Ligue 1, Stade rennais 3 - 2 Évian TG. The best Rennais on the pitch this Saturday, Julien Féret scored the first goal in a classy way. Following its playmaker – who scored a double – Stade Rennes managed to win a crazy game, marked by several controversial refereeing decisions.
- A change of playlist at the Route de Lorient :
Stade rennais came back from their trip in Glasgow with a bit more than a defeat. They also brought memories back, especially the fans. Already, against Valenciennes, the fans in the Stade de la Route de Lorient had started singing «I just can’t get enough», the famous song by Depeche Mode played after every goal by the locals at Celtic Park.
Surfing on this visibly marking memory, the song was played in the Stadium’s sound-system before the game and after the Rennes goal. There is one victim to this “change of play-list” however: the Bro Gozh ma Zadoù, played in the stadium since autumn 2009, has suddenly disappeared.
- Féret shows his brilliance :
After a good game already at Gerland last week-end, Julien Féret seems to have made the most of the international break. This time, the Breton scored a brace – the second in his career in Ligue 1 but the first for Rennes – with a stunning first goal, dribbling four defenders before chipping the ball past Laquait, rushing towards him.
A “Messi-esque” goal, which was also his first in the league season at the Route de Lorient. A goal-scorer against Rustavi (2-0), Féret had only scored three goals on the road since, in Dijon, Sochaux and Auxerre. By scoring the winning goal on a penalty, he also scored the second double this season for a Rennes player, after Montaño in Sochaux.
- Kembo booked by mistake :
Strange scene during the first half when – after a foul by Montaño on an Evian player – referee Sébastien Moreira blamed the wrong man. Cautioned instead of his Colombian team-mate, Jirès Kembo logically contested the sanction, since he hadn’t committed any foul.
At half-time, the Rennes forward came back to talk about the incident with the delegate, before entering the referees’ dressing room, probably to explain his situation. This incident would not have any effect on Kembo and Mr. Moreira during the second half.
- Another turn-over from Rennes :
As in Gerland, the Rennais managed to win after trailing. Despite returning once again to their bad habit of inefficiency in front of the goal, the Rouge et Noir were soon punished by conceding two goals by Barbosa et Wass, before turning things over at the end of the game. After the game, Frédéric Antonetti heaped praise on his players’ attitude. We attacked so much, it did pay off eventually, the Rennes manager rejoiced. We were naïve at some point, attacking all over. We lacked efficiency, but victory smiled to the most positive team. We know we need to improve, but I think we’ve reached another step in terms of mental strength tonight”.
To win a game after trailing 2-1 is not an usual thing for the “Rouge et Noir” over the last few years. To find the trace of such a turn-over, it takes a return to January 7th 2006. On that night, Stade Rennes played in the ninth round of the Coupe de France in Ajaccio against Corte (CFA2). After conceding the first goal, Rennes equalised through Bourillon just before the hour mark, few minutes before Corte took the leads again. At the end of the game, a double by youngster Moussa Sow (for his first two professional games) allowed Rennes to snatch the victory.
In Ligue 1, this scenario had not happened since August 20th 2005. After a chaotic beginning of the season, Rennes gave themselves a bit of a breather by beating Marseille (3-2) at the Stade de la Route de Lorient, with goals by Utaka (his first with Rennes), Frei and Källström. In the meantime, Niang had opened the score and Lamouchi had scored the 1-2 for Marseille.
- Doumbia under the threat :
In Gerland and this Saturday, Tongo Doumbia has received his first two yellow cards of the season. Enough to get him under the threat of a suspension in case of another booking, and this for the upcoming eight games (in Ligue 1 and in the Coupe de France).
Two more players are in the same situation: Kévin Théophile-Catherine (for the next seven games) and Victor Hugo Montaño (for the next four). The latter would have received a suspension against Brest, should M. Moreira not have confused him with Kembo.
- Hadji finds his way back to the goal :
Unable to score since the home game against AS Saint-Étienne two months ago, Youssouf Hadji made the most of a confusion in the penalty area to find his way back to the net, in the maneer of a true poacher. After a promising beginning to the season with Rennes (three goals in his first three starts), the Moroccan striker struggled to confirm since, a victim of his lack of influence at the front of the Rennes attack.
With a fourth goal scored this season, he equals his total of the 2005-2006 season, and reaches a total of eight games scored with the Rennes shirt.
- Bad injury for Laquait :
Having managed a great game until then, Evian goalkeeper Bertrand Laquait was forced to abandon his team-mates after an hour, following a nasty clash of shins with Victor Hugo Montaño. Rushing for a deep ball, the Colombian striker knocked his leg badly, forcing his replacement. Stretchered off, the goalkeeper suffers a broken shin, and received surgery last night in Rennes’ main hospital.
