Pitroipa, spectacular and decisive

- Tribute to Fabien Lemoine :
For the first game played by the Stade Rennais after the transfer of its midfielder to Saint- Étienne, Fabien Lemoine remained in everyone’s mind this Saturday. At the beginning of the game, the man from Fougeres received a tribute from the Roazhon Celtic Kop (the club’s most influent supporters group) who displayed a banner stating: “Fabien, the whole city is missing you! “Rouge et Noir” forever”. Meanwhile, no incident has been reported in the stands, while the coming of 250 Paris supporters had triggered a reinforcement of the police presence around this game.

- Paris plagued by injuries :
Last season, Stade Rennes had suffered with recurring injuries throughout the season, this time it was Paris Saint-Germain who suffered with physical issues. Knocked to the ankle but finally included in the Paris squad, Brazilian midfielder Nenê has finally remained on the substitutes’ bench for the whole game. During the game, Antoine Kombouaré was forced to change his tactics several times. First after Mamadou Sakho came out, half-an-hour in the game, with a thigh injury, and then when Christophe Jallet felt a pain – although to the thigh – just after half-time.
In Rennes, no serious alert was to report, although Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik, victim of an accidental collision with Benoît Costil, needed some medical attention on the pitch during the second half.

- Pitroipa, the Rennes phenomenon :
This morning, Jonathan Pitroipa had caught the attention of the French press. Ouest-France, L’Équipe, had all dedicated an article to the Burkinabé winger, who shone in the Europa League and put the Dijon defence to the sword last week. Impressive, scoring the equaliser for Rennes, Pitroipa (who précised that his name is to be pronounced “Pi-troi-pa” instead of “Pi-tro-i-pa”) has conquered the fans and the commentators of Foot+ with his dribbling ability and the breath of fresh air he brought to Rennes’ attacking line.
It has to be said than in only four games, the Burkinabé international scored half as many goals as in three seasons at Hamburg, and installed himself – tied with Boukari et Féret – in the lead of the Rennes goal scoring table, with three goals.

- Douchez, the biggest loser of the night?
Although both teams will be satisfied not to have lost this game on Saturday, Nicolas Douchez appears as the biggest loser of the night. Injured to the ankle and out for this game, the former Rennes goalkeeper saw his competitor Salvatore Sirigu managed a world-class performance in the Paris goals, managing a few quality saves against Kana-Biyik, Boukari or Pitroipa. The situation is getting difficult for Douchez, who will probably have to wait for his competitor’s performance level to drop before hoping to recover his number one spot.
In the Rennes goals, Benoît Costil proved he is ready for the highest level, pushing away several Paris attempts on goal. A reassuring game for the former Caen man’s first big game in the Stade Rennais shirt.

- M’Vila in difficulty :
With a midfield reinforced by the presence of Bodmer before Matuidi and Chantôme, Paris Saint-Germain found the solution to disturb Rennes’ organisation, with the three players cutting the transmissions between M’Vila and Féret.
This situation, along with a rather lacklustre personal performance, meant that Yann M’Vila had much less influence than usual on Rennes’ play yesterday. According to the LFP’s statistics, the Rennes midfielder has known an unusual level of lost balls, with 23 balls lost and 63% of passes completed, while he is used to figures in the area of 10 balls lost and 80% of passes completed. The fact was even replaced before the end of the game, which only happened three times since his professional debut with the Stade Rennais.
After the game, Frédéric Antonetti showed his anger at the full international match played by his man against Chili. “When I saw Yann M’Vila play 90 minutes with France on Wednesday, I was mad, the Rennes manager ranted. I think, if he had only played 45 minutes, we would have seen a different Yann”. On Wednesday, none of the Paris player lined-up by Blanc (Matuidi, Ménez and Gameiro) had been requested to play more than thirty minutes.

- Gameiro after Kalou :
After five consecutive defeats at the Route de Lorient, Paris Saint-Germain finally managed to force their luck and clinch a draw. This had not happened since May 3rd 2006, and a game ending in the very same 1-1 scoreline.
Also, Bonaventure Kalou, the last Paris goal scorer to date, has finally found a successor in Kévin Gameiro, who put Paris’ five years goal scoring drought at the Route de Lorient to an end. Between the goal by Kalou in 2006 and Gameiro’s in 2011, no less than 523 minutes, or nine hours of play, had been passing with Paris failing to score a single goal.

- Dalmat the “supersub” :
Twenty-two minutes. This is the time Stéphane Dalmat needed to deliver two assists in this early season. After his perfect service to Julien Féret during the return leg against Rustavi (2-0), the Rennes veteran found the vision and the perfect pass to launch Jonathan Pitroipa on his way to the equaliser (1-1).
Never included in the starting line-up by Frédéric Antonetti this season, left home during the trip top Tbilisi and remained on the bench at Dijon, Dalmat has put on the costume of “super substitute” at the end of games. After managing only one assist over the whole of last season, he joins Féret and Montaño at the top of the club’s assists table.

- Immediate cool-down :
Unusual fact after a game, the Rennes players were brought back on the pitch twenty minutes after the final whistle, the club announced on their official website. Meanwhile, the substitutes took part in a training session made of interval running, despite the rainy weather.
A decision taken by the coaching staff, probably in order to start preparing the Europa League play-offs, starting next Thursday in Belgrade.

- "We deserved to win" :
Although the Parisian were deeply regretting not to have managed keeping their advantage, Frédéric Antonetti wasn’t happy at the outcome of the match either. This, because of Rennes’ many chances against Sirigu without managing to beat the Italian keeper. “It would have been truly undeserved to lose this game, the Rennes manager affirmed. We deserved to win this game. We faced a keeper who managed great saves. It was a great Ligue 1 game with two teams cautious at the beginning and a good show afterwards. We could and should have won since we had more clear chances. The fact we came back in this game is very important”.

- Rennes abandon their throne :
Leading after the first game week, Stade Rennes was expecting to abandon their throne if they failed to beat Paris Saint-Germain in their second game. With four points, the “Rouge et Noir” remained installed at a good fourth position however, waiting for Snuday’s results.
Only Toulouse, Caen and Saint-Étienne have finally managed to win their first two games, and could be joined by Montpellier, if the men from Herault could manage a success in Lille. René Girard’s men will be hosts to the Stade Rennais next week-end at the Stade de la Mosson.

- Source of declarations : Ouest-France
- Photo : Rautenfreund via Wikimédia Commons