Liveblog Rennes-PSG

Hi, welcome to my first liveblog!

Well, being late (as usual), I’m not prepared, so it’ll be a bit hectic.

No major surprises in Rennes line-up :

Luzi
Fanni, Hansson, Mensah, Traoré
Leroy, Mbia, Lemoine, Thomert
Pagis
Briand

And Le Guen hasn’t rang any changes on Paris’ side :

Landreau
Ceara, Yepes, Camara, Sakho
Souza, Clément, Chantôme, Armand
Diané, Pauléta

In fact, I just noticed that Rothen isn’t playing! That’s a surprise!

Well, on to the game!

5′ : Rennes have been the more offensive of the two teams, and have kept posession very well so far. Hansson delivered a great cross ball for Briand, but Briand’s cross was well behing Pagis in the centre circle…

7′ : I’m impressed by Leroy’s close ball skills. He’s able to get away from two PSG players and find Briand. Who lost the ball.

12′ PSG have had a bit more of the ball posession, with Souza going forwards quite quickly with very long balls. However, M’Bia and Mensah are unfazed by his attempts.

14′ Briand got in behind Ceara, but his cross was countered…

15′ Fanni won a goal kick off Pauleta… And Luzi thought he was playing rugby and sent it straight into the stands…

17′ Briand is coming very low to help the build-up. Along with M’Bia, they’re in a fighting mood!
18′ Close shave for Rennes! Diané, Pauleta and Souza combine in a very good passing move, that leaves Diané free to shoot in the penalty box… But Pauleta was flagged offside.

19′ Pauleta offside again… PSG are by-passing the midfield and playing with long hoofs down the pitch.

19′ Completely unrelated : there have already been three slow-motions of managers’ reactions to the play. Slow-mos.

21′ Souza is a poison. After Rennes seemed to have broken up a PSG attack, he hit a cross on his first touch off a throw-in. And Diané was almost able to steer it into the back of the net. Traoré isn’t able to keep him at bay so far…

23′ Touré intercepts a poor long pass by Chantôme for Souza. Rennes are 3 against 3. Pagis hoofs the ball into row Z from the mid-field line.
24′ Woo! Rennes had an excellent break through the left wing by Briand. His cross is intercepted, but Rennes recover posession and take three shots, one coming after a one-two… However, the ball didn’t end up in the net, and Mbia has remained on the floor, so he’s off to be tended to.

26′ PSG have started to rough it up over the last 4-5 minutes.. Leroy went down and won a free-kick, but not before Fanni had been tripped…

28′ Apart from Souza and Leroy, I have to admit that the midfield lines have been prolific in being technically poor. Mbia and Lemoine are good defensively, but they’ve yet to bring anything to the attack…

29′ Paris are solidly in their half of the pitch, and aren’t interested in pressing in Rennes’ half…
30′ Chantôme recieved the first card of the evening, a yellow for a foul that is, to say the least, not obvious…

32′ Pauleta wastes a counter-attack opportunity for Paris as his “through-ball” goes directly to Luzi…
32′ Paris are finding it a bit hard, because unless they resort to long balls or counter-attacks, they’re going backwards when they play short passing football!
33′ Leroy shows his tricks, going inside, outside, further ouside, inside and then outside again to create space to make a cross. But his cross isn’t good.
34′ After some great work by Diané to save a very, very long ball that might have been sent by Yepes or Camara, Paris have a good chance, but Hansson smothers the ball and coolly plays it forwards to Briand. The counter-attack didn’t produce anything.
35′ Paris have had the upper hand in posession over the past 5-7 minutes, and Ceara shows once again his skills as he beats Traoré and the offside trap, and then plays a first-touch cross in the box. But Hansson is there, to clear the ball.

36′ Someone is calling out “Amadou” or “Mamadou” right by a microphone. It is mildly annoying. Free-kick for Rennes just outside the box.
37′ GOAL!!! PAGIS! GOOOOOOOA- What? Offside? NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Replays shows that not only was Pagis not offside, but he didn’t even touch the ball, so he’s doubly not offside…). I am pissed.

39′ STOP THE REPLAYYYYYS!
40′ Ceara beats Traoré… However, this time he missed his cross. Subsequent corner kick shows how to NOT defend a corner. Luckily, Armand shows how to NOT head the ball.

