ws_logo
ws_mobile_logo
TELEGRAM
My accountSign Out
Set favourite tournaments, comment and vote on matches and more!

All Andy Brassell posts on WhoScored.com Articles RSS

League Focus: Four Conclusions from the Ligue 1 Season So Far

by Andy Brassell at Tuesday, Dec 24 2013 09:30
League Focus: Four Conclusions from the Ligue 1 Season So Far 1) Paris Saint-Germain are far stronger for having a fit Thiago MottaMuch has changed for PSG in the last 12 months. At the beginning of the season, Laurent Blanc outlined his hope that PSG would become more of a dominant team, bossing possession and always looking to attack. That has come to pass. ...
Categories: League Focus

Team Focus: Brave Nice Take First Steps to Recovery

by Andy Brassell at Tuesday, Dec 17 2013 16:45
Team Focus: Brave Nice Take First Steps to Recovery Nobody tends to say that Claude Puel sides lack commitment and in that sense, Nice are a case in point. “On Saturday night against Sochaux, Nice played with eleven players,” wrote Monday’s L’Equipe, “but with two players on one leg, or almost.”Their problems were ...
Categories: Team Focus

Team Focus: Battling Bordeaux End Enyeama’s Dream

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Dec 9 2013 14:20
Team Focus: Battling Bordeaux End Enyeama’s Dream It had to end sometime, but not many thought it would do so at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. The heroic run of Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was finally broken, 1062 minutes after he was last beaten, Bordeaux’s Landry N’Guemo netted with what would prove to be the home side’s winner....

Player Focus: Last Man Standing Ben Yedder on Road Back

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Dec 2 2013 17:42
Player Focus: Last Man Standing Ben Yedder on Road Back And then there was one. Twelve months on from the fallout that saw La Fédération Française de Football (FFF) expel a clutch of their young hopefuls from the national side, Wissam Ben Yedder of Toulouse is the sole member of the group still in Ligue 1. Yann M’Vila and Chris...
Categories: Player Focus

Match Focus: Differing Defences Set the Tone in Der Klassiker

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Nov 25 2013 14:12
Match Focus: Differing Defences Set the Tone in Der Klassiker The Signal Iduna Park was its usual buoyant self on Saturday evening, but that’s a given. Ten years ago, on this correspondent’s first trip to the famous stadium, it was much the same; not a spare seat in the house and not a minute’s peace for one’s eardrums, even though Boru...
Categories: Match Focus

Team Focus: All Change for France as they Chase the Impossible Dream

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Nov 18 2013 17:32
Team Focus: All Change for France as they Chase the Impossible Dream “We’re ready to die on the pitch to get there.” So said Olivier Giroud, speaking of how “angry” he was at France’s World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine on Friday. Something probably already died on the pitch at the Olympiyskiy that night – France’s hop...
Categories: Team Focus

Team Focus: How to Win a Derby the Olympique Lyonnais Way

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Nov 11 2013 17:45
Team Focus: How to Win a Derby the Olympique Lyonnais Way “We’re at home without actually being at home.” The way Lyon’s Samuel Umtiti described how his team feels about playing at local rivals Saint Etienne’s Stade Geoffroy Guichard (‘Le Chaudron’, or ‘The Cauldron’, no less) must hurt Les Verts almost...
Categories: Team Focus

Player Focus: Djordjevic & Oliveira - Ligue 1's Unlikely Netbusters

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Nov 4 2013 17:47
Player Focus: Djordjevic & Oliveira - Ligue 1's Unlikely Netbusters In a field where Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao arrived to join Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the summer, it is fair to assume that not much money was staked on other runners for the Ligue 1 top scorer crown by the season’s eve. Given that France is often assumed as one of the less forgiving terrai...
Categories: Player Focus

Team Focus: Mkhitaryan Magic as Dortmund Prey on Familiar Schalke Weaknesses

by Andy Brassell at Monday, Oct 28 2013 13:00
Team Focus: Mkhitaryan Magic as Dortmund Prey on Familiar Schalke Weaknesses Given that he was fluent in five languages even before he arrived in north-west Germany this summer, it is little surprise that Henrikh Mkhitaryan has settled so quickly at Borussia Dortmund. On his Rivierderby debut, the Armenian midfielder completed a fantastic week on a personal and team level in...
Categories: Team Focus

Team Focus: Gritty Girard Begins to Persuade Lille Doubters

by Andy Brassell at Tuesday, Oct 22 2013 12:20
Team Focus: Gritty Girard Begins to Persuade Lille Doubters As he returned to the Stade de la Mosson for the first time since he left Montpellier this summer, Lille coach René Girard was welcomed as you would expect the man who guided the locals to a first-ever Ligue 1 title to be. Fans brandished scarves bearing his name, the club’s administrat...
Categories: Team Focus