Paris Saint-Germain brought the curtains down on 2024 for Ligue 1 when they defeated AS Monaco in a thrilling 4-2 victory last week. And following a weekend of Coupe de France fixtures, the winter break has now officially begun providing a perfect chance for us to look back on some of the lessons that we have learnt from (almost) half a season.
##### **PSG find success without Kylian Mbappé**
More than a few question marks hung over PSG ahead of this season. Over the summer, an era of superstars had come to a prolonged end with the bitter departure of Kylian Mbappé and the club were now fully committing to a project that embraced youth development.
A sign of this was the club passing on the chance to secure Victor Osimhen and instead bringing in players like João Neves and Désiré Doué. Two young talents who while expensively acquired still have not yet found their peak and have room to grow and develop.
Some teething problems were expected for the 2024/25 campaign as Mbappé had been relied upon extensively during his time in the capital. He had been the club’s most consistent goal threat and the top scorer in Ligue 1 for the past six seasons and the truth was it looked as if the club had done very little to address his departure.
In the 2023/24 season, outside of Mbappé, only Gonçalo Ramos reached double figures for goals. However, Luis Enrique was not concerned and stressed that the team would be a far more cohesive unit this season.
At least domestically, the former Spain and Barcelona head coach has been proven correct. Goals have flowed from all corners of the pitch with 44 scored in 16 Ligue 1 games. A record that far outpaces the next highest scorers Olympique de Marseille who have registered 32 goals in 15 games. Players like Bradley Barcola (10 goals) and Ousmane Dembélé (8 goals) have stepped up in Mbappé’s absence and sit second and fourth in the goalscoring charts.
And perhaps the most impressive part of all of this is that PSG enter the winter break undefeated in the league and with a ten-point gap separating them from Marseille (a game in hand) and Monaco.
##### **A flawed chasing pack shapes race for Europe**
If PSG’s relative lack of flaws has dampened the hopes of a title race then it is the flaws of the chasing pack that looks to be shaping a very exciting race for Europe. Last season, saw a dramatic contest for qualifying spots that went down to the final day of the season, and it looks as if we could be witnessing a similar scenario in 2025 as only six points currently separate Marseille in second from RC Lens in seventh.
Near the start of the campaign, Marseille and Monaco had briefly looked to create a three-way contest at the top of the table with _Les Parisiens_. However, both clubs have struggled with the consistency needed to unseat PSG from their throne, and in doing so allowed the likes of Lens, Olympique Lyonnais, and Lille OSC to creep up the table and narrow the gap.
Marseille’s Roberto De Zebri has struggled to make a fortress out of the Stade Vélodrome. The pressure cooker home ground has only witnessed two victories this season, and _Les Phocéens_ have instead been carried by their impressive away form – in stark contrast to the previous campaign when Marseille won only five games during their travels.
Monaco have been experiencing a poor end to the year with only three victories in their last eight games. Head coach Adi Hütter has been juggling a swathe of recent injuries to key players like Folarin Balogun, Radoslaw Majecki, and captain Denis Zakaria which have left the club looking far less imperious than at the start of the campaign.
It’s these weaknesses that will allow the teams beneath Marseille and Monaco to sense blood and try to pounce and force their way into one of the automatic Champions League spots.
##### **The divide between the haves and the have-nots widens**
The fiasco over the summer that saw the Ligue 1 broadcasting rights for the 2024-2029 cycle only agreed upon a month before the start of the new campaign revealed a stark faultline that runs down the league table.
According to L’Équipe just under half of the sides in Ligue 1 were at risk of bankruptcy if an agreement could not be reached over the summer: with AJ Auxerre, RC Lens, FC Nantes, Stade de Reims, Stade Brestois, Le Havre AC, and Angers SCO at threat.
While four clubs, Reims, Angers, Le Havre, and Montpellier HSC were unable to spend a single euro on transfer fees. It is unsurprising that of those teams that were unable to invest none sit in the top half of the table and only Reims (10th) looks safe from relegation.
The financial disparity at the heart of French football has been obvious for a number of seasons, but it took poor governance for the faultlines to truly emerge. It’s hard to see a way for the league to paper over those cracks, even if a disaster was narrowly avoided with the DAZN and beIN Sports broadcasting deal. The question now is are we looking at the start of a very different Ligue 1 born from a crack in its makeup?
[GFFN](https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/) | [Nick Hartland](https://twitter.com/NickHartland_)