Nine match previews for clubgowi subscribers today and you can read one as a sample of what the service provides on a day by day basis below, remember, that is only 11% of todays total content and one of circa 150 previews produced every month.
Ligue 2: Racing Club Lens- Tours
Going to take these two games "together" as we discussed in a little depth the Tours- BEBP game last week........
Ahead of their last game, a 2-1 road win versus Ajaccio I wrote the following about the hosts.....
I cannot desert Tours now, they have been serving us very well , there are unbeaten in 11 starts in all games against L2 level opponents and in seven on the road, I discussed them in some detail on opening day and those notes for the trip to Nancy are reproduced at the foot of this newsletter. That was the first of four matches in which they "won" for us and I cannot really blame them for the fact that there was not a third goal in their midweek cup game with Sochaux, as they did their part scoring twice , ahead of that my preview read .....
Plenty of notes on Tours already this season and we discussed them most weeks in the last campaign, they did us a favour on Friday with a 3-1 defeat of Auxerre ahead of which I wrote .....
We are 3/3 with them now and it was the second match running they had come from behind and new coach Marco Simone has clearly not only won over Laurent Agouazi (see below...edit: August 3rd newsletter), but has the entire squad battling for him. Agouazi is still missing and they are coming into this with quite an adventurous looking squad.
They have named an identical squad to Friday and are clearly keen on keeping the momentum up , Sochaux are still looking for a first victory and I suspect they will be more interested in the trip to Bourg Peronnas on Friday, when they really need three points to kick start their planned promotion push.Sochaux arrive without suspended experienced central defender Jean-Pascal Mignot, they played 80 minutes with 10 men after his dismissal on Friday and that is hardly ideal preparation for a match they might not be overly bothered about in any case ! Poor discipline has cost them dearly already this season and they had two men sent off in Round 1, when they beat Niort 3-2 with nine players, but then dropped a point to the same team days later when short handed by suspension and having not learned their lesson at the weekend, they will surely not make the same mistake a third time and we seem set to set a less agressive approach from them and an open encounter.
Ajaccio are without a win in six league and cup starts, that rises to eight if we include pre season and they have failed to score in six of those, they lost in extra time to Laval in midweek and made only limited rotation, hosts are struggling for wins and goals, Tours are proving very resilient and are ultra tough to beat and yet we get a handicap start for them and it has to be taken.
They won that 2-1 fighting back from a goal down with two late strikes from Christian Kouakou (see below), who make a big impression from off the bench in his first appearance for three weeks and that will hugely increase competition for starting places up front which is never a bad thing. They have named a very offensive looking line up today and having scored ten in their last five starts in all competitions, it is hard to see them coming up short today against a viistors who have played some wide open encounters already, especially on the road. Tours will definitely be a little more suspect defensively this evening with left back Samuel Bouhours and deep lying midfielder Haris Belkebla both sidelined. The pair are ever present this season and Bouhours missed just one start last season ( a 2-1 defeat) and whilst both will be missed, the loss of him could be huge.
I was very doubtful about the visitors chances of staying in Ligue 2 early seaon, but have spoken several times since about them having a "little something" , team spirit is good and they battle all the way and are now unbeaten in five, their last defeat was away to Creteil in a match they dominated, so they should not be underestimated and certainly will not be by me. However, they have conceded 5 in three road games and both scored and conceded in 6 of 7 competitive starts and they are not going to keep too many clean sheets. So both look vulnerable defensively and we know that there will be space for each to exploit, especially with Tours naming a very adventurous looking squad. I couldn't oppose the hosts as they have served us so well, but likewise feel it will be very difficult for them to keep the visitors out for 90 minutes.
BEBP won 1-0 inflicting the first defeat of the season on Tours and their new coach, the visitors are very keen to bounce back and will have a far more solid look about them this evening with the return of both left back Samuel Bouhours (pictured) and deep lying midfielder Haris Belkebla (see both above), they look ideally set up to play on the road and I don't think we will be opposing them too often this season away from home when at full strength, as they now are more or less, with Laurent Agouazi (see above) having come through a test game and an hour last week and he should strip much fitter today. Far more options for them now and coach Simone has admitted it is tough knowing who to leave out, but those are good problems to have.
All is not yet well with Lens and my notes on their last home game, a 4-0 defeat to Le Havre are reproduced below the "good luck" sign off in full. HAC hardly boosted the form with a home loss to Red Star last week and Lens are coming off a 2-1 road defeat to Brest on Monday, which means that on top of everything else, they have that notoriously difficult quick turnaround to deal with . They are without left winger Lailaina Nomenjanahary this evening, they are 1-1-15 (!) in the last 17 starts he has missed and although most came in a dismal relegation season, they do not make good reading and without him even in Ligue 2 they are without a win in four and three of those starts came in a promotion season, so, suffice to say they are better when he plays and right now, not very good anyway ! Having said that, I do think they will improve at some stage, but for now, this looks a good match up for Tours, especially on that flank, their right, where they are strong.
1.5 units Tours +0.25 ball 2.06 asian line/Sportmarket.
