Stakes are high for French derby

SOUTH COAST derbies between French sides Monaco and Marseille are always a tightly contested affair - with the stakes arguably even higher than usual this season.

Both sides go into the fixture with something to prove. After a bright start, Didier Deschamps’s Monaco have taken their expensively-shod feet off the pedal in October. Last season’s Champions League runners-up turn out at the Velodrome against last term’s UEFA Cup finalists seeking to end a four-match winless run.

For Marseille, one point behind Monaco in fifth place, victory over their Mediterranean neighbours would supply them with a huge fillip in their bid to go one better than last year and seize the first division crown from Lyon.

Monaco’s Emmanuel Adebayor is in no doubt what he and his teammates have to do. “We’ve got to win in Marseille - we’re going there to do just that. We desperately need a win to give us a relaunch.”

Another player returning from injury is Marseille’s international midfielder Benoit Pedretti, out for a month after undergoing knee surgery.

Meanwhile, in Italy, three goals in a vastly improved second half gave AC Milan a 3-0 win against bottom club Atalanta on Wednesday and cut Juventus’ lead at the top of Serie A to two points.

Jon Dahl Tomasson, Kakha Kaladze and Serginho were on target at the San Siro after a difficult first 45 minutes for the defending champions.

Inter Milan, meanwhile, threw away a two-goal lead before drawing 2-2 with dark horses Lecce, while Cagliari climbed to fourth, thanks to a last-gasp win 2-1 at home to struggling Parma.

In Germany, there was a time in football when managers were given time to implement their methods to deliver success - but in the Bundesliga a new trend of hiring and firing them has come to the fore.

Borussia Monchengladbach’s Holger Fach became the latest managerial casualty after a 3-0 defeat by VfL Bochum 24 hours earlier.

With ten games played in the 2004/05 season three coaches have been ejected: Jupp Heynckes, Klaus Toppmoller and now Fach.

Heynckes was the first to fall at Schalke 04 after just 15 months in the job. He was brought in to win the title but a shaky start to the campaign saw the board lost faith.

Just ten days ago, SV Hamburg lost faith with Klaus Toppmoller just over a year after appointing the ex-Bayer Leverkusen boss.