Rennes warm up nicely

Despite leaving as much as six players watch the game from the stands (Yacine Brahimi, Cédric Carrasso, Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik, Jirès Kembo, Cheick N’Diaye and John Verhoek), Frédéric Antonetti had the opportunity to review his squad widely for this first test prior to the 2011-2012 season. Difficult to draw real conclusions that early, especially after a game against a side from the National, but this first outing certainly gave a few hints, two weeks before Rennes enters the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League .
The Rennes manager had an opportunity to proceed to a complete turnover of his squad (two completely different teams in each half), since Quentin Rouger was the only player to remain on the bench for the complete duration of the game in Vannes. After fifteen days of preparation, against a team that was more advanced in its pre-season training [1], the result remains secondary. For the moment.

Tactics and Players

A 4-3-3, as usual

No tactical revolution was expected. And unsurprisingly, Frédéric Antonetti set up his usual 4-3-3 in both the first and second half.
Both times, the Rennes manager line-up a triangle midfield with one anchor (Alexander tettey in the fiorst half, Yann M’Vila in the second) and two centre midfielders (Fabien Lemoine - Stéphane Dalmat in the first hhalf, Tongo Doumbia - Vincent Pajot in the second). Upfront, an attacking trio with distinct profiles in the two line-ups. Two real wingers in the first half (Cheick Fantamady Diarra on the right and Abdoul Camara on the left), one real winger (Jonathan Pitroipa) and playmaker positioned on a flank (Julien Féret) in the second half.

Diarra to be seen again, Kandji with sobriety

During a rather untidy first half, in which Rennes showed many limits in their game, the Rennais were mostly running after the ball and suffered against the vivacity of the Morbihan forwards. One after the other, El Fardou Ben Mohammed, Loïc Loval and Stéphane N’Guéma gave the turnaround to the young Rennes defence (an average age of 21 years and 4 months). The Rennes full backs (Dimitri Foulquier on the right, Kévin Théophile-Catherine on the left) were often put in difficulty by the opposition’s long balls. In the goals, Benoît Costil only had one save to do, but what a save! Well positioned, he perfectly parried a point-blank shot from Ben Mohammed with his right foot, fifteen minutes into the game. Except for this chance, the former Caen player had very little to do. In central defence, John Boye played with sobriety, just as Pape Malick Kandji, who proved reassuring in the air and showed much application in transmitting the ball forward (his main weakness).

At midfield, a trio of experienced player was fielded with Stéphane Dalmat, Fabien Lemoine and Alexander Tettey positioned before the defence. However, in this very changeable disposition, the three players had much liberty. It wasn’t rare to see Tettey press higher with Lemoine and Dalmat playing lower down the field that usual. The former Sochaux player was often involved in Rennes’ (rare) good moves by bringing the ball forward, but he couldn’t really find solutions around him.
In attack, as last season, the centre forward position was occupied by Victor Hugo Montaño. Left without the ball he often dropped down with little success. On a good delivery by Dalmat early in the game, he missed his control although he was in a good position. Beside him, Cheick Fantamady Diarra showed availability and impact, particularly on Montaño’s deflections. On several attacking phases, the two players searched and found each other. But they also often lacked precision in the penultimate or last gesture. On the left wing, Abdoul Camara had a very average game, playing way toi low to have any impact over the Vannes defence.

Pitroipa, the Rennais « Road Runner »

With Jonathan Pitroipa, the Rennes fans loving the “Road Runner” from the famous Looney Tunes Cartoons will be pleased. To make it simple, he is fast, very fast, and too fast for his opponents. As soon as the second half started, the Burkinabé set the right wing on fire. In four different occasions, his deliveries failed to reach a team-mate (46’, 48’, 50’, 68’), but his activity and his dribbles are a good omen for Frédéric Antonetti’s attacking line. With twenty minutes left to play, he escaped on a solitary raid to cross for Julien Féret in front of the goal, but the man from Saint Brieuc was denied by Jean-Marc Le Rouzic.
Positioned on the left, Féret was less used than the over-active Pitroipa. However, he created himself two superb chances (70’, 84’) and offered a golden ball to Tongo Doumbia, who, alone and six metres away from the goal, managed to hit the cross bar in the last minutes of the game.

This missed opportunity would be the only fault of the Breton midfielder in this game. Indeed, Doumbia gave a solid performance at the centre of the field, and his partnership with Vincent Pajot has probably been appreciated by Frédéric Antonetti. Their collaboration had already shown promising two seasons ago in the CFA, just before Pajot signed his first professional contract. The latter did a good job at centre midfield and in two occasions, he was agonisingly close to score on set-pieces taken by Julien Féret. As usual, Yann M’Vila played as an anchor before the defence. Overall, he didn’t play a great match but he had the opportunity to display his passing ability above average, which allowed him to eliminate one or even two defensive lines to connect with Boukari with a ball to foot or a pass in the depth. In hindsight, it would have been interesting to see Montaño helped by the passing ability of Féret and M’Vila, and with the impact of Pitroipa.

What about N’Guéma?

Initially due to play for one hour only, the former Stade Rennais player – trained at the club’s Academy and a 2003 Gambardella Cup winner with Grégory Bourillon, Jimmy Briand, Jacques Faty and Yoann Gourcuff – eventually remained on the pitch for seventy-two minutes. The Gabonese proved he isn’t finished and still has the ability to play high level football.
Positioned on the left wing where he faced Dimitri Foulquier, his hard work and his accelerations have put the Guadeloupian in a difficult situation twice. Years pass by, and N’Guema is still showing the same dribbling ability. Not as sharp in the second half, as the rest of his team, he was replaced by Listner Pierre-Louis. The former Rennes player has got the rest of this week and a final pre-season game against Guingamp in Perros Guirrec left, in his bid to convince the Vannes staff.

What did we learn?

A good recruitment

Pessimists will sneer at a draw against Vannes, freshly relegated to the National. The optimists will rather mention the coherency and the solidity of the Rennes squad, especially in the second half. With the return of some key players (Danzé, Mangane, M’Vila) and the input of the “big” recruits (Féret, Pitroipa), Stade Rennes stepped up a gear. Jonathan Pitroipa, the twirling Burkinabé, could well be the revelation of the next Ligue 1 season, as Pierre Dréossi implied last week. He will now be expected to show consistency, since his technical ability and his capacity to eliminate opponents are evident.

Disrupted hierarchy ?

Another assessment can be made at midfield. During the week, Dréossi had announced that one or several players in that sector could be transferred before the end of August. During this first friendly, some players shone, but maybe not the ones who were most expected to do so. Tongo Doumbia and Vincent Pajot may have an opportunity to seize over the next few days, as long as they repeat their performance from this Thursday.

Increased competiton

Last year, the lack of competition in attack was one of the main worries of Frédéric Antonetti. This year, it seems that the Rennes manager is equipped with a first-class attacking sector. Knowing this was only a warm-up match, and looking at the performance of Jonathan Pitroipa and the last fifteen minutes of Julien Féret, one could nearly forget that Yacine Brahimi and Jirès Kembo were watching the game from the stands.
When they return, the two players will have to work very hard to return to a starter position. There is little doubt that with Brahimi available, Antonetti will test Féret on a more central role. As for one of the gambles of this season, Cheick Fantamady Diarra put on a lot of work upfront and his complementarity with Victor Hugo Montaño proved interesting. This could increase the competition even more within the squad.