41′ Paris are putting balls into the blender. It’s ugly and it’s not getting them anywhere.
42′ Leroy launches Briand, who is tugged down by Yepes as a last defender… Free-kick but no card, to my great surprise. Also, Hansson is being treated for a head injury. When I said the game was getting more violent by the minute, I meant it.
44′ GOOOOOOOOAAAAALLL!!! AGAIN! FOR REAL THIS TIME! GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLL! Free-kick is played very averagely, but Leroy gets a flick on the cross with his head, and Sakho just clips the ball… But that clip ends up being all that was needed!
45′ There, that’s it! Half-time! 1-0 for Rennes, in a game that should be 2-0! Rennes aren’t a class above Paris though, and Rennes will have to continue pressing high in Paris’ side if they want to remain in front.

HT Ceara has been Paris’ biggest threat, whilst Briand has been Rennes’ best player for the moment. However, Leroy, Thomert and Fanni have been instrumental in adding movement to a side that otherwise is a little too static (Lemoine and Mbia aren’t doing enough offensively).

HT Traoré has been the weakest link so far. He hasn’t been bad, but he just hasn’t been able to contain Souza-Ceara, who have perhaps been the best players Paris have, with a technique that puts them amongst the 5 best players on the pitch today going forwards.

HT Both back lines have been solid, allowing little place to shine for the strikers, especially when both teams are playing with two defensive midfielders…
HT Some players have yet to shine though. Pauleta and Pagis are often players that can be “forgotten” for 80 minutes, and then do enough in the other 10 to win a game on their own. So far, Pauleta has been severed from any real support, even if Ceara, Diané and mainly Souza have tried so hard and even managed on individual feats to bring service that otherwise just isn’t supplied.
HT I just had a peek at the substitutes, and I think that Le Guen will want to bring some changes to his side. Everton, N’Gog, Sankharé, Mendy and Bourillon aren’t world-class players, but if any of them came on for Pauleta, Chantôme or Clément, then Paris could just become one whole lot more agressive, both physically and in pressing.
HT On the other hand, with Didot, Sorlin, Marveaux and Wiltord on the bench, Rennes too can make changes. Any of those four players would add to a side that’s already taking advantage of Leroy’s technical facility, but with Kembo-Ekoko and Cheyrou, Lacombe can also raise to a more physical match.

46′ And the agame’s back on. And… Within a minute, Camara has fouled Briand. Once more, just outside the penalty area… Le Guen is NOT amused.

46′No changes have been made, and the free-kick is badly taken.

47′ Ooooh! Almost a second! Leroy tricked his way past Clément, and fed Briand a great through-ball. Briand beat Camara, but his shot was covered by Landreau, and not even on target…

48′ Thomert has taken a knock. He just bashed heads with Yepes when he went for a long ball. Nothing serious, I hope.

49′ I counted 10 passes in PSG’s attack. But it still ended up with Peter “Butcher” Hansson’s interception.

50′ OoOOOOOOOOOh! BRIAND! MAGNIFIQUE! Oooooooh! Leroy steal posession from Clément’s poor first touch, and runs straight at the defence, before slotting the ball through to Briand, who performs something as close to the “perfect” lob as I have ever seen. Opposite top corner, Landreau didn’t even move. He knew it wasn’t worth the effort.

52′ 2-0 up, and Rennes fans are chanting “Qui ne saute pas n’est pas Rennais, Rennais!”… This side is playing like the side that was in the top 4 at the early stages of the season!
53′ Lemoine is injured now… Da-a-a-a-amn… This isn’t fun.
54′ Oh, a roman candle (or whatever they’re called) has been thrown onto the pitch. The commentators suspect a disgruntled PSG fan, and the picture does a long portrait of Le Guen. Link?

55′ OooooooooooooNO! Pagis almost confirmed what I said about him being a “fake sleeper”. Briand prodded a ball behind Camara… But Pagis was just a little bit offside.
56′ Good work by Briand and Thomert to not only press the Parisian defence, but also win a free-kick. Pity the free-kick didn’t give anything.

58′ What?????? Souza coming off? WHAT? He’s your best damn player, Paul! Ok, Mendy is a good player too, but taking out your best player? Well, do whatever you want. At least we can worry less about crosses from that wing now.
59′ Diané runs through, but he’s stopped by a charge by Fanni. Pauleta takes the free-kick, but it just goes straight into the wall… Rennes counter-attacked, but Briand was a bit enthusiastic on one of the passes, and a great goal opportinity (2 vs 1, then 4 vs 2, then 3 vs 1!) goes gaping.

