Final Pythagorean for 2009-2010 French Ligue 1

Categories: Soccer Pythagorean: Tables

Here's the final Pythagorean table for the French league.  It might be useful to compare this table to a similar one taken at the halfway mark of the season.

Team GP GF GA Pts Pythag +/-
Marseille 38 69 36 78 73 +5
Lyon 38 64 38 72 69 +3
Auxerre 38 42 29 71 61 +10
Lille 38 72 40 70 72 -2
Montpellier 38 50 40 69 59 +10
Bordeaux 38 58 40 64 64 0
Lorient 38 54 42 58 60 -2
Monaco 38 39 45 55 47 +8
Rennes 38 52 41 53 59 -6
Valenciennes 38 50 50 52 52 0
Lens 38 40 44 48 48 0
Nancy 38 46 53 48 47 +1
Paris Saint-Germain 38 50 46 47 55 -8
Toulouse 38 36 36 47 51 -4
Nice 38 41 57 44 41 +3
Sochaux 38 28 52 41 34 +7
Saint-Étienne 38 27 45 40 37 +3
Le Mans 38 36 59 32 37 -5
Boulogne 38 31 62 31 31 0
Grenoble 38 31 61 23 32 -9

Not much of a surprise at the top; if you score the most goals in the league, you should be able to win it as long as you don't allow too many goals, and that's what Marseille achieved.  Marseille came alive in the second half of the season, but so did Auxerre and Lyon.  Bordeaux fell off the pace in the second half if you look at their statistical expectations — they ran out of gas after they were knocked out of the Champions League.  The real surprise outfit in Ligue 1 was Montpellier.  They played at a consistently high level over the course of the season, which is really impressive for a recently promoted side.

PSG were an underachieving side at the midpoint of the season, and they stayed that way in the second half.  The French Cup conquest rescued what would have been a very disappointing season.  And Grenoble were out of their depth in Ligue 1 but nevertheless were a poor side.  

Aside from Auxerre and Montpellier, the big overachiever was Sochaux.  Charlie Davies' side should have been relegated if you looked at their goal totals, but they managed to eke out enough 1-0 wins (including away defeats of Lyon and Auxerre) to stay up. 

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