Ligue 1: Why the French top-flight might not be as predictable as you think

Sunday night was, once again, all about Neymar. You'll have seen the clips already - the backheeled flip of the ball over the defender's head, the sublime, drilled, flat corner for Layvin Kurzawa to score, and the multi-player dribble and finish to round off a 6-2 win for Paris Saint-Germain against Toulouse. Oh, and Paris played the last 20 minutes with ten men after Marco Verratti was sent off (they were leading 2-1 at the time).

There's no questioning that in many senses, the Brazilian is a game-changer. As an elite superstar flush in his prime, he gives them global status that they never quite had before, not even with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their ranks. Also, if we stop being sniffy and moaning about whether he's playing at a level beneath himself, seeing Neymar cut loose in his first weeks is glorious fun too. Unless you happen to be a Toulouse defender, of course.

Attack exceptional but plenty of holes in PSG

What he is not, however, is a catch-all solution to PSG's existing problems. They still need a top-class goalkeeper, having gone backwards in that department since needlessly ditching Salvatore Sirigu. Their defence in general is open to question. With the peerless Verratti-Thiago Motta-Blaise Matuidi triumvirate over (with Matuidi having joined Juventus and Motta on his last legs), Unai Emery still needs to find an established order in midfield.

These questions will demand real answers when we get to the business end of the Champions League. That's exactly why Neymar is here, of course (at least, in a sporting sense) and even at his inspirational best, he couldn't drag Barcelona beyond the quarter-finals last season. On a domestic level, though, not many are expecting the other 19 in Ligue 1 to put up too much of a fight.

As stands, PSG are 1.10 to win the title back from Monaco. Even without the arrival of Neymar, they deserved to be title favourites. A reaction had to be expected from the capital club after the humiliation of being outperformed by a more stylish Monaco side last season. It was also a stretch of the imagination to expect Leonardo Jardim's side to produce as relentlessly high a standard of play as they did in 16-17, even before they lost key men like Bernardo Silva, Tiemoué Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy.

Yet Monaco have started very convincingly indeed, winning three out of three so far (only PSG and Saint-Etienne have matched that) and playing with typical flair. Their squad still had real depth and Radamel Falcao has been red-hot so far - Friday night's winner against Metz was his fifth goal already this term, and this column witnessed him hit a sublime hat-trick at Dijon the week before. Monaco won that game 4-1, but it could easily have been seven or eight.

Look beyond PSG and Monaco as the competition has improved this year

You might be brave to bet against the top two from last year occupying the same positions at the end of this season, but there is increasing depth to the league.

Lyon are playing with great verve as well, and only Malcom's last-ditch equaliser for Bordeaux on Saturday prevented them from making it three out of three. Marseille, under Rudi Garcia, are starting to excite the Vélodrome again - that was this column's second stop this weekend, after spending Saturday night watching Nice get off the mark this season by beating Guingamp. Wesley Sneijder made his debut in that and will significantly add to one of the most attractive sides in the division when fit.

And the goals are flowing throughout the league

Neymar's arrival has 'made them dream,' as they say here, but the all-round level of optimism at the rising standard of the competition is tangible. With no goalless draws so far this season Ligue 1 is ditched its dour image, and many of the strikes this weekend were of real quality - from Nabil Fekir's incredible strike from the halfway line (see below) through to Karl Toko Ekambi's bullet from range which silenced Marseille on Angers' behalf.