French Football Weekly

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.

After an international break, Kris, Phil, Conor and Jez round up how France have finished 2018, and look forward to the next round of Ligue 1, including OL v Saint-Etienne on Friday.

A limited team this week as Phil and Conor Ketley round up the Ligue 1 results, the European fixtures, and the Coupe de la Ligue. They focus on Montpellier 3 - 0 Marseille and Monaco's ongoing tailspin, before looking at games to watch at the weekend. Go Nimes.

The team gets together to round up all the results in Ligue 1 and Europe, but mostly focus on Le Classique, where PSG won 2-0 away at Marseille. Kris, Jez, Rich and Phil discuss defense, discipline, form and focus as the Coupe de la Ligue kicks off around them.

The FFW Towers bug continues (sorry about the coughing) but doesn't stop Kris, Phil, Jez and Rich from rounding up the results in Ligue 1, Thierry Henry's poor but explicable start at Monaco, Montpellier in the sunshine, Lille's changing approach, whether Ligue 1 is worth watching, the European competitions, and much else.

There's a bug going around FFW Towers, but this won't stop us rounding up France's matches against Iceland and Germany, Thierry Henry taking over at Monaco, and the matches to look out for as Ligue 1 comes back for round 10. Plus, Deschamps' pyro birthday cake for his 50th, a Charles Aznavour tribute at Armenia v Gibraltar, and a Ligue 2 round-up.

A duet this week as Phil and Jez mull over the French teams' performances in Europe, what's happened in Ligue 1, who's passing to each other at PSG, and what exactly Monaco think they're doing considering firing Leonardo Jardim.

There's been three games in Ligue 1 since we last podded, so there's a lot for Rich and Conor to explain to Phil as she's been on holiday for the whole time and hasn't seen a kick of football. Lille and Saint-Etienne are both doing well, and Monaco seem finally to be struggling with their habit of selling key players every summer. We also have the second round of the European competitions which see Lyon drawing 2-2 with Shakhtar Donetsk as we record, followed by PSG v Crvena Zvezda and the potentially awkward-to-watch Borussia Dortmund v Monaco on Wednesday in the Champions League. Then, onto the Europa League, where time-zone issues mean that you can watch all three French teams in sequence, starting with FC Astana v Rennes, then Bordeaux v Copenhagen, and finishing with a must-win game for OM away at Apollon Limassol.

Europe incoming! Kris is joined by Rich, Phil and Conor to round up a fairly chaotic round of games in Ligue 1 and look forward to six French teams going into European action. OM get ready to play behind closed doors, PSG have new shirts for their trip to Liverpool, and Lyon might be rightly nervous about what will happen at the Etihad - we are getting in the biscuits in for three fun days in the opening round.

It's a full-house as Kris, Jez, Rich and Phil get together to review France's performances in UEFA's reasonably-successful-so-far attempt to make people take friendlies seriously. These included an impressive debut for Alphonse Areola, a goal for Olivier Giroud, a still wonky first-choice formation, and a lot of post-match celebrations as the World Cup was presented to the home crowd at the Stade de France.

As the transfer window slams shut(TM), Kris, Jez and Phil try to work out who's where and how the traditional big four - PSG, OL, OM and Monaco - have done this summer. Have they strengthened their squads, made necessary replacements, or just trod water? Phil's been at a wedding and hasn't seen any games, Jez forgets to mute his microphone when answering the front door, and Kris tries to hold everything together.

Four teams have two wins in Ligue 1 so far - including both of the promoted teams, as Nimes and Reims make it clear that they aren't just here to make up the numbers. Kris, Jez and Phil look back at an interesting weekend that saw PSG continuing to play the kids, OL being stymied, Marseille struggling against les Crocos, and Bordeaux losing while having a fairly significant manager issue.

The new Ligue 1 season kicked off with goals, goals, some more goals, and then yet more goals - 33 in all, including a seven-goal thriller between Angers and Nimes, two red cards, both promoted teams winning, some hilarious goalkeeping ricks, and Wahbi Khazri possibly shading the goal-of-the-week in the face of some very strong competition. Kris, Jez, Rich and Phil get together to talk about every game, most of the goals, whether PSG are going to keep playing the kids, if this could be Lois Diony's season, Montpellier's shirts, VAR, and many other things.

After a short break, the team's back together! Still giddy from France's World Cup win, Kris, Rich, Phil and Jez mostly ignore the title 'race' to talk through who could make it to Europe, and which teams could be in trouble. They discuss the transfer market so far, bitch about TV coverage, and answer your questions along the way.

They did it! Phil, Jez, Rich and Conor are here to review the World Cup final that France won 4-2 against Croatia, Les Bleus' performance throughout the tournament, our hat-tips for best players, other high-points, and a look forward to what this could mean for the French team going forwards.