Bordeaux vs. St Etienne

Written by: Sandy
Date: 2008-09-28
League: Football - France Ligue 1

St Etienne +0.5

Obviously Bordeaux are one of the top teams in France but they have struggled in recent weeks putting in some quite poor performances. None more so than the hammering at Chelsea in the champions league. They didnt make a chance in the game and the 4-0 result could easily have been 6 or 7.

They do play some very nice football and are a side a like watching but like most sides who attack they do give you chances to score and when Marseille were here recently(1-1), they should have hit the net 4 or 5 times. Bordeaux kept trying to play offside and to be fair, they were hopeless at it, had Kone and co been on form it would have been a rout.Last week we seen them lose their discipline at Grenoble. Wendel and Diarra both red carded for the most stupid of tackles, 2 top starts suspended this week.

I like the look of St Etienne, in the last few weeks anyway. Yes they sit quite far down that table but they put in some very good performances recently and maybe not quite had the the rub of the green so far.They gave it everything in the derby but lost 1-0 to Lyon, i say they deserved at least a draw in that match. When losing at Caen there were 2 good goals chopped off by the linesman which were clearly onside. St Etienne did get that vital win last week over a very strong PSG side. From start to finish they were on top and played some super football. Some of the angles, running off the ball and shooting from distance was outstanding. Dabo and Ilan were superb but for me the main man was Gomis up front. He has plenty of power and a very nice touch. If given space that guy can finish.

Bordeaux have a massive champions league game this midweek against Roma, a must win, so possibly their minds are not totally on this fixture. As is said they miss a couple of their top players who are suspended and Diawara could be out injured. They face a side who were one of the best organised and toughest to beat last season and although the sit near the bottom of the table after 6 games they are building confidence and can at least get a draw out of this game.

St Etienne +0.5 to beat Bordeaux with sj at 2.07