Lens : Delle, Belon – Besle, Cvetinovic, Lala, Landre, Ikoko – Bourigeaud, Olsen, Cyprien, Valdivia, Autret – Nanizayamo, Chavarria, Bekamenga, N’Diaye.
Tours : Kamara, Westberg - Gradit, Louvion, Cillard, Miguel, Bouhours, Maouche, Agouazi, Belkebla, Bergougnoux, Kouakou, Malfleury, Bosetti, Tandia, Santamaria.
Good Luck.
Ligue 2: Racing Club Lens- Le Havre (written 31/08)
After winning their first two games , Le Havre have lost their last three in legue and cup, the last two without scoring, It was a little odd, at least in terms of the two Ligue defeats as they had Mickael Le Bihan back in the team for those , after he sat out the two wins ! MLB was top scorer in L2 last season with 18 goals and got a lot of attention from other clubs, including in the Championship, he seemed and still seems sure to be transferred before the window closes and on reflection, it was probably wrong to play him if his heart was already elsewhere, once players want to move, or feel they are likely to, they are effectively already gone and very few can continue to perform for their old club. I am not putting the blame on him, he was prepared to play which is more that most would have done, but it probably didn't help team harmony, he is not in the squad today and it looks like he is signing for Nice this morning, which I feel will be good for all concerned.
Le Havre have not let the grass grow under their feet and have themselves been incredibly busy in the transfer market this week adding centre back Denys Bain who was one of the few bright sparks last season in a poor Chateuaroux side and two hugely experienced forwards in Ghislain Gimbert and Mathieu Duhamel. The pair have been prolific at this level, Duhamel scored 10 goals in Ligue 1 last season and 24 (!) in L2 during Caen's promotion season of 2013-14, Gimbert scored 14 for Troyes that same season and has signed from Zulte-Waregem. These look very good business to me and all three should slot in quite seemlessly and hugely increase options in what was already a very strong squad. The trio have all travelled and I expect to see game time from all three.
Racing Club Lens are without a win in five competitive starts and whilst they have managed three league draws, goals are clearly going to be a problem and this is a team in transition, both of which I discussed ahead of their season opener a trip to Metz ..........
Really low scoring opening day in Ligue 2, with five draws ( four 0-0) and no home wins. I feel we might see one today in this match up between two relegated teams who went up to the top flight together the previous year, that was back to back promotions for the hosts and I doubt they will be feeling quite as bad about things as RCL who are a massive club by Ligue 2 standards, but took three seasons to get out of this league last time and once they did so, made a complete mess of things due to financial issues which we do not need to go into right now.
The visitors are much changed from last season and probably downgraded and that is definitely the case today, with only four players who played in their final Ligue 1 start which took place a little over three months ago in the squad which travelled and we might see six newcomers play together today, along with two teenagers. Three of their most important remaining players in central defenders Loic Landre and Jean-Phillipe Gbamin and midfielder Wylan Cyprien are missing through suspension and injury, along with new left back Anthony Scaramozzino and the starting eleven today are going to have to gel very quickly and are short of L2 experience. They will probabaly rely on Stephane Besle and Guirane N'Daw in the defensive spine and both will probably be up for this as fomer Metz players, but it also means the hosts will have a lot of information on the pair and will doubtless know their weaknesses. RCL also look very suspect on the left flank today, with no natural left sided defensive player in the squad.
Head Coach Antoine Kombouare has remained, but didn't exactly sound brimming with confidence earlier this week: "When you start a season, you never really know where you are going. "We need to play a few games to judge the value of the group, to know what the team can do against other teams, especially in this championship. " But in any case, today I am happy to start this season with a competitive group, even though I am still waiting on arrival - I hope - of two players, at least, which would be good. " Speaking of his defence specifically he added again that "We are not ready yet, there is still a lot of work, and competitive games will allow us to see where we stand. "
That hardly bodes well for today, especially given the players who are absent and the fact that it is the defence that Kombouare made his priority in the off season. It is not like his offence was free scoring eitehr , just 32 goals last season, they have lost their top scorer and it is hard to look at this squad and find what you would really call a striker, to be honest, it is a little hard to see where Lens are heading at present.
They have brought in quite a few players since then and it might be that we will see RCL improve as the season progresses, but today they are without suspended central defender Dusan Cvetinovic and with fellow CB, the much admired and talented Jean-Philippe Gbamin still injured, that leaves them short of options in the middle of the backline and that will definitely have got the attention of Gimbert and especially Duhamel, who has four goals in his last four starts v Lens, including two here for Evian last season.
1.5 units Le Havre level ball 2.23 asian line/Sportmarket.
Lens : Delle, Beslon – Besle, Ikoko, Lala, Landre, Scaramozzino – Bourigeaud, Cyprien, N’Daw, Nomenjanahary, Olsen – Autret, Bekamenga, Chavarria, Madiani.
HAC:Farnolle, Milosavljevic - Chebake, Puel, Fortes, Bain, Mombris - Bonnet, Cambon, Louiserre, Fontaine, Gamboa, Manzala - Gimbert, Duhamel, Mendes.
