Ligue 1, Caen 1 - 0 Stade Rennais. Rennes has –once again – shown very little to hope winning in Normandy, or even only equalise after trailing for most of the game. A shame, as the honorific title of autumn champion would have been theirs in case of victory. Stade Rennes has got to work on serious attacking issues. This is what the winter break is here for.
The game had not yet started, but already Frédéric Antonetti was facing additional worries. As against Valenciennes last Saturday, Jirès Kembo Ekoko, included in the starting XI, had to pull out after feeling a pain during warm-up. The Rennes striker was replaced by Alexander Tettey, with Dalmat starting on the right wing. Camara, preferred to Brahimi in attack, started on the left wing.
Although Stade Rennes had a good start to the match, Caen brought danger in the Breton area very soon. Winning two consecutive corners first (7’, 8’), then making the most of M’Vila’s terrible pass. The midfielder gave away the ball 40 metres away from his goal. Hamouma was quick to escape and beat Carasso from 20 metres with a curled-shot landing in Rennes’ goal inside netting (9’). Caen 1 - 0 Stade Rennais. For the first time since the game against Nice during the 2009-2010 season (Game Week 37, 8th May 2010), Rennes was trailing in the first fifteen minutes of a game!
Rennes’ first reaction arrived a few minutes later. Doumbia, well launched by Mangane, had a chance to equalise, but the Rennes midfielder failed to keep his cool and his shot was countered by Heurtaux’ last ditch challenge (14’).
After 20 minutes, although Caen was leading on the scoreboard, the domination was only Rennes’. Antonetti’s men had gathered 78% of the ball possession. The most dangerous occasions however, were coming from the Normands. On the 22nd minute, on counter-attack, Hamouma alerted Carasso once again. Only a few minutes later, El-Arabi was close to double the hosts’ advantage, but Danzé savec his team in extremis (25’).
Stade Rennes was in trouble as soon as Caen upped the tempo, as soon as the pressure came towards their goal. Also the game was more balanced, the Rennais were once again lacking creativity and imagination. One statistic can sum up the “Rouge et Noir”’s first half very well: 0, as the number of shots on target by Antonetti’s team.
Rennes weren’t able to find a solution during the second half either. Dalmat tried doing too much and lost the ball (48’). It’s even Carasso, who had to work hard to stop Raineau’s shot (50’). Antonetti then decided to do a double change, with two attacking players coming in, Brahimi and Leroy to replace Doumbia and Tettey (53’).
The two changes brought more pace to Rennes. At the 55th minute, Montaño’s header flew far above Thébaux’ goal. 8 minutes later, on a free-kick by Leroy, another header by Mangane brought danger in the Caen defence (63’). Rennes was more than threatening, but not enough to equalise. Montaño was only a whisker away however (72’)...
Fifteen minutes before the end of the game, Antonetti decided to bring in another attacking player: Jirès Kembo Ekoko, judged not fit enough to play the whole game. The Rennais was denied by Thébaux on his first shot on target (80’).
Rennes was then exposed to Caen’s counters, and on the 82nd, Carasso managed a beautiful save in front of Traoré. After the latter failed to extend the Normand team’s advantage, Brahimi also missed the opportunity to equalised (86’). After a good control, the Rennes player miscued the ball, and his effort was deflected in corner by Thébaux.
Three minutes of injury time would make no difference. Rennes had shown nothing, and lost the chance to win a title – even honorific – of autumn champion, which he could have won in case of victory.
SM CAEN 1 - 0 STADE RENNAIS FC (half-time : 1-0)
Ligue 1, Game Week 19
Wednesday, December 22nd 2010, 19:00 CET
Stade Michel d’Ornano
Attendance : 14 500 spectators
Referee : Damien Ledentu
Goal : Hamouma (9’) for Caen.
Yellow Cards : Tettey (24’) to Rennes ; Yatabaré (59’) to Caen.
- Stade Rennais FC : Carrasso - Danzé, Kana-Biyik, Mangane (cap.), Théophile-Catherine - M’Vila, Doumbia (Brahimi, 53’), Tettey (Leroy, 53’) - Dalmat, Montaño, Camara (Kembo Ekoko, 75’).
Manager: Frédéric Antonetti.
- SM Caen : Thébaux - Inez, Seube, Heurtaux, Raineau - Leca, Moulin (Nivet, 88’), Yatabaré, Hamouma, El-Arabi, Mollo (Traoré, 77’).
Manager: Franck Dumas.
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