Mea Culpa

By: Shazback | November 24th, 2007

Mea maxima culpa. I’ll confess I have been a very, very bad blogger. But I’m going to make amends. The strikes in France kept me away from my PC for two weeks, but now, I’m back to blog like my life depends on it.

Cyril Jeunechamp has legged it off to Nice.
Bordeaux remember that they’re supposed to be the second best team in Ligue 1.
Christophe Lollichon is Chelsea’s latest signing.
And Guingamp helped Rennes stay in form in a 1-1 draw.

I know that you can’t keep loads of talented players when you’re a second rank club in your country, and Jeunechamp’s disappointment at not playing often under Dréossi is perfectly understandable. But I’m still sad to see him leave. He wasn’t the most technical player Rennes ever saw, nor the most physical. But he was a strong defender full of fighing spirit in a team that often seems to lack bouncebackability…

I felt he was a very useful squad player, who should have been challenging Edman for a place at left-back, or M’Bia in the center of defence. But he is a right-back by trade, who can also play as a defensive midfielder, and Fanni, Didot, Cheyrou and M’Bia are just a touch better in those positions, meaning he was limited to a place on the bench.

Au revoir, Cyril. You were a devoted servant to Rennes for 5 of the most glorious years the club has known, and your part in that success is obvious. You were the backbone, the elder brother of a squad that relied time after time on youth to replace departing players, and you never failed us. Chapeau l’artiste. I wish you well at Nice, and I guess you’ll be part of one of the hardest defences to play against with Rool, Kanté and Hognon at your sides !

Rennes took a trip to Bordeaux with only a slight advantage in the league ranking over the south-western side. But what could have been a benchmark game for Rennes turned into a nightmare. Without Pouplin and Wiltord, injured, Rennes failed collectively to contain good if un-creative Girondins.

Man Utd fans might remember Bellion as one of the many players that were supposed to be fabulous but just never made the cut. Well, since joining Bordeaux, Bellion has been firing on all cylinders, and added two goals to his tally against Luzi. A penalty after 8 minutes and a good shot just after the break were enough to give Bordeaux leeway for the latter stages of the game. As Rennes took off Edman and Leroy, replaced by Kembo-Ekoko and Badiane in a bid to get back in the game, Bordeaux curled up in defence, and counter-attacked, Obertan getting to the end of a cross with less than ten minutes left to seal the result, and put Bordeaux 3rd, one point ahead of Rennes.

The result is harsh on Rennes, who were equals to their opponents for most of the game. Marveaux tried a lot, but was unlucky against Ramé, going very close to a hat-trick, with 3 shots almost clipping the woodwork. Leroy was good, but sadly not excellent as he has so often been. Without Wiltord beside him, he was slightly isolated, and couldn’t cause much damage to a very solid Bordeaux side. To pick out a third player would be hard, with a mid-field that was not creative enough, despite good intentions, Briand too isolated in attack, and a back four who proved un-easy when coping with the fast counter-attacks Bordeaux lead. Fanni was the only player to bring a real offensive contribution, but often left his wing open, and Bordeaux used it well. Luzi had a hard night, but shouldn’t be disappointed, as the penalty can’t be counted against him, and the other two goals were far from ridiculous.

Chelsea are full of money, but since Mourinho’s departure, they seem to be on some kind of a signing spree. However, the signings they’re making are all low-profile and will not get many playing minutes. Why? Because they’re coaches.

Christophe Lollichon is perhaps one of the best coaches out there. As a goalkeeping coach, the names of the people he has trained with is anything but brilliant : Petr Cech, Andreas Isaksson, Bernard Lama, Christophe Revault, Simon Pouplin… And the most astonishing is that he trained all of them whilst at Rennes ! From what I’ve heard, Grant, Ten Cate and even Abramovich had been pressured by Cech himself to get Lollichon amongst the staff ! I guess that goes to show what the people that train with him think of him…

I wish him all the best with Chelsea and Cech… As long as they don’t play against Rennes.

Even when the league is stopped, Rennes try to keep in form, and the friendlies with lesser clubs such as Guingamp help the manager to see who’s going up, and who’s going out. In a rather boring and low-gear game, a few kids showed they were good (Borne, M’Vila, Lemoine), and others confirmed their talent (Kembo-Ekoko, Le Tallec). But it’s also great to see that some of the injured players could be on the way back into the starting XI : Emerson was said to be the best player Rennes had on the pitch by Dréossi himself, and Moreira as well as Catherine put in good games.

Moreira answered Djoman’s opening goal (24′) with a little lob over Bodin (33′), but in the 60 minutes that were left, Rennes dominated the game without managing to find the back of the net.

Once again, sorry to have been absent for so long, but I hope to get back to better habits very soon.