61′ Some of Paris’ fans are leaving the game apparently… Well, Didot replaces Pagis, in what I hope is a positive move to give Leroy and Thomert a more active support in midfield.

63′ On a cross by Thomert, Sakho does a strange “half-to-Briand-half-to-Landreau” header. Luckily, both players look too surprised to react, and the ball runs out for a corner.

64′ Rennes win yet another corner. That’s what? 8 corners already? It’s getting ridiculous.
64′ Paris fans announce “WE ARE COMING OUT”. How good for the LGBT community of Paris!

66′ Whistles all around as N’Gog replaces Sakho. I can’t understand Paris’ formation, but it’s probably good. I mean, Sakho, a midfielder, was playing in defence. He’s not having a good match? Replace him by an equally inexperienced striker. Yup. PLG is very, very, very rational.

68′ RARE! Mensah misses a pass! However, the ball is won back quickly, and moves up the right wing by Didot and then Thomert, who wins… Yes. You guessed it. Another corner.
69′ Decent corner by Didot, but Mbia only managed to get his shoulder to the ball. Pity.
70′ Oh, N’Gog is playing striker, and Armand has switched back to left back, with… Someone as a left winger. Perhaps Diané. I don’t know. Well, N’Gog’s first touch of the ball is to pass the ball to a Rennes player.

71′ I find these two commentators to be rather good. However, one of them just hasn’t stopped for the whole of the second half about how he “can’t see where Paris are going to get a goal from”. I’m sick of that sentance. I’ve heard it at least 10 times already. Stop saying it.
72′ Ceara must have been deeply influenced by Mendy’s presence on the pitch as his “cross” goes straight to the corner flag.

73′ Yet another little foul. Rennes aren’t running forwards any more, and seem to be playing the clock already!
74′ Well, that’s that : some parisian fans leave the stadium, and take the time to spit at the cameraman before they leave. Because he’s obviously directly related to their team’s poor performances.

76′ Mensah fouled Mendy just outside the box, but the referee waves play on. But Mensah stays on the floor. I’m getting more and more convinced that Rennes are playing the clock down.

78′ WHAT??? That’s not a tackle! That’s an assasination! He didn’t go for the ball at all! What? Why’s M’bia on the floor? The referee pushed M’bia to the floor! Hahaha! Oops, wrong! Camara head-butted M’bia! RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE! JUST AFTER HIS KILLER TACKLE ON FANNI????!!!!???? AND THAT’S ONLY A YELLOW CARD? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

80′ Sloppy midfield play time.
82′ Fanni found Briand with an exquisite pass. However, he couldn’t keep posession. On the counter-attack, Mendy is fouled from behind (albeit not heavily) by Thomert, who recieves a yellow card. THE SAME THING AS THAT HEADD-BUTTING SCUMBALL?

83′ Pauleta went close. He chested the ball down outside the box, and shot… Off target.
84′ They’re falling like flies! Every time two players breathe on each other, they both fall over and roll around like they were just shot. And whilst I type that, Chantôme shoves Briand around and the referee says play on. I can’t believe the refereeing.

86′ I head them talk about it earlier on, but I was typing so I didn’t follow everything. Sorlin has replaced Leroy for about 5-8 minutes.

88′ Free kick just on the corner of Rennes’ box. Why? No idea. Anyway, Camara displays once more what you do NOT learn to do, and converts the drop kick for 3 points.

90′ The most interesting thing of the last 10 minutes : the 4th referee announces 4 minutes of injury time.
91′ Sorlin celebrates the good news by attempting to kick the ball as close as possible to the corner flag (without the ball leaving the pitch) from the half-way line.

92′ Long balls from both sides, but the players that are doing the running have been on for 90 minutes, so they’re not latching onto the long balls very well.

93′ Corner from the left hit by Diané, caught effortlessly by Luzi.
94′ AND IT’S ALL OVER! 2-0! Sakho’s own goal on a Thomert free kick that was deflected by Leroy opened the score, and Briand’s lovely lob on a perfect service by Leroy concluded it.

YESSS!!!

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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