With the international break finally over, Ligue 1 resumed action last weekend and now another round of fixtures is behind us. There were plenty of notable things from the 10 games that took place, but we only have room for five, and without further ado, let's get into the key talking points from matchday ten of the 2018/2018 Ligue 1 campaign.
Monaco's woes seemingly have no end...
Monaco may have sacked Leonardo Jardim and brought in Thierry Henry, but it has not made any difference. They took on Strasbourg over the weekend and ended up losing yet again, thus pushing the team who finished as runners-up last season into 19th place - a shocking result for a side who won the Ligue 1 title as recently as the 2016/2017 season.
Is there any end to Monaco's woes? Les Rouges-et-Blancs have indeed hit a new low, as this stat shows:
1953 - Monaco have picked up only 6 points after 10 Ligue 1 games this season, their 2nd lowest tally at this stage ever, after 1953/54 (5, with 3 points for a win). Hell. pic.twitter.com/TnSssFn3GN
— OptaJean ⭐⭐ (@OptaJean) October 20, 2018
...and a miserable managerial debut indeed for ex-striker Thierry Henry
Henry's managerial debut was nothing short of a nightmare, as one of his players was subbed on...only to get himself promptly sent off less than two minutes of his introduction.
As they say, a photo is a thousand words. A penny for what Henry must be thinking here, though:
2015 -Samul Grandsir is the fastest substitute to get sent off in Ligue 1 (1 minute & 51 seconds) since Benjamin Mendy (47 seconds) in September 2015 with Marseille v Toulouse. Jinx. pic.twitter.com/e2U7nImVVM
— OptaJean ⭐⭐ (@OptaJean) October 20, 2018
The curious case of Mario Balotelli
He is an enigmatic case indeed. On the one hand, his side do seem to benefit from his presence:
48% - Nice have won 48% of their Ligue 1 games with Mario Balotelli since 2017/18 (15/31), only 19% without him (3/16). Comeback. pic.twitter.com/PT4U7BQhDU
— OptaJean ⭐⭐ (@OptaJean) October 21, 2018
but at the same time, he himself has failed to score in his last five games for Les Aiglons, which is his longest period without scoring since joining the side.
10 wins out of 10 for PSG and one game from "Big 5" history
10 wins, 10 games for PSG who are still cruising along. No French team has ever accomplished this feat and now Les Parisiens are one game away from matching an impressive historical record set by none other than Tottenham's record of 11 straight opening game wins in 1960/1961.
But will they be able to do it? Their next opponent is none other than Marseille in the highly-anticipated Le Classique on October 28th. The stage is set for an epic showdown, and Marseille would love nothing but to become the first side to nick points off PSG this season.
DID YOU KNOW?
35 -Angel Di Maria has delivered 35 assists in Ligue 1 since his debut in 2015/16, at least 13 more than any other player. Caviar. @PSG_English pic.twitter.com/f8HqwFjd4C
— OptaJean ⭐⭐ (@OptaJean) October 20, 2018
Current rankings after matchday 10
Here's how the table looks after 10 matchdays.
Lug. | Equipa | J | V | E | D | GM | GS | DG | P | Resultados | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | PSG | 28 | 18 | 9 | 1 | 65 | 24 | +41 | 63 | EVVEE | |
2 | Brest | 29 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 44 | 27 | +17 | 53 | DVVED | |
3 | Monaco | 28 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 53 | 38 | +15 | 52 | VVEVE | |
4 | Lille | 28 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 42 | 25 | +17 | 49 | VVEEV | |
5 | Nice | 29 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 47 | VEDVD | |
6 | Lens | 29 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 38 | 32 | +6 | 43 | DEDDV | |
7 | Olympique Lyonnais | 29 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 38 | 45 | -7 | 41 | VVEVV | |
8 | Reims | 29 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 36 | 39 | -3 | 40 | DEEVE | |
9 | Olympique Marseille | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 41 | 33 | +8 | 39 | DDDVV | |
10 | Rennes | 29 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 39 | DDDVE | |
11 | Toulouse | 29 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 34 | 37 | -3 | 36 | VEVDD | |
12 | Strasbourg | 29 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 33 | 40 | -7 | 36 | VEVVD | |
13 | Montpellier | 29 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 36 | 41 | -5 | 33 | EVVDV | |
14 | Nantes | 29 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 28 | 45 | -17 | 31 | VDVDD | |
15 | Le Havre | 29 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 27 | 37 | -10 | 28 | DEDDV | |
16 | Metz | 29 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 30 | 49 | -19 | 26 | VDDDV | |
17 | Lorient | 29 | 6 | 8 | 15 | 35 | 55 | -20 | 26 | DDDED | |
18 | Clermont | 29 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 48 | -27 | 22 | EEDVD |