A massive blow for a player aged 34 who had already missed the beginning of the season because of injuries. Recruited in August to cover for his absence, Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen – who turned 30 this Saturday – has logically replaced Laquait for the end of the match, after a six minutes interruption of the game. After winning a one-to-one with Montaño, he was left powerless on both Hadji’s goal and Féret’s penalty.
- Kana-Biyik, the first red card :
For aggressing Saber Khlifa following his provocation, Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik was dismissed by M. Moreira at the end of the game. The Centre back is the first Rennais to receive this sanction this season, in all competitions.
Last season, the French-Cameroonese player had already received a red card, in mid-April against Lorient (1-2). On this day after fouling an opponent and receiving a booking, Kana-Biyik had showed ironical applause to the referee, earning him a second yellow-card in seconds. Samuel Souprayen had also been dismissed in the first half, and Rennes finished the derby with nine men against eleven.
- Mixed feelings for the former Rennais :
For their return at the Stade de la Route de Lorient, the former Rennais of Évian Thonon-Gaillard had mixed fortunes in this game. The most prolific was clearly Cédric Barbosa, who scored the first goal before delivering an assist to Wass. The midfielder had a strong game for his reunion with Frédéric Antonetti, but he didn’t exchange a word with the Rennes manager, according to L’Équipe.
ETGFC captain Olivier Sorlin had a more difficult game, coming close to a red card for two big professional fouls (he only received a yellow card for the first one) before causing the penalty leading to Rennes’ winning goal. Talking to Foot+ after the game, the former Montpellier man was clearly disappointed with the way the game went, clearly stating that his handball in the penalty area was perfectly involuntary.
Finally, Jérôme Leroy missed his farewell with the Route de Lorient. A prime victim of his manager’s tactical switch to a 4-4-2, the Ligue 1 veteran hasn’t played with Évian for a month, and wasn’t given the opportunity to come off the bench during the game. Deprived of a farewell to his former fans at the end of last season, the playmaker wasn’t given a chance this Saturday night either.
- Rennes champion... of penalties :
With seven penalties earned since the beginning of the season, including five in Ligue 1. Stade Rennes is the French team who has won much of them this season. After failing to convert their spot-kick in Dijon during the first game-week, Julien Féret made up for it by beating Andersen, the Rouge et Noir had indeed missed the first two penalties they were awarded, before converting the next five.
It is worth to note that it is the first time Jonathan Pitroipa earns a penalty, and also the first time the spot-kick is earned following a handball. The previous six penalties were all given after a Rennes player had been tripped or shoved in the area. So far, no Rennes player has been awarded more than one penalty.
- Casoni angry :
Although several of his players could have been dismissed and Yann M’Vila could have deserved a penalty in the first half, Bernard Casoni, like his players, hit out a Sébastien Moreira’s referring of the match. The main reason for their anger: the penalty given even though they considered Sorlin’s handball as unintentional, the injury of Laquait and the penalty not given after the dismissal of Kana-Biyik (on this last action, M. Moreira had indeed pointed at the penalty-spot before chaning his mind).
«I feel for my players, Casoni explained. But we can’t talk.. We may have a broken leg, a ghost penalty against us, a penalty not awarded on Rennes’ red card… We can dwell on it, we came with an idea and we nearly achieved it, unfortunately we couldn’t finish it off well”.
- Antonetti gives lessons :
Questioned about the complaints of Bernard Casoni and his players regarding the refereeing of M. Moreira after the game, Frédéric Antonetti seemed annoyed at the end of his post-game press conference. Évian said, Évian said… So whatever Évian say is true!, the manager said ironically. Évian should especially try and play more football if they want to win games. They decided to wait for us with two lines of four players in front of their goal. When you make this choice, you face the possibility of an incident. This could have been a paying choice, but they can’t come out and cry now! Is it Évian or Annecy in fact ? I don’t understand anything about that club ». Neither of these M.Antonetti, the club is only playing its games in Annecy while waiting for its new Stadium while the name of Évian has been added by Danone in a purely commercial interest.
- Rennes doubles and hangs on:
For the third time this season, Stade Rennes managed to earn two successive victories in Ligue 1. This had already been the case on the fourth and fifth game-weeks, separated by fifteens days of break (victories against Caen and in Marseille) and on the tenth and eleventh game-weeks, with a draw against Glasgow in the interval (wins against Lorient and in Auxerre). In Nice, next week-end, the Rennais will try to clinch a third consecutive win for the first time this season.
Although it was acquired with great difficulty, this victory was necessary to keep on hanging on to the leading pack. Except for Paris, beaten in Marseille, all the other teams on the top of the table have won, whether it is Montpellier, Lille, Toulouse, Lyon, and even – a bit further down the table – Lorient and Saint-Étienne.
With 28 points from the first fifteen games, Stade Rennes is already managing one of the best first halfs of a season in its history, and would have been in the lead with a two points advantage last season. This shows the crazy pace set by the leading teams since the beginning of this 2011-2012 season.
- Sources of declarations : RMC, Ouest-France.fr, L’Équipe.
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