Ligue 1 28th Round - Saturday Games

At the top of the table, PSG travelled to Caen, beaten 3-0 by Montpellier last week, but pulling themselves together for this encounter. The home team scored first with a counterattack at speed in the 52nd minute; Sirugu parried but Frau pounced on the follow-up. PSG then made a double change, with Hoarau coming off for Jallet, and equalised in the 55th with a lucky break, Pastore’s heavy touch in the box bouncing back off the defender and landing nicely for him to finish. Heurtaux restored the lead for Caen with a header from a corner in the 69th, and Fajir forced a great save from Sirugu with a cracking freekick in the 80th, but the points were shared when Jallet showed some lovely control to chest the ball down and followed with a belting finish for an injury time equaliser. Overall, slightly fortuitous for PSG, who looked shaky in defence, but another late goal from them shows their focus and determination.

Second-placed Montpellier travelled to Nancy, both teams threatening early on, but Nancy had a goal disallowed on 42 minutes when the referee did not play advantage after a foul by Hilton on Traoré; he sent the Montpellier defender off but Nancy couldn’t convert the free kick. Thus, both teams were aggrieved at half-time, and things did not improve for Montpellier; Stambouli, taking Hilton’s place, brought Karaboué down on the hour mark and was also sent off. A penalty was awarded, although the foul looked to have been outside the area, which André Luiz converted, Jourdren stopping the shot with his feet but the ball spinning back and in. Giroud rattled the bar from a free-kick in the 83rd minute but Montpellier could do little from open-play with only nine men, and it finished 1-0 to Nancy.

Evian scored early against Auxerre with Barbosa crossing for a close-range finish from Kahlenberg on 8 minutes; the visitors got a second in injury time from Bérigaud as Auxerre pressed for the equaliser and left too much space. They stay in the bottom three, Evian have increased the gap between their tenth place and the pack below them.

Bordeaux looked likely to continue their quiet but determined run when Diabité scored in the 71st after a corner, but Ajaccio showed their mettle, and a lovely strike from Poulard, to level the scores in injury time.

Lorient managed to score (really) twice (really) at home to Brest, after the visitors went ahead early on with a superb strike from Ben Basat. First Ecuele Manga headed in from a corner on 52 minutes, then Monnet-Paquet got the winner in the 87th. Lorient last won in November, and were heading towards the drop-zone, so there will be sighs of relief at the Stade du Moustoir.

Marseille’s early season yips could be back after they lost 1-2 at home to Dijon; Rémy opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute after a handball from Meïte, but the visitors hit back in the 24th, Sankharé scoring after a fast break caused chaos in the box and left four Marseille defenders and Mandanda in a heap on the turf. Dijon then got a penalty late on after Nkoulou pulled at Koné’s shorts and the striker gratefully went to ground, Kakuta with the winning spot-kick. OM are now without a win in seven games, a run which includes losses to all three promoted teams; Bayern are likely to be feeling rather confident right now.

Finally, St Etienne were at home to Lyon in a derby les Verts really needed to win. The pitch cut up badly, Bastos falling over when taking a freekick which kicked up a divot a foot across; this was a bad-tempered match with three yellows apiece, and could have seen more. Lyon’s domination paid off with a fabulous goal from Gomis on the 80th minute; he paid tribute to Abidal in his celebration. The 1-0 win means Lyon go 4th, but either Rennes or Toulouse would leapfrog them with a result from their match-up on Sunday. PSG now have a two-point lead over Montpellier at the top of the table.

Tiling

A series of edits of existing pictures, playing around in 'paint'.

Sky - originally an oil painting.

Purple Rain - originally an oil painting (now in a private collection, ahem)




















Paisley - originally a watercolour on handmade paper (and used as a birthday card, I think...)



















Dotty - originally an oil painting ('Spring', again, in private hands - my only ever public sale!)

















Stars - originally an oil painting.

Olivier Giroud Interview with La Nouvelle Republique (Translation)

The original interview in French by Jean-Éric Zabrodsky, translated (with enthusiasm but no professional qualifications, and probably many mistakes) by moi. This is by no means an official translation and is meant to help out only.

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Olivier Giroud will be the big attraction in Tours v Montpellier on Monday. He spoke to [La Nouvelle Republique] about past, present, and future.

What does Tours FC mean to you?

Two good seasons playing good football in a very competitive team. Above all, a second season that launched me as top scorer.

(note : 2009/10 season – he was top scorer in Ligue 2 with 21 goals)

Do you regret not having won promotion to Ligue 1 with Tours?

No regrets. We did all that we could – and the fact that we didn’t go up gave me the second season when I exploded. From bad comes good...in fact, since Tours, I have only met good people, and good times...I have a lucky star (touches wood). But, there was a lot of work, it wasn’t put on a plate! It is well known that everything wasn’t rosy for me at Grenoble or at Istres.

Is it true you nearly went to Scotland?

