French champions Olympique de Marseille, plagued by on-pitch uncertainty and dressing room dissent, slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Valenciennes on Saturday, a loss that sent them spinning to the foot of the table.
The champions had opened the defense of their title last weekend with an embarrassing 2-1 defeat against promoted Stade Malherbe Caen at their Stade Velodrome home.
With striker Mamadou Niang heading for Fenerbahce in Turkey and rebel midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa courted by English Premier League Newcastle United, things got steadily worse for Didier Deschamps’ side.
Moments after the final whistle, Marseille confirmed that they had reached an agreement with Fenerbahce to offload Niang.
Despite dominating the first half against Valenciennes, they were unable to break through with Niang, who was eventually substituted, wasting his side’s best chance when he had a shot saved by goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau.
Valenciennes took control with two goals in six minutes early in the second half.
Gael Danic opened the scoring in the 46th minute beating Steve Mandanda in the Marseille goal after being set up by David Ducourtioux.
Gregory Pujol then grabbed his first of the night with a header, again from Ducourtioux’s reliable supply line, before adding his second on the hour following a break down the flank by Gaeten Bong.
L’OM launched a belated fightback with Taye Taiwo converting an 81st-minute penalty after Andre Ayew had been brought down by Penneteau.
Ayew then cut the deficit further three minutes later with a fierce drive through a packed penalty area, but Valenciennes held on.
The win lifted Valenciennes into a share of top spot with four points alongside Stade Rennais, who lead the way on goal difference.
Rennes won 3-0 at Nancy thanks to second-half goals from Victor Montano, Yacine Brahimi and Ismael Bangoura.
Nice also have four points and are in third place after a 2-1 success at Lorient.
Yann Jouffre gave Lorient the lead after 10 minutes, but Ismael Gace immediately leveled for Nice.
Loic Remy grabbed the winner in the 69th minute.
In Saturday’s other matches, newly promoted Arles-Avignon were beaten 1-0 at home by Lens and fellow newcomers Stade Brestois 29 were held 1-1 by Auxerre. Saint-Etienne withstood a fightback by Sochaux to claim a 3-2 victory.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
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