French Ligue 1 preview: Toulouse FC Vs LOSC Lille
Stade Municipal, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Toulouse-FC-c40751 play host to reigning French Ligue 1 champions LOSC Lille in Week 14 of the 2011/2012 Ligue 1 Championnat.
Coming into this game, Rudi Garcia’s Lille are in third place in the Ligue 1 standings and chase leaders Paris Saint-Germain by six points.
After a good start to the new campaign, Toulouse are in sixth place with 22 points from 13 games. Alain Casanova is satisfied with his team’s performance so far but has asked his charges to go out and do their best against the champions of France so that
they are not left with regrets by the end of the game.
Following a run of just one victory in their last five Ligue 1 games, Les Pitchouns have slipped down to sixth place. The game against Lille would certainly be a tough one for the Toulouse-based club and Casanova would be looking to guide his team back to
winning ways.
Thought he French tactician is not expecting an easy game, he wants his players to play against Garcia’s side without fear.
The manager held a meeting with his players a few days back. “One objective of the meeting was to convince players to play completely and liberated, and especially not to have any regrets at the end of the match. You have to give 100% and not have any complex,”
Casanova said while talking on the club’s official website.
The game would certainly be an interesting match as Lille will have an important Champions League tie after this game. The game was scheduled for Saturday but Ligue 1 changed the day to Friday in order to give Lille an extra day in order to prepare for their
crunch game against CSKA Moscow – a game that Les Dogues have to win in any case in order to keep their hopes of qualification to the next round alive.
Like Toulouse, Lille have also experienced a slip of their own. After two successive draws against lowly Valenciennes and Evian TG, Lille are now chasing PSG by six points. However, the side from Northern France have a great chance of keeping up with the
pacesetters.
Currently at the bottom of the Champions League Group B following a 2-1 defeat to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan, Garcia knows that his side has to get back to winning ways in order to stay in contention for a back-to-back Ligue 1 title.
The upcoming Champions League game against Moscow is a crucial one but Garcia fully understands that winning games in Ligue 1 is equally important.
“The players need to be focused on the Toulouse match. After that there will be time to think about Moscow,” Garcia said while talking to the media.
Player to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Franck-Tabanou-c14046 (Toulouse)
Absence of the likes of Etienne Capoue, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro and Antoine Deveaux means that the young left-winger will have a lot of responsibility in attack and would be looking to guide Toulouse to an important win against a team that is running low
on morale at the moment.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eden-Hazard-c11863 (Lille)
The young midfielder from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Senegal-c3001 international
as Garcia looks to get all three points against Toulouse before they play CSKA Moscow in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991.
Predicted final score: Toulouse 0-2 Lille
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