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Ligue 1 Betting: Why bettors should listen to managers

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Don't write off managers' quotes - they can provide an insight which proves vital in your betting, writes James Eastham

"It's an important game. We've worked well during the week and we're ready for this sort of match. We must go and seek a victory at home. We've lost our last three games, we must stop the hemorrhage. We're aware things are going less well at the moment, but everybody is ready and prepared to do their bit. We produced an improved performance against Sochaux last week, but we're going to have to do even better on Saturday night."

Those were the words of Le Mans manager Yves Bertucci before his team's 1-0 victory over Valenciennes at the weekend. To the casual observer, the 46-year-old rookie boss' may have seemed like just another example of the trifling quotes that fill many a newspaper on the eve of the game - but to French football followers familiar with Bertucci's usual pre-match patter, the words were gold dust.

I've read Bertucci's comments before every game this season - and it was the first time I recalled him saying his team had worked well during the week. Not that they hadn't before, of course - but for Bertucci to come out and say as much indicated he was particularly pleased with his players' efforts in the days leading up to the match. The second element of his statement I found particularly valuable was the part demanding victory. Again, this was something he had never done before - which to me showed he felt his side, the youngest in Ligue 1 (average age 23.5 years), not only needed to win, but was also able to handle the pressure of being told so by their manager.

You may feel I'm reading too much into Bertucci's remarks - but there's no doubt that pre-match manager quotes are a hugely important weapon in any bettor's armoury. And the more you study them, the more useful they become. By noting them every week you start to ascertain which bosses are giving you valuable information, and which should be ignored. Rudi Garcia (Lille) and Antoine Kombouare (Valenciennes) are honest, open and forthright virtually every week, while Paul Le Guen (PSG) is the master of what the French call "langue de bois" (literally, wooden language). I've yet to hear the former Rangers boss say anything worth listening to.

Analysing quotes is a bit like compiling information about your rivals if you're a poker player. By building up a profile of their characters, you start to "read" them and their intentions a lot better. You begin to instinctively spot when they're telling the truth, when they're bluffing - and, more importantly, when and how to bet.

Inverting public interest in a match to work out which quotes are most valuable is often a good rule of thumb. The mind games that are a common feature of build-ups to high-profile fixtures consistently render quotes worthless. A case in point was Sunday night's clash between Lyon and Bordeaux, the biggest match in Ligue 1 this season so far. Highly-entertaining barbs between opposing presidents Jean-Michel Aulas and Jean-Louis Triaud said much about the increasingly competitive rivalry between the sides - but virtually nothing about the way the game was likely to go.

What a contrast with the Le Mans v Valenciennes fixture - a match 10 or 20 times less important for the national football audience, thereby freeing up the coaches to speak far more frankly about their desires and intentions. Stick a manager in front of 30 or 40 reporters from around the globe and the chances that he'll clam up, or at least mask his real approach to the game, are better than evens. Put a boss in front of half-a-dozen mainly local-based hacks at a training ground 24 hours before a game destined to be bottom of the running order on France's equivalent of Match of the Day - and he'll often end up talking as though with his mates down the pub.

Pre-match comments are not a reason to neglect the other important factors in placing a bet - form, team news and historic records - but they can often prove a determining factor in the decision-making process.