Yes – Middlesbrough called me first, but then I went to Paris to meet the Chief Executive of Celtic. A legendary club with a great stadium and unbelievable support. It’s a religion there...

And then, Montpellier came in for you...

Yes. First René Girard called, then Loulou Nicollin, then Laurent Nicollin. I felt that they really wanted me and that made the difference. For my career, it was better to stay in France. Good decision, right? A career is made on the right decisions.

A word on Loulou Nicollin – he’s a one, isn’t he?

He’s like a protective father. But there’s stuff you don’t see; match days, all the time. When he comes to the training centre, he says important things. Anyway, he always has an interesting turn of phrase (laughs)

A personal question – has changing from being a local hero to a national star changed you?

Yes and no. No, because I always respond to fans who are nice, who stop me in the street for an autograph; I like to make them happy. Yes, because I can’t do everything, particularly for the press. I need to be selective, not take on too much. The main thing is the playing field. My agent takes care of the rest.

We’ll get back to the game in a minute; you have clearly improved your finishing, but you have also become a great header of the ball, notably on deflections. Do you agree?

For the finishing, everything comes from confidence. The more you score, the more confident you are. For the aerial game, I don’t agree with you – in fact it’s the game around me that has changed. We work in training on phases where I divert the ball for a partner. And today, I get great support and receive more balls than last season.

In the French national team, your height, the aerial game and deflections, it’s a plus...

It’s true that I am not a typical player for the French team. It’s that that no doubt attracted Laurent Blanc, that and the fact that I’m the top scorer, with Gameiro...

(note: Giroud has 14 Ligue 1 goals so far, Gameiro 9)

More on the national team – how did you feel about your first call-up?

At first, it was weird; I hadn’t set foot on Clairefontaine for ten years. I had been selected for the French U15 squad with Gourcuff and Cabayé. Then, I saw Cabayé. Anyway, the place is full of symbols, photos of famous players. Well, after that emotion, you immerse yourself in it, you are selected, you have to succeed, to prove yourself, go out on the field and do everything to win that place.

There was also Koscielny and Tourangeua with you two years ago (at Tours) – now you find yourself together for Les Bleus. Incredible?

Yes, particularly as at Tours, we shared a room for away trips!

Laurent Blanc seems to rate you...

I don’t know – OK, Laurent Blanc and Jean-Louis Gasset are from Montpellier, that makes it a bit easier...now, in tactical terms, I was disappointed to have missed a chance against the USA. But in the press conference, Laurent Blanc stressed that I had done well to make the chance, that pleased me. Then, he recalled me against Belgium...

Today, people are talking about you throughout Europe...

I’m going to stop you right there. I have said – repeatedly – that England would be great. But out of respect for Montpellier, my club, I want to stress: I am under contract to June 2014. We have an exciting end to this season to play: the league, to be top scorer...the Coupe de France! I am not taking on too much. We will get back to that at the end of the season.

And the Euros?

I can’t look so far ahead. I have to keep my rhythm, before that. First, there is the selection for the (friendly) match against Germany. I would love to go to the Euros; it’s every footballer’s dream – but it is five months away!

OK, but what do you think of the draw, with Ukraine, England and Sweden?

It’s an evenly poised group. Everyone says, rightly, that it’s winnable. But then, there is England...

Last question: you don’t bang on about it, but you do work with charitable organisations...

Yes, of course. With ELA*, with Karma, who work with the Clocheville hospital. Recently, I did an awareness raising tour with Montpellier Rugby player François Trinh-Duc about defibrillators. I want to use my media profile to help those who need it, it can help.

* l'Association Européenne contre les Leucodystrophies (ELA)

Christmas 2012 - The SnowManager and Other Things Collection

SnowWenger: IN CRISIS!!!!!

SnowMON (aka Martin Snow'Neill)

SnowRover

SnowSuarez

SnowTerry

Christmas 2012 - The SnowManchester City Collection

SnowMancini:

Snow Hart


















SnowMario

SnowTevez

Petulism: Boudicca's Thought For The Day #4 - why so hung up about SEX?

Now, onto the vexed issue of sexuality – this is another instance of humans using terminology referring to us that has a rather judgmental edge – ‘animal passions’, ‘dogging’, ‘doggy-style’, ‘ at it like rabbits’, ‘hung like a horse’, etc etc.

This judgment is also displayed in your approach to animal sexuality itself – scared by our free-wheelin’ approach to making the lurrrve, and with, as ever, one eye to the economic impact, you impose controls on our chances of gettin’ it on.

Petulism: Boudicca's Thought For The Day #3 - The rat race and working feline INVECTIVE

We have referred briefly to the problem of unremunerated work in the owned animal community, but a deeper look at employment roles seems warranted. Let us leave aside the role of certain unlucky souls as consumable goods, as that's just too depressing to contemplate - instead, let us focus on the function of animals as actors in the economy more widely.