LOSC in translation.

By: Shazback | August 31st, 2007

Well, with the transfer window closing, it’s always good to look back on your new arrivals, and then pit them against those of your next opponent.

Lille will be coming to Rennes this Saturday, and I bet they’ll want to take all 3 points, after their first loss this season (1-0 against Monaco). And to do so, Claude Puel has called up a large group of 20 players that he’ll be bringing to Rennes, even though only 18 will be on the match sheet. Nothing fancy however, as Puel continues to overlook a lot of his recent signings.

Speaking of signings, let’s recap. Rennes saw the transfer market open quite gloomily, as Melchiot, Utaka, Faty and Bourillon left for Wigan, Portsmouth, Marseille and Paris, as well as 7 other players leave, thankfully mostly youth players that didn’t make the first team.

These departures were replaced by quite a few good moves, I dare say. Leroy joined from Sochaux, Wiltord left Lyon after the real french summer transfer saga, Pagis joined from Marseille, Hansson was signed from Heerenveen, Fanni was snapped up from Nice, and now Emerson has joined from Al-Sadd (Saudi Arabia). All these players are fighting for first-team spots, and even though quite a few of them are old, they are useful because they have high-level experience to pass onto Rennes’ young players. Oh, and Luzi and Catherine decided that fighting for a place on the bench would be nice, so they joined Rennes. At least we’re not going to suffer much if Pouplin gets injured (Coupet and Carasso seem to have started a trend).

So, what about Lille Olympique Sporting Club? Their big news was the departures of Kader Keita and Bodmer to Lyon for 24 million € just after the transfer market opened. But they didn’t stop there. Odemwingie left for Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, Gygax took a trip to Metz, Tavlaridis went green with Saint-Etienne, Chalmé has decided to join Bordeaux, and in what was the unluckiest of their transfers, they sold Audel to local rivals Valenciennes, only for him to score more league goals in two games (4) than he had done in 2 years at Lille (3)… So, I’d say that they lost 5 starters. That’s quite a loss, especially since Keita, Bodmer and Odemwingie were probably amongst their best 5 players… If not best 3!

On the in, Lille are a bit of a joke. They managed to snap up ageing star Kluivert after PSV Eindhoven didn’t renew his contract, and that’s about it. Lille’s other signings are Béria from Metz, Maric from Egaleo Athens, Tahirovic from Swedish side Halmstad, and Yanes from Columbian side Santa Fé. All four of them are young (20 to 24), but haven’t proven their worth as first-team players.

The transfer market seems to have played in Rennes’ favour, and I’m going to say that it will be one of the reasons why Rennes will beat Lille on Saturday. Lille’s defence seems to be a bit fragile recently (Lille have conceded 1 goal in each of their last 5 matches), and their attack doesn’t seem to be strong (5 goals in 6 games). On the other hand, Rennes have 4 clean sheets in 6 matches, and have scored 2 goals in each of their last two league clashes.

Le Puel, as I mentioned, hasn’t got many of his signings in his 20-man pool. Dréossi isn’t going to give Emerson his début yet, as he’s decided to keep faith in the 18 players that beat Auxerre. Last season, Lille won 2-1, so I think that this season the score will be reversed, and Rennes will win 2-1 in front of home support.

Rennes’ 18-player group :
Luzi, Pouplin - Borne, Fanni, Hansson, Edman, Jeunechamp - Cheyrou, Didot, Leroy, Sorlin, Marveaux, M’Bia - Briand, Badiane, Pagis, Wiltord, Estban

Possible starting 11 :
Pouplin - Fanni, Hansson, M’Bia, Edman - Sorlin, Leroy, Didot, Cheyrou - Briand, Wiltord

Lille’s 20-player group :
Bastos, Béria, Cabaye, Chedjou, Dumont, Emerson, Fauvergue, Franquart, Lichtsteiner, Makoun, Makiese, Malicki, Maric, Mirallas, Plestan, Sylva, Tahirovic, Taravel, Touré, Youla

Possible starting 11 :
Sylva - Lichtsteiner, Béria, Plestan, Tafforeau - Touré, Makoun, Cabaye, Fauvergue, Dumont - Mirallas

Rennes-Lille will be played at the Stade de la Route de Lorient in Rennes at 20:00 French Time on Saturday 1st of September 2007 (GMT +1, 7PM in the UK, 4PM Eastern USA, 11PM Pacific USA, I think), and will once more not be broadcast, although I admit that I’m not expecting a thrilling game, but you can follow live internet broadcasts, and France2Foot (”Tout le Foot de France”) will show butchered, poorly-commented and badly-edited highlights of the game at 12:00 French Time on Sunday 2nd of September 2007, on France 2