French Football Weekly

Kris, Rich and Jez debrief les Bleus' September international break. After two matches it looked like it was going to be a post-mortem but, after the 2-0 win over Finland, maybe France have stumbled over a blueprint for the future - with Griezmann at the centre of things of course! The question is will Mbappe put team over ego?

As we trundle into an international break, Kris Rich and Phil round up game 4 in LIgue 1, the European draws, key transfers, and the upcoming set of World Cup qualifiers for les Bleus.

After an eventful weekend, Kris, Jez, Phil and Rich get together to round up all the Ligue 1 action, including goals, red cards, bottles, pitch invasions, presidents grabbing the microphone, the CRS showing up, and upcoming disciplinary issues. They look at the 'big' teams having a bit of a mare, the players who impressed, and some mild transfer chat.

34 goals in the second round of Ligue 1, with comebacks, red cards, players being sent to train with the reserves, managers doing their previous clubs - Kris, Jez, Phil and Rich try to pick out the best (and worst) performances of a chaotic weekend.

Ligue 1 kicked off at the weekend and there were goals, comebacks, arrests and more. Also, a small matter of Lionel Messi leaving/etc Barcelona. Kris, Jez, Rich and Phil are all over all of that - and who to watch out for as the season progresses.

We're back! Kris, Jez, Phil and Rich - the band is back together. Mere minutes after the end of last season, when Lille beat PSG to the title and PSG again failed to win the Champions League, the Euros went badly, the French men's team went 100% Ripoll at the Olympics, and French sports journalism now has TV rights specialists on the books, we are *back*. Trophee de Champions, new teams, new players, new managers, new subscriptions needed - we're ready for the first round of Ligue 1 at the weekend

Well, that went badly. Kris, Jez and Phil look back at the loss on penalties against Switzerland, issues throughout the tournament, and the many elephants there are in the room right now.

The Group of Heck is over, and Kris and Jez have a late-night meet-up to review Portugal 2 - 2 France which put France top of the group as Germany also drew 2-2 with Hungary. This sets France up with a match against Switzerland in the round of 16.

Game 2 and things are a bit problematic; Kris, Jez and Phil look back over a 1-1 draw with Hungary, and the build-up to the key final game on Wednesday against Portugal. Also, Germany's bounce-back against the title-holders, and the sad loss of a legend of social media. Shortly after the game, it was announced that Philippe Vignolo - @Philousports on Twitter - had died of a heart attack. It's a measure of his 'petite notorieté' (his words) that this was announced mid-match by Omar da Fonseca on live TV, various France players paid homage to him just hours after they had got off the pitch, and the French press, sporting and not, have published tributes. Au revoir, Philou. Tu nous manques déjà...

Game 1 is done! Kris, Jez and Phil analyse France 1 - 0 Germany - the selection, the system, the silkiness... Also Hungary's crumble against Portugal in the other Group F game, Phil's boss, and how TV dealt with Christian Eriksen's collapse.

The season is over and the Euros are about to begin! Kris, Jez and Phil look backwards, forwards and sideways at the standings, managerial changes, transfer market and France's chances as they face Germany, Hungary and Portugal in the group stages.

After a chaotic final day, Kris, Jez and Phil round up the final standings - Lille win their first title since 2011, PSG are pushed to second place, Nantes have a play-off to contend with, nobody really understands the Europa Conference League, *all* the managers are moving around, and who were the nicest team this season...

Kris and Jez are joined by a special guest for a very special pod - Angus Torode joins the lads to discuss his career. They also look at the France team that will go to the Euros, and the final of the Coupe de France.

The penultimate round of Ligue 1 was a simultaneous round of chaos. Kris, Jez and Phil try to remember what happened as there were developments at both ends of the table. Also, Etienne Green was born in Colchester - who knew?

As the season burns to a close, Kris, Jez and Phil look back over PSG's exit from the Champions' League, complications in Ligue 1, promotions from Ligue 2, and the upcoming Coupe de France semi-finals.

It's been a very busy week, and Kris, Jez and Phil have a special guest to talk about PSG's performances in both domestic and European competition - Matt Gooding aka @PSGTourist. Lyon beat Monaco to probably screw up the principality's hopes of the title, PSG struggled more than you'd think against Lens, Lille beat ten men who didn't get a shot off (Nice), and that's before you look at the Champions' League.

It's been a week. Kris, Jez and Phil look back over the weekend's action, the cup, admin, the WCL and everything else.

Quiet weekend, wasn't it? Kris and Phil look back over a sometimes baffling week, in which both PSGs can thank the away goals rule for their progression to the Champions League semi-finals - the men after a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich at the Parc des Prince, the women after knocking out seven-time trophy winners Lyon with a 2-1 away win. As well as that there were a couple of five-goal thrillers featuring very late winners in Ligue 1, as Kris' Lorient succumbed to OM at the Velodrome 3-2 with a double from Pol Lirola cancelling out ditto from Terem Moffi, and PSG v Saint-Etienne being probably the most exciting last 15 minutes of the season ending in a 96th minute winner from Mauro Icardi as the hosts also won 3-2. We have a midweek Coupe de France round for the quarter-finals and an interesting weekend coming up which finishes with Lyon v Lille in a key game for the title race. Also - yes, we went there - the recently announced 'European Super League' (other super leagues are available) causes sadness, an

PSG beat Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champion's League Quarter Finals, all the top four won, we have two fourth-tier teams in the Coupe de France Quarter Finals, and it turns out the French women's team are fine without most of the OL contingent. Kris, Jez and Phil round up a week of interesting developments across multiple competitions.

We had a little international / Easter break of our own, so Kris, Jez and Phil have a lot to round up this week. France drew with Ukraine and beat Kazakhstan and Bosnia-Herzogovina in World Cup qualifying, and the U21s lost to Denmark and beat Russia and Iceland to progress to the quarter-finals of the Euros. Then we had a key set of games on Saturday in Ligue 1 as Lille beat PSG, Monaco beat Metz and Lyon drew at Lens to throw the top of the table into a spin, and elsewhere there were concussions, penalties, red cards and much more besides.