]

Damn, after the 2nd goal in minute 49 I thought this would certainly go over. Didn't watch the game but how did Valenciennes not score a third goal vs 10 men??

[clubgowi]

France Ligue 2: Le Havre - Nimes


I previewed Nimes home game with Laval last weekend .............

"I wrote a lengthy preview of Nimes' trip to then leaders Nancy, who went on to win Ligue 2 by four points, back in late January, in that I spoke about Nimes great goalscoring form and how they had made a habit of running into form through the second half of recent campaigns. They collected 34 points from 18 starts from the end of November, which is more or less top 3 shape for half a season , add in their 8 point deduction and they would have finished 9th and given all that the players had to deal with in early season ( confidence was shot from how the previous campaign ended and they took until October 23rd to get to +1 point !), that was a fantastic achievement. They got great support through this improved run, fans bought into the great escape/ them against us attitude and five figure crowds (big numbers for them and L2) were turning up and really getting behind the team. What could have been a disaster, actually turned into a campaign full of promise and hope for the future.

Head coach Bernard Blaquart has been busy over the summer and looks to have upgraded the backline and the addition of two experienced full backs in Gael Angoula and Zie Diabate looks good business. Up front, the signing of Rachid Alioui is promising, he was top scorer for Laval last season, which. additionally weakens the visitors, the striker hit the ground running this time last year, with five goals and two assists in the first 11 games and he was playing for a team who do not score many (just 12 in total through that sequence).

Laval just do not win enough games and are too timid at times, drawing 50% of all games in the last two seasons, averaging exactly one goal per game (less last season) and too often settling for one point, when, with a little more enterprise, three could have been there for the taking. In addition to Alioui, they have also lost playmaker playmaker Romain Habran and Anthony Goncalves, their two top assist makers, that is a lot of goal threat from a team who do not pose much ! The solid defence has been split up with two players leaving and three of those remaining are getting pretty long in the tooth now ( in their 33rd-38th years) and this could be a tough season for the visitors.

Nimes took a lot of confidence from a 1-0 pre season loss to Marseille, where they attracted a big crowd and dominated much of the play and were denined by the woodwork and some late ditch callenges/saves, they have low price admission deals to get as many people into the stadium tonight as possible and are targeting a fast start this time round and to continue where they left off last season. They have been away at a training centre all week to prepare for today and "bond" and I favour them to start with a win."

Like many games last weekend that was a largely uninspiring affair, but Nimes were the better side and not helped by a poor playing surface , or referee Florent Batta ,who gave up 105 yellow and five reds in 21 Ligue 2 games last season and started as he means to go on in his one man crusade to ruin second tier football, by producing 10 yellow and two red here, the Laval dismissal came late in injury time, Nimes played 40 minutes a man short and probably saw a draw as respectable at that stage. I will be doing my best to avoid any games where Batta is in charge in future. I have spoken many times previously about Nimes being very offensive minded, especially when facing an opponent with a similar mindset and I expect, Le Havre, who are amongst the title favourites and who were one of those teams (see above) to open with a win last week, to be all out guns blazing for three points today. The two teams played out a pair of wide open encounters last season, which both produced four goals and something along the same lines is expected today.

HAC came up a goal short of promotion last season and that, allied to just two automatic promotion spots, should ensure they will always be looking for maximum points. Nimes are without suspended left back (but has now been converted to left sided central defender) Fethi Harek, the 11 games he has missed in the last 12 months have averaged 2.91 goals. His absence will have got the attention of Le Havre new signing Algerian winger Zinedine Ferhat, who could go down the same route as HAC's last "name" Algerian signing Rihad Mahrez, Ferhat has every trick in the book and then some and there will be plenty of entertainment in watching him this season.

over 2.25 goals 2.11 asian line/Sportmarket

 

[dilated]

Staide Reims  –  Bourg-en-Bresse

Clearly Staide Reims is the favorite here. Even with a player less, Reims managed to score against Amiens. This is a slight sign of a well behaved team.

Bourg-en-Bresse are playing passively without threatening enough their opponent's defense. Last season it had one of the worst away perfomnaces.I don't believe they will achieve a goal.

I expect Reims to be more solid than Bourg. Slowly and stategically will expose Bourg to theats. Something like 2-0 result.

A good opportunity would be Reims to score over 1.5 goals

Le Harve  -  Olympique Nimes

I totally agree with clubgowi. It is the most probable over score game. In the previous game Le Harves scored in the 1st half. Nimes was vivid in the 1st half against Laval. So there is a high chance of fast goal/s. I expect something like 2-1 result.

Over 2.5 is a well promising bet.

Stade Brest 29  -  US Orleans

Based on the latest friendlies home results (see image below), I anticipate Brestois being able to score at least one goal today. Also Brest's manager stated that he came to a team which had fogotten to win and it's time to change this situation.

On the other hand Orleans tried to tie the game against Harve, had a few good moments, but it wasn't enough. Orleans will be missing the valuable attacking midfielder Ziani. Also Orleans has the highest age average, showing experience. I believe Orleans will exploit possible mistakes and will find the net.

Both teams to score seems fair.

[clubgowi]

France Ligue2: Clermont Foot - Sochaux

Clermont got back to goalscoring ways in midweek, scoring twice against Amiens in the cup after drawing blank in consecutive Ligue 2 games, ahead of the first a 2-0 loss at Valenciennes, I spoke about the open nature of their matches over the last 12 months ......

"Clermont were fun to watch last season, their fixtures produced a Ligue 2 high 109 goals and away starts averaged 2.95 per game. They finished 7th, seven points shy of a promotion spot, were in the mix most of the campaign and I doubt we will see too much difference in their approach, the six main "defensive" starters remain, are all in the squad and seem likely to start this evening, which kind of bears that out. They have lost two big offensive threats in top scorer Famara Diedhiou and Adrien Hunou, but winger Remy Dugimont had seven goals and three assists after the end of November and Corinne Diacre , who is in her third season in charge, believes in attacking football and has added a number of young strikers to the squad and to be honest, they have looked very similar to the Clermont of old in pre season, conceding and scoring freely."

They went into their shell a little at home to Red Star to steady the ship, but beat Amiens 2-1 even without Remy Dugimont (see above) who returns, with goals from Salze and Ajorque and I expect them to play their usual style today. They will be without midfielder Thomas Guerbert who cannot play under the terms of his transfer from Sochaux.

Sochaux have played one road game, a 3-1 win at Troyes and my notes on that are reproduced below the "good luck" sign off. They have struggled for goals in two home games, when teams went to Sochaux looking to sit back and frustrate, they meet a team with a similar approach to Troyes today and one who will look for three points having only taken one from two starts and facing a tough looking trip to Auxerre up next. Sochaux will freshen up with the return of Werner, Teikeu, Bérenguer, Ramaré and Andriatsima , who all sat out the cup game in midweek and all four will start, I favour Sochaux, but feel this time there is better value with ..............

over 2.25 goals 2.42 asian line/Sportmarket