« We couldn’t make the difference »

- Marveaux on the bench:

A little surprise as the teams where announced, Sylvain Marveaux was absent from the starting eleven. During the pre-game press conference, Frédéric Antonetti had admitted the Vannes man’s poor form, and prepared the ground for his decision: “I’m here to help him return to his best, but I’m not going to concentrate all my attention on him only, the Rennes manager explained. I can rest him for a game or insist on letting him start the games. There are many ways to come back”.

_This time, Antonetti decided to rest his player, before bringing him in a bit after an hour in the game. A wake up call for Marveaux who had not known this situation since the ninth game week of the 2009-2010 season, in Lille (0-0).

- The defence goes down :

For the first time since the victory at Arles-Avignon, Frédéric Antonetti was able to line-up the defence that played the season’s early games, including the pair of Fanni and Mangane at centre.

A « return to normal » which hasn’t really profited to Rennes. Although they can’t really be blamed on Birsa’s long range shot, the centre back pair was clearly at fault on the build up to Quercia’s winning goal. As a result, and for the first time in Ligue 1 this season, Rennes conceded two goals in a same game. Until then, the “Rouge et Noir” had only conceded a single goal away from their stadium, from Nice’s Ljuboja.

- Hodgson was watching :

Roy Hodgson was sitting in the stands of the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps this Sunday. After a sluggish start of the season (Liverpool is only eleventh in the League after a string of poor results in the early season), Hodgson came, according to Foot+, to observe two defensive midfielders by himself: Auxerre’ Delvin N’Dinga and Rennes’ Yann M’Vila

- Kembo doubles :

Did his excellent performance against Lyon changed things in the head of the young Rennes striker? One thing is certain, Jirès Kembo Ekoko – with a bit of good fortune – scored for the second time in as many games.

A premiere for the French-Congolese player, whose first team goals had always been coming rather sparsely. There was only one exception before this week-end, in March 2009. Kembo had then scored two goals in three matches, against Lorient in the Coupe de France, then ten days later against Le Mans in Ligue 1.

- Danzé under threat :

A unmovable member of the starting eleven at right back, Romain Danzé was the only Rennes player cautioned by M. Enjimi this Sunday. Already booked in Nice, the Douarnenez man has now received two yellow cards in less than ten games. To avoid a ban, he will have to avoid any further booking in the next four games.

Two other Rennes players are still under the threat of a suspension. Jirès Kembo in the next two games, and Yann M’Vila in the next three.

- The standing gets tighter, and tighter… :

_By failing to beat Auxerre, Stade Rennes missed an occasion to come back on top of the Ligue 1. A defeat that will give Brest the chance to travel to the Route de Lorient as a Ligue 1 leader, next Saturday.

But beyond Rennes’s situation, the irregularity of most teams since the beginning of the season led to an incredibly tight Ligue 1 table. Rennes are fifth, only two points behind Brest, but also only 6 points better than the nineteenth, Nancy. It is also interesting to note that the top twelve teams remain within 4 points, creating the danger of a brutal drop in the rankings if the results were not to improve over the next few weeks.

What they said...

- Frédéric Antonetti : « We are in Auxerre, a team with a good fortune, luck since a year and a half. They have their style, they’re playing low, they never panic and they use every opportunity. It is a team that doesn’t take much initiative but gets the reward for it. When we are in control of the game as we were at some times during the game, we should be able to make the difference in the last 30 metres, but we did not manage it”. (Eurosport.fr)

- Jean Fernandez (Auxerre Manager) : «There was power, pace, and strong players in the on-on-one on the other side. We could have been worried by the athletic challenge. But we were well in place defensively, and we managed to keep things balanced in the first half. After we scored first on that magnificent goal by Birsa, I thought we had accomplished most of the work. I had some doubt after Rennes equalised. I thought it would be difficult, with the tiredness, but the substitutes did the job, and I think this will have to be considered as the reference amongst our home games”. (Ouest-France.fr)

- Jirès Kembo Ekoko : «It’s a disappointment after we managed to come back in the game. We were playing seriously, but we could not create ourselves many occasions. After Auxerre scored, we made sure not to give up. We are lacking some good fortune, considered the effort we gave. After a defeat, we can try and find many explanations, but we know we can do something good». (Staderennais.com)

- Valter Birsa (Auxerre’s first goal scorer) : «We knew it would be very difficult, as Rennes is a very good team. But we are all enjoying a good defensive game. And then, we managed to find a way to score goals, it’s great. Especially against such an athletic team. But we knew it, that if we remained solidly on position, we would have chances to do something good”.

«I knew that with my left foot and from that sort of range, I only needed to hit the target. I knew I could find the target and scored. I was on target, and it went in”. (FranceFootball.fr)

- Photo : srfc.frenchwill.fr