Looking at the aftermath that is the various European leagues following this weekend’s football, only one league made me do a double take – the Ligue 1. Following 8 matches played, an unusual suspect led the top of the standings. Unusual because it wasn’t last season’s winner and the team everyone has touted as The One to dominate the standings and basically run away with it, Paris St-Germain.
Instead, we have the Marcelo Bielsa-led Olympique de Marseille in first spot. And trailing them by 2 points is Girondins de Bordeaux. It’s the latter in which I’m highly intrigued with.
They’re led by ex Bayern Munich and French international Willy Sagnol. Many are still, only finding out that the 2000/01 Champions League winner is now head coach of the 2008/09 Ligue 1 champs.
Last season they lost 11 matches overall. 5 of them were at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Away from home, they only won 3 matches. And in total, they scored 18 goals when playing away. Bordeaux finished the season in 7th with 53 points. They were 36 points behind the champions PSG. All this had to be addressed in 2014/15 to give them a fighting chance of challenging PSG and the other teams who have won the Ligue 1 since they themselves claimed the title.
So out went Francis Gillot, the man who guided them to the 2012/13 Coupe de France. In came the France Under-21 boss in Sagnol.
This season, Les Girondins have managed to hover in the top 3 spots in the league since matchday 2. They have scored 15 goals courtesy of top poachers Diego Rolan and Cheick Diabate. In 8 league matches played so far, Bordeaux have only lost once. They have yet to lose at home too. That’s always a good sign, when you transform your home turf into a cauldron of fear, isn’t it?
Bordeaux also do not have the distractions of a midweek European match this time around. It could be a blessing in disguise. With a young coach at the helm, following in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola, Frank Rijkaard, Michael Laudrup, Marco Van Basten and even Laurent Blanc at PSG to an extent, you can’t help but root for another successful-player-turned-manager in Sagnol.
The ex-Monaco right-back proceeded to bring in Diego Contento from Bayern Munich, Wahbi Khazri from Bastia and brought back Jaroslav Plasil from loan at Catania among others, in pre-season. Based on how the threesome have turned out so far, you have to applaud his shrewdness.
Since winning the title in 2008/09, the highest Bordeaux have finished in the league was 5th in 2011/12. Other times, they constantly find themselves lounging in that area of the league, contending for a spot in the Europe League or it’s predecessor the UEFA Cup. Based on that, it doesn’t seem as if Sagnol can do any worse with the start that he’s had, surely?
It’s early days as yet. Still, you cannot help but feel excited about their prospects once again.
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