French trio shine as giants slumber

The favourites in Ligue 1 are enduring a sluggish start to the season with Le Mans UC 72, FC Lorient and AS Nancy-Lorraine topping the table.

Shock contenders
The fourth round of fixtures at the weekend has left the three giants of modern French football - Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain - in 12th, 13th and 14th places, while Le Mans, Lorient and Nancy, all of whom were still in the Ligue 2 in May 2005, have seized the initiative, and are level on ten points at the top of the nascent rankings.

Incredible week
Lorient have had an incredible week. On 11 August, they beat AS Monaco FC 2-1 before humbling PSG at the Parc des Princes four days later. They completed a hat-trick of major scalps by beating Lyon 2-1 on Saturday. "If we are still doing this well after 15 games then we will start worrying," joked coach Christian Gourcuff, whose side's main goal remains avoiding relegation.

Sensible aims
Nancy earned a crack at European football after winning the 2005/06 French League Cup, but like Lorient and Le Mans, Ligue 1 survival remains their priority despite their current form. "No matter what our current ranking is, we want 42 points at the end of the season to stay in Ligue 1," said Uruguayan coach Pablo Correa who has kept faith with the squad that finished 13th last season.

Le Mans thrive
Having replaced coach Frédéric Hantz with Rudy Garcia, Le Mans are perhaps the most unlikely of the three league leaders, all of whom have won three and drawn one of their opening four games, boasting an identical record of seven goals scored and four conceded. Away wins against UEFA Cup hopefuls FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and FC Girondins de Bordeaux have been their crowning achievements.

Borrowed time
Understandably, Garcia is not getting carried away with his side's current run of form following their 1-1 draw at LOSC Lille Métropole on Saturday. "We must take these points while we can," he said. "At one stage or another, it is going to get far tougher." When that stage will come is a question that only Lyon, PSG and Marseille seem capable of answering.