Ligue 1, Nice 2 - 0 Stade Rennais. Against a solid Nice team, Stade Rennes was unrecognisable this Saturday evening. Lacking inspiration, lacking fighting-spirit, the « Rouge et Noir » have known one of their very typical bad days, and were logically beaten in a game wrapped-up by Nice before the interval.
The game started on a slow rhythm, interrupted at the second minute by the unfortunate of Xavier Pentecôte, who had to be replaced following a knee injury. It would take another seven minutes before seeing a first dangerous situation in this game, when Kevin Théophile-Catherine headed the ball back… behind Benoît Costil, and was forced to clear the ball for a corner. On the set-piece, Costil had no problem to block the sloppy header of a Nice player (10’). On the other side of the pitch, Montaño also tried to place a header on a delivery from Kembo, but the Colombian saw the ball rolling slowly past David Ospina’s goal (11’).
This is when Nice started a little festival. First, Mounier unleashed a powerful blast which bounced off Benoît Costil’s crossbar, forcing John Boye to clear the ball with an overhead kick in his own penalty area (13’). The relief was only temporary, as two minutes later, Franck Dja Djé-Djé was perfectly launched by Anthony Mounier behind the Rennes defence, and brought down by Benoît Costil. A clear-cut penalty and a yellow card for the Rennes keeper. Monzon took the spot-kick and blasted a powerful shot into the back of the net, giving his team-mates an early lead (1-0, 15’). Mounier, again, hit a shot from 25 metres straight into Costil’s arms before Hellebuyck, from 30 metres, sent the ball flying over the goal (28’).
Rennes was trying to recover the control of the ball, but stumble on a Nice team perfectly organised at all levels. Unable to transmit the ball cleanly, the Rennais were relying on long through-balls by M’Vila and Féret towards Montaño (30’, 33’) or Kembo (45’+3), who didn’t manage to get themselves in a position to threaten David Ospina. Worse, it is nice who doubled their lead a few minutes before half-time when Civelli jumped higher than Boye to head Mounier’s corner. The ball bounced between Pitroipa and the Rennes post and in the inside netting (35’, 2-0).
Was Stade Rennais able to react? Difficult to say since on the first action of the second half, John Boye received a straight red card – probably harshly – for a tackle more spectacular than dangerous on Anthony Mounier, omnipresent for Nice tonight. On the free-kick, Civelli managed another header, just wide.
The game’s tempo then fell by several notches. Nice was happy to leave the ball possession to Rennes, still impaired by a clear lack of movement and precision in their passing. Nice acted mainly in counter-attacks, and continued creating the clearest chances: Monzon was awarded a corner on a 30 metres shot from the wing. On the kick, Pejcinovic received the ball alone in front of the Rennes gaol but didn’t manage to hit it (70’). One minute later, another corner was flicked in by Civelli for Guié-Guié, whose header skimmed the upright of Benoit Costil’s goal (71’).
Hellebuyck (77’) and Clerc (79’) also tried their luck in counter, while Rennes was still trying to find out how to get near the Nice goal. Finally, Pitroipa managed to eliminate two Nice defenders and tap the ball back to Brahimi, off the bench a few minutes earlier, who curled a shot inches away from Ospina’s left post (83’). The best opportunity of the night for Rennes… and it wasn’t even on target.
A lacklustre second-half came to an end without any more excitement and Rennes was logically beaten by a Nice team superior at all levels. A game the Bretons will have to analyse thoroughly, since they never seemed to discuss the control of a good Nice team on this game.
OGC NICE 2 - 0 STADE RENNAIS FC (half-time : 2-0)
Ligue 1, Game Week 16
Saturday, December 3rd 2011, 21:00
Stade du Ray
Attendance : 7 664 spectators
Referee : Clément Turpin
Goals : Monzon (15’, pen.), Civelli (35’) for Nice
Yellow Cards : Mounier (23’) for Nice. Costil (14’) for Rennes
Red Card: Boye (47’) for Rennes
- Stade Rennais FC : Costil - Danzé, Théophile-Catherine, Boye, Mavinga - M’Vila, Doumbia, Féret (Brahimi, 76’) - Kembo (Hadji, 59’), Montaño (Mandjeck, 52’), Pitroipa.
Manager : Frédéric Antonetti.
- OGC Nice : Ospina - Clerc, Civelli, Pejcinovic, Monzon - Coulibaly, Abriel, Hellebuyck - Dja Djedje (Diakite, 77’), Pentecôte (Guié-Guié, 5’), Mounier (Meriem, 63’).
Manager : René Marsiglia.
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