The French league got underway on 7th August, and whilst the season may only be two fixtures old the Ligue 1 table already has an interesting look to it. For a start the current champions Marseille have managed to lose both of their two opening games, to Caen and Valenciennes respectively. The latter may have finished in a respectable 10th place last season but Caen is the real surprise package...
The club may have been founded in 1913 but it would be another 70 years before it could finally leave behind the travails of the third division without slipping back (yet anyway). Since 1983 they have been the French equivalent of West Bromwich Albion, yo-yoing between Ligue 1 and 2.
They were promoted to the top tier for the first time in 1988 and stayed around until 1994/95 ended in relegation, they even qualified for the Uefa Cup (as it was then) after the 1991/92 season. A swift return came when Caen won Ligue 2 in 1996 with a young William Gallas just starting out, but they couldn't survive the subsequent year.
It wasn't until 2003/04 that the club again claimed top status, however following a familiar pattern they once again fell back to Ligue 2 at the first attempt. Promotion came again in 2006/07 and finally Caen stuck around for more than just one season achieving a very commendable 11th place finish.
Normal service was resumed in 2008/09 as Caen were narrowly relegated yet again, and no prizes will be given for guessing that they went on to win Ligue 2 last season. They were so dominant that only one win in their final seven league games gave them the title regardless. The club has plenty of prior experience in Ligue 1 then, but like WBA they have not recently managed to convert that into a longer stay amongst the elite.
This campaign may turn the tide however, especially if judged by their first two results, Caen won both games and they were against Marseille on the opening day and Lyon last weekend. No team could have wished for a harder start to the season and yet Caen brushed aside the champions and runners-up from only a few months ago.
Their first goal scored back in the division came from the captain and one-club man Nicolas Suebe, who has been an ever presence in the starting line up since the 2001/02 season. Marseille, playing at home and heavy pre-match favourites, thought they had salvaged a point when Mamadou Samassa equalised with thirteen minutes to go. Instead Caen's El-Arabi headed a famous winner in the 86th minute to leave Didier Deschamps exasperated with his side.
Last weekend was in many ways all the more spectacular, backed by their home crowd Caen pulled off a 3-2 victory over a Lyon team that almost reached the Champions League final last May. Youssef El-Arabi scored in consecutive games, this time with a confident solid chip from outside the box after running onto a through-ball.
In a thoroughly entertaining match Lyon equalised after an angled header from the brilliantly named Bafétimbi Gomis, only to go behind again within ten minutes. First Yatabaré for Caen and then Gomis (again) traded similar goals, where a miss-hit shot became a perfect assist for them to score and to make it 2-2, all before the half-hour mark!
Anthony Réveillère then got himself sent-off after a rash and miss-timed challenge meant he took out Yohan Mollo on the left wing, earning him a second yellow card just before half-time. The winner came with thirteen minutes to go as Lyon were seemingly caught cold by a Mollo free-kick, by the time that Ismaila N'Diaye had gathered the ball and fired into the net he and three other Caen players were closer to the Lyon goal than any impeding defender.
With Marseille's 3-2 loss to Valenciennes the previous day and Lyon's own opening day disappointment in a 0-0 with Monaco, the top two teams in France are in the unusual position of occupying places in the bottom five. Meanwhile Caen is in second and separated from top by goal-difference to Toulouse.
Toulouse are a solid team that finished fourth the season before last and third two seasons before that (2006/07). Between those campaigns they were very nearly relegated so one may imagine that the Toulouse support won't be getting ahead of themselves just yet.
As for Bordeaux who gloriously won the title in 2008/09 under Laurent Blanc's guidance, they have also had a disastrous start. Like Marseille they have lost their first two games, 1-0 to Montpellier and then 2-1 to the aforementioned Toulouse. Life without the new France manager will clearly take some time to adjust to. His replacement is the former Fulham boss Jean Tigana and it is his first job in management since a spell as Beşiktaş boss ended in 2007, after he had led the club to a Turkish Cup victory.
Tigana was not only a great international player but he also spent 8 seasons at Bordeaux during the eighties, playing over 250 matches and helping them to three of the six Ligue 1 titles they have ever won. It's fair to say that the fan faithful should give the former favourite enough time to make a new mark as manager.
Special mention should also go to AC Arles-Avignon as they are encountering their first ever season in the top tier of French football. At this time they are second bottom, also with no points from two games after losing to Sochaux (2-1) and Lens (0-1). Incredibly they have climbed through four divisions in the past five seasons to this point, a rapid rise that even overshadows Graham Taylor's early Watford years.
The manager responsible is the criminally unheralded Michel Estevan, who has been in his position since 2005 and for all of 'Les Lions' promotions. Bizarrely he was sacked for roughly a week back in June, after a new contract was withdrawn due to finances and the new chairman reacted! A completely nonsensical move that makes you see why Brian Clough always mistrusted his club’s majority shareholders.
Thankfully they reneged on their decision and Estevan is back for the opportunity that he has earned, but if he can keep them up against the odds he will have over surpassed himself. As for the rest of Ligue 1, it appears that the Bundesliga may have a rival for the most competitive league in UEFA.