French Football Weekly

Game 36 saw four of the challengers for Europe play each other, bookending the weekend's action. Kris, Phil and Jez cover Saint-Etienne 0-1 Montpellier, Marseille 0-3 Lyon, and the battle at the bottom as both Caen and Dijon win and Monaco lose at Nimes. Also some love for Lille, and what could be key next week.

After some key games at both ends of the table at the weekend, Kris, Jez, Rich and Phil are a full house to discuss Lyon drawing with Lille, Guingamp drawing with Caen, Saint-Etienne winning at Monaco, and the other Lyon v Lille match in the Coupe de France Feminine. They also go off-piste with a discussion about Ligue 2 and another about travelling fans.

On Saturday, Rennes won the Coupe de France for the third time, their first since 1971, beating PSG on penalties after a 2-2 draw that saw them come from 2-0 down. Rich is purring as he, Kris and Phil look back at a highly enjoyable cup final, the implications for Europe, the rest of the Ligue 1 action, and PSG's continuing wibbles. Elsewhere, OL are through to the Women's Champions' League final after beating Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate, where they will face Barcelona who beat Bayern in their semi.

PSG secure the title! Because Lille had a goalless draw at Toulouse, which meant they did that before even kicking off against Monaco. So the Kylian Mbappe hat-trick at the Parc de Princes on Sunday seemed a little underwhelming. Kris, Phil and Jez try to put all this into perspective, look at the race for Europe, the relegation battle, Lyon in the WCL, and other things.

Phil, Jez and Conor have a look at PSG's increasingly desperate attempts to sew up the Ligue 1 title that has looked nailed on since August, as the Parisians draw with bogey team Strasbourg, get hammered by Lille, and lose away at Nantes. We also cover Prince Gouano's response to racist chanting away at Dijon. the race for third, the amble for fifth, and various other issues.

After the international break, Kris, Jez and Phil look back over France's comprehensive wins in their first two Euro qualifiers against Moldova and Iceland, as well as the Women's Champions League and upcoming Coupe de la Ligue final and Ligue 1 fixtures.

France are out of Europe, after PSG's capitulation against Manchester United is followed by Barcelona beating Lyon 5-1 and Arsenal overturning Rennes' first-leg lead with a 3-0 home win. The gang's all here to discuss that, and the Classique which saw PSG beating OM 3-1 in a game that saw Steve Mandanda sent off, banjaxing OM's chances. Kris, Jez, Phil and Rich cover all that, the relegation fight, various fan protests, the latest on Adrien Rabiot, and the France squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers against Moldova and Iceland, as well as any other business.

After a week of European competition that was both the best and worst of times, Kris, Jez and Phil look back at PSG's capitulation against Manchester United, Rennes' great result against Arsenal, and the weekend's results in Ligue 1 - and also forwards to Lyon's trip to Barcelona.

European competition is back and while PSG take a 2-0 lead back to the Parc de Princes against an injury-hit Manchester United, the Europa League sees Rennes play Arsenal - this pits Kris against Rich, with Jez and Phil chipping in on the other stuff.

After some surprising results in Ligue 1, miscellaneous bitching about the January transfer window, and a French casualty in the Premier League, Kris, Jez and Phil round up all the happenings and try to remember that the Coupe de France has reached the quarter-final stage. At least no Ligue 1 goalkeepers have gone rogue since we last spoke.

After Lyon's battling goalless draw against Barcelona, Kris Jez and Phil look back at that, game 25, some catch-up games, and Rennes in the Europa League.

After a tricky week, featuring a frustrating Coupe de France game against third-tier opposition, a lengthening injury list, and being behind at the bookies, PSG still managed to dazzle at Old Trafford as they beat Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League. Kris, Jez and Phil break down how the hell that happened, and many other things.

After a confusing round of what was mostly game 23 of Ligue 1, we also have cup games and catch-ups in the schedule that are messing with the system. Also messing with the system were Lyon, who did one of their big game performances to inflict PSG's first league loss of the season, winning 2-1.

As Ligue 1 pans through game 22, Kris, Jez and Phil round up all the action as OM struggle at home to Lille, Lille continue to be good, Monaco continue to be confusing as they bin Thierry Henry for the guy they binned earlier in the season, Guingamp are still dead last but in both cups, etc etc.

With the sad news that the search for Emiliano Sala's plane, piloted by David Ibbotson, has been called off, it's a sombre mood at FFW Towers this week. However, we do need to look at both the Coupe de France and Ligue 1. Kris, Phil, Rich and Conor do their best to round that up.

We're back, and so is French football! Phil, Jez and Rich have a look at how things stand at the midway-ish point (some December games yet to play) after 2019 opened with a cracking round of Coupe de France fixtures including 10 (ten) upsets. These including Angers being knocked out by sixth-tier regional team Viry-Chatillon, Gazelec Ajaccio ditto by Noisy-le-Grand, and the one you may have heard about, OM falling 2-0 to National side Andrezieux. The team also rounds up the Coupe de le Ligue quarter-finals and their favourite transfer rumours.

Yet again, the Ligue 1 schedule has hit some bumps in the road, with multiple postponements - but this will not stop us. Phil, Jez and Conor try to find something to discuss in amongst the red cards, European draws, cup matches, and ongoing issues with people in jackets.

Issues in France mean that there were only four matches played last weekend (the remaining matches scheduled for mid-January) and there's a number of postponements for the next weekend. Kris, Jez and Phil do their best to round that up, while focussing on PSG and OL in the Champions League.

A lot has happened since we last spoke, including game 5 of the European group stages, game 15 of Ligue 1, half or so of game 16 (we recorded during those) and the Ballon d'Or. Kris, Jez and Phil try not to get off-topic in covering all that, Ada Hegerberg's Ballon d'Or win, and looking forward to a Gilets Jaunes affected game 17, which will see both PSG v Montpellier and Toulouse v OL postponed at police request.

A quick turnaround at FFW Towers as Kris is joined by Phil and Conor to discuss the weekend's Ligue 1 action, and preview the upcoming European games, in which it's fair to say that things aren't going swimmingly for any of the French teams.