Another Mustard Squirt - Dijon's woes and W27 in Ligue 1

I watched the Dijon-PSG game with the intention of writing about PSG and their quest for the title. The match encapsulated much of the ups and downs of the capital club's season, and I had several observations that might have even been worthwhile. But events of the game compel me to write instead about Dijon, and so the only observation I'll share on PSG is that Carlo Ancelotti looks like a cross between David Gregory of Meet the Press and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and like he doesn't have to try very hard to talk like Marlon Brando in the Godfather.

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Anyway, to Dijon. Dijon is one of the three teams who were promoted to Ligue 1 after last season. All three reside in the bottom half of the table, more likely to face relegation than any scent of European competition (Evian is in 10th, but only 6 points ahead of the drop zone; Ajaccio was 20th for much of the year but has been hot since the winter break, and now sits at 13th). Dijon has more or less fulfilled the role of newly-promoted side struggling to stay up; they've won games sporadically, have one of the leakiest defenses in Ligue 1, and faced the threat of falling back into the bottom three with a loss against PSG. The big story in L'Equipe about Dijon before their home match a week ago against Montpelier revolved around the pressure Head Coach Patrice Carteron faced regarding his choice of Stéphane Renaud as athletic trainer, a friend who, so the story goes, the Dijon president believes to be a guru for Carteron, influencing his decisions in a malicious way. It's only the sort of story that emerges about a struggling team.

This is Dijon's first year in Ligue 1, as best I can tell, and their run has been unremarkable. They managed to draw Montpelier last week, and probably hoped for the same against PSG yesterday. 2 points against the best two teams in the league, even at home, is not a bad harvest for a team staving off relegation. When in a position such as Dijon's, ambition and greed have to be traded for savvy and patience.

Patience defined most of Dijon's approach. For the first 40 minutes, they held up against a PSG team that looked reasonably slick in attacking, with Javier Pastore, Nene, and Marcos Ceara applying cutting moves and pressure up the right side. Dijon's attacks often lacked bite, with frontman Brice Jovial and midfielder Florin Berenguer missing a couple decent chances. Then, by fortune if not by plan, Dijon drew a red card against Mohamed Sissoko for a slightly late tackle that may or may not have merited a red, but looked bad in any case. This slowed PSG before the half, and Dijon could feel pretty good about going into the break 0-0 and with a man advantage.

The second half got off on the wrong foot for Dijon - PSG retrenched and played more individually, and yet still scored a goal in the first five minutes of the half - but the forced desperation led to increased pressure against the league leaders, and at last on a corner in the 75th minute, Dijon's perseverance paid off. They tied the match at 1-1. PSG was on their back foot. The draw and the point seemed all but clinched. All's well in Burgundy!

Except the flow of the match encouraged Dijon to get ahead of themselves. They continued to attack and put pressure, which opened themselves up to PSG as well. The last five minutes of regulation time especially were free-flowing and open, and no one could predict the final just yet. Fortune is said to favor the bold, and so Dijon went for three points and a bigger cushion.

In the 90th minute, Dijon earned a corner. Up a man, they decided to send all 10 of their outfield players into the PSG half of the field in hopes of pulling off the win. It was risky, but a well-applied dose of pressure could have put off the risk. And then the squirting happened:




(If video doesn't work, link is here)

Dijon had no fight left for the last minute or two after that. PSG staved off Montpelier to remain at the top of the table, and Dijon stayed in 18th on goal differential. It's just the sort of lump you take in your first year in the big league, I guess.

Kick around the rest of the Ligue:

- For all my mawkishness regarding Lyon, OL reinserted themselves in the race for 3rd with a win over Lille. I only saw the second half, where Lyon had to hold on to their 2-1 lead, and then had to work a man down for the last 20 minutes. Nevertheless, they staved off the draw or the defeat, ending Lille's faint title hopes and throwing the race for the last Champions League spot even wider open. Lille holds onto 3rd, but four teams are within four points, including Lyon, and two other pedigreed clubs (Marseille and Bordeaux) lurk eight back.

- If week 26 saw a bunch of upsets and order overturners (Dijon tying Montpelier, Nancy beating Lyon, Evian beating St. Etienne, Auxerre tying Lille, Nice beating Bordeaux), week 27 marked a return to hierarchy. Marseille lost to Ajaccio on Friday night, and Toulouse and Rennes both gave up two points at home to lesser sides, but all the other top-half vs. bottom-half matches saw the better teams winning. This doesn't lead to any grand insight, though.

- The week to come: Marseille looks to hold a 1-0 lead in the Champions League when they visit Inter away. Otherwise, nothing on for the French clubs until the weekend, where we have a few regional derbies (Lorient-Brest in Bretagne (Brittany), Lille-Valenciennes in the North, and most especially St. Etienne-Lyon in the Rhone Valley showdown), an interesting showdown between Rennes and Toulouse in the hunt for 3rd or 4th, and matches away for PSG and Montpelier against Caen and Nancy, respectively, matches that should be won.

TRtMtR posting wise, we should have something up after the Marseille match, and haven't decided on our focus for the Ligue 1 fixtures. Also, we're hoping to have our first contribution in a new series from a different writer, which should be exciting.

Until then.