Costil, on a misunderstanding...

- Théophile-Catherine absent :
Announced as part of the squad on Saturday afternoon, Kévin Théophile-Catherine was finally not included on the match sheet. The Rennes full back was ill the previous day, which didn’t stop Frédéric Antonetti to call him in the first place. Finally, “KTC” was eventually absent, and replaced by Dimitri Foulquier on the bench, while Chris Mavinga was given another star on the left flank.

- Another goals festival :
With the September international break about to start, a first summary of Rennes’ early season can be done. First acknowledgement: the Rennes fans could are not bored watching their team’s game. No less than 33 goals have been scored or conceded during the first eight games of 2011-2012 (all competitions included), or more than four goals per match. The average is even higher in Ligue 1 than in the Europa League!
With nine goals scored and eight conceded, Stade Rennes now has the best attack in the league (tied with Montpellier), but also the worst defence (tied with Ajaccio). Show-time!

- Costil and “the misunderstanding” M’Baye Niang :
It’s a bit of a repetition, but Stade Rennes have got an impressive ability to concede penalties this season. This time, Jirès Kembo was guilty of a stupid foul in the heart of the penalty area, which logically led M. Malige to sanction him.
After he saw the post deny Grégory Thil in Dijon, Benoît Costil managed to parry the shot this time. “I’m not Landreau, far from it. However, on a misunderstanding, I might save one, maybe”, the goalkeeper had joked in the press conference. This Sunday, the misunderstanding was named M’Baye Niang, the young striker stumbling on the Rennes keeper… after taking the ball from Benjamin Nivet, the designated spot-kick taker. Great for Rennes, and tough luck for Caen, who stumbled for most of the game against “the wall” Costil: trained at the Stade Malherbe, the young goalkeeper shined against his former club with a string of world class saves.

- End of the poor run at home :
Although Stade Rennes had beaten Rustavi and the Red Star Belgrade at the Stade de la Route de Lorient earlier this season, their last home win in Ligue 1 dated back to February 26th and a success against RC Lens (2-0). Since then, the “Rouge et Noir” had spent seven games without a win, with three defeats and four draws. The run finally ended over 180 days later, with this difficult victory against Caen.

- When Canal+ are interested in the Stade Rennais...
To be able to see a summary of the game in the TV Show “Canal Football Club”, on Sunday evening on Canal+, it took much patience, and it could have been easy to get frustrated by the limited interest given to Stade Rennes, especially considering the coverage offered to Paris Saint-Germain, who played at the same time on that afternoon…
At the end of a summary of a few dozens of seconds, the image that drew most interest from the realisers on this Rennes-Caen was a (missed) shot by Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik, which flew over the safety net in front of the Ville de Rennes stand to land… straight in a young supporter’s face.

- Mangane seconds :
Criticised for his defensive work since the beginning of the season, Kader Mangane turned into a goal scorer for the second time this season after his goal in Dijon. Alongside Razak Boukari, who scored the first goal this Sunday, the Senegalese is Rennes’ joint best goal scored in L1 with two goals.
This Sunday, Mangane has also scored his tenth goal with Rennes, after his five in 2009-2010 and his three in 2010-2011. Finally, Mangane had scored the only Rennes goal last time the Stade Malherbe de Caen visited Rennes last May. M’Baye Niang had then replied with the equaliser.

- Criticism against the referee :
Difficult day for Philippe Malige and his assistants. The referring trio had a series of difficult situations to judges and received a lot of criticism after the game. Although they didn’t discuss the crystal-clear penalty conceded by Kembo, the Rennais could feel hard done by on Caen’s second goal, scored by Frédéric Bulot in a clear offside position, and about a few Norman hand-balls in their penalty area.
As for Caen, they could especially complain on the free-kick leading to Rennes’ third goal, awarded after what looked like an imaginary handball.

- Rennes made the break in the first half :
It is rare to see Stade Rennes lead by three goals at half-time. Although the “Rouge et Noir” had finished the first forty-five minutes with three goals in Rustavi, the Georgians had also scored (3-1). Last time Rennes had managed such a halfway lead, it was during the heavy victory in the Coupe de France against Cannes (7-0), in which Frédéric Antonetti’s men were leading by four goals at half time.
In Ligue 1, it takes a longer trip back in time. On September 19th 2009, Stade Rennes had won in the Stade des Alpes of Grenoble on a heavy 4-0 score line. Rennes was already leading 3-0 at half-time, thanks to goals by Gyan, Marveaux and Mangane, before the Ghanaian striker managed a brace in the second half.

- Stade Rennes returns to the fifth place :
Fifth after the second game week, then dropped after their heavy defeat in Montpellier, the Stade Rennais has returned to their position of two weeks ago. With seven points taken from four game weeks, the “Rouge et Noir” have taken a good start, even though their defensive fragility is rather worrying.
From the third to the ninth place, no less than seven teams share the same total of points, only preceded by Montpellier (9 points) and Lyon (8 points).

- Antonetti: “More work to do”
Although he was satisfied with the result, Frédéric Antonetti recognised that his team had more work to do in order to satisfy him, especially in the defensive sector. “This was a particular game, very open, since Caen went all out attacking in the second half, the Rennes manager observed. Now, we still have more work to do, since we need to be more solid in defence and show more lucidity in attack, as we had chances to make the score line heavier. We also suffered physically, as we aren’t used to playing every three days”.

Franck Dumas “frustrated” :
On his side, Caen manager Franck Dumas found the defeat of his team “enraging” considering the scenario and the good chances his players created. “I’m obviously frustrated as we could have managed a good result tonight, the Norman manager regretted. In the second half, I told the lads to keep on playing, whatever the score line, they shouldn’t be afraid. It was a pleasant game, but it also a bit enraging as we could have equalised, although I know we could have conceded one or two more goals”.

- Declarations: ouest-france.fr
- Photo : srfc.frenchwill.fr