The finisher: Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon)
The 23-year-old was voted Player of the Year by the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP), and it was richly deserved. Lacazette hit 27 goals in just 33 Ligue 1 starts, a club record, but the local boy was about so much more than just that as he led Lyon to an unprecedented runners-up spot.
Having made his breakthrough into the first-team as a winger, Lacazette was often compared to former OL legend Sidney Govou as a teenager. He has taken that prodigious workrate with him to the centre-forward position (providing 6 assists this time around). His second campaign in the role looked like it might be more trying, with the support of Bafetimbi Gomis and Jimmy Briand no longer there.
Instead, Lacazette rose to the challenge with bravery and intelligence. His goals came from an economical 2.9 shots per game (compared, for example to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 3.8) but came from a variety of situations – 4 from outside the box, 4 on the counter-attack, 4 from set-pieces and 8 penalties. Next stop, Champions League.
The server: Dimitri Payet (Marseille)
It is remarkable to think that Marseille spent a few weeks last summer trying to palm Payet off to Swansea City after agreeing a fee with the Welsh club. 17 assists later, one wonders how differently both teams’ seasons might have turned out had he not dug his heels in and stayed at the Stade Vélodrome.
Having played much of his intermittently superb career on either wing, Payet was one of the players inherited by Marcelo Bielsa most deeply affected by the Argentinian’s fabled methods. Whether Marseille played in 3-1-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or anything else, the 28-year-old was always entrusted in the number 10 role, to spectacular results.
No other player in the division even came close to Payet’s 3.7 key passes per match. He used all his experience and his habitual gifts too, also being the most prolific crosser in Ligue 1 by some distance, with 2.4 per game – Diego, of Reims (1.7) and Bordeaux’s Wahbi Khazri (1.6) were the next best. OM’s future success depends on holding onto him.
The midfield genius: Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain)
The Italian has made for compelling viewing ever since arriving in the Hexagon, but he raised his game by a few bars more in his third season in the French capital. Arguably the main reason for PSG’s inability to close out their title defence until the penultimate day was their difficulty in fielding their first choice midfield three of Verratti, Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi as regularly as in 13/14.
It meant that the junior partner had to step up, and that he did. Despite his infuriating habit of collecting bookings apace (12 this season in Ligue 1 alone), Verratti was indispensible. His passing was as crisp as ever - 91.7% pass completion rate – and he tackled more prolifically than ever before as he ruled the centre of the team. The 22-year-old managed 3 tackles per game (compared to 2.3 the season before) and 1.5 interceptions.
Verratti was also more incisive than ever before in the final third, scoring twice and supplying 8 assists – twice his highest previous total in the latter case. Wherever PSG go next, Verratti will lead the charge.
The tactical master: Leonardo Jardim (Monaco)
Given the disarray in which they began the campaign – 9 goals conceded in the first 5 games – it’s extraordinary to absorb the assurance with which Monaco closed out the campaign. They had the division’s best defensive record, with just 26 goals against.
In those opening weeks of the season, many doubted the decision to dispense with Claudio Ranieri in favour of the younger Leonardo Jardim – especially when the new man’s team looked physically undercooked, conceding a series of crucial goals to counter-attacks.
2013/14’s runners-up had achieved so much playing a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond under Ranieri – settling into that shape brought the best out of James Rodríguez but instigated a period of struggle for Radamel Falcao, incidentally – so Jardim’s more Portuguese 4-3-3 was an adjustment.
It worked, with the placement of Jérémy Toulalan and Geoffrey Kondogbia (3.5 and 3.2 tackles per match respectively) in the deeper midfield spots meaning a defence that frequently changed personnel - with 6 different centre-back pairings - was well protected. Next season, there must be attacking quality added to compliment the craft of Bernardo Silva and Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco.
The surprise package: Claudio Beauvue (Guingamp)
Even if his converted penalty away at Saint Etienne on Ligue 1’s final day was academic in one sense – Guingamp still lost - it was a highly significant moment for Beauvue in another. It was his 17th goal of the league season, meaning he matched the individual club record in the top flight, set in 2002/03 by one Didier Drogba.
Like his illustrious Ivorian predecessor, Beauvue is something of a late developer, having turned 27 in April. If he has put in plenty of graft to make himself a consistent headline maker this season, credit should go too to his coach Jocelyn Gourvennec, who moved him from an attacking midfield role to centre-forward.
Beauvue’s pace and technique are clear, but his tenacity has been notable too. 6 of his total were headed goals, and only Marseille’s André-Pierre Gignac, with 7, managed more. It is especially impressive when you consider he stands at just 174cm. We can expect Beauvue to be playing his trade on a bigger stage next season.
The future: Jordan Amavi (Nice)
You don’t have to look too far to find the ray of light in a fairly bleak campaign for Claude Puel’s Nice. Amavi has impressed throughout the season with the level of his involvement – at 21, he is the only player with Le Gym to have played more than 3000 minutes – and his athleticism. Amavi has made an average of 3.9 tackles per game and 4.6 interceptions.
He is by no means the finished article. His total of 11 yellow cards reflects a high rate of fouls per game (1.8). His peer at neighbours Monaco, Layvin Kurzawa, is a year older than Amavi and has had his own defensive challenges, but is at least less prone to diving in.
There is plenty to suggest that Amavi can go a long way, however, even if France is currently well stocked for left-backs. He is great to watch too, having chipped in with 4 goals and produced 1.9 dribbles per game, all for an exceptional rating of 7.74 from WhoScored.com.
What were your highlights from the 2014/15 Ligue 1 season? Let us know in the comments below
