It's official - Lyon are in crisis.
Nantes did a number on them in the early kick-off, stealing a 1-0 thanks mainly to the superb display of their goalkeeper, while Monaco finally look like an expensively-assembled team, smashing Brest. PSG bounce back from a horror result against Angers by winning narrowly in Bordeaux.
Slimani seems to have found his home in Monaco after barren spells at Leicester, Newcastle and Fenerbahce and here he took Brest apart in a superb all-round display. In addition to his penalty goal he racked up three assists, the first a clever nod into the path of Ben Yedder for the opener, then a weighted through pass sent Gelson Martins away to score. He provided Balde for the fourth and his impressive 18 touches in the penalty area shows he was always the key threat.
| FL1 | Sep 29, 2019 | W | |
Nimes can count themselves extremely unfortunate not to take something from the game against St. Etienne, and Moulin was the main reason. He made three top-class saves, eight in total, to record a well-earned clean sheet and give his team the platform to go on and steal a win.
Lyon's struggles were laid bare once again and the latest chapter comes courtesy of a superb goalkeeping display by Alban Lafont to clinch his Nantes' side a 1-0 victory away from home on Saturday. He made seven saves in total, keeping out OL's stellar strikeforce of Memphis Depay and Moussa Dembele. His second-half parry from the Dutchman was the pick of the bunch from the 20-year-old.
Neymar might still be getting booed by his own fans but on the pitch he has hit the ground running. He netted his third PSG winning goal in four games, each of them by a 1-0 scoreline, converting Kylian Mbappe's neat cutback. His all-round performance, including five completed dribbles, was the difference between PSG winning or suffering a second worrying result in a row.
Verratti still plays a hugely important role within the PSG set-up and against Bordeaux he did the necessary to collect the ball and feed the attacking talent. 114 touches, T2 in Ligue 1 in that round, 85/93 (91%) pass completion and 11 recoveries highlight the vital role he continues to play in ensuring that PSG get where they need to be.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Tiemoue Bakayoko (8) and Gelson Martins (8.1) turned in their best performances for Monaco since arriving there (or returning, in the case of Bakayoko) in the summer, ably assisting Slimani in tearing Brest apart.
ROUND TO FORGET
Romain Hamouma may have played for St. Etienne for 73 minutes but he made just 12 passes in that time and barely made any kind of attacking impact, while Boulaye Dia (5.1) touched the ball just 14 times in a horrible 70 minutes for Reims.
