Sour grapes still make wine

By: Shazback | January 14th, 2008

After a 3-0 win against Martigues in the Coupe de France, it was back to Ligue 1 and business as Marseille came to Brittany. In fact, it was exactly 364 days since Marseille had won 2-0 for the 20th match of Ligue 1 2006/07 at Rennes, with goals from Cissé (58′) and Maoulida (90′+2′), after M’Bia had received a very harsh red card (41′) from Mr Poulat. But with both sides in the lower half of the table, victory was imperative for both sides this Sunday, however.

Friends became foes : Pagis and Givet fight it out in the air.

Both sides started out with line-ups that wouldn’t have been expected a little over a month ago… Marseille, 10th, were starting both winter signings, Akalé and Krupoviesa, and young N’Diaye was starting in a very diminished defensive line that’s lacking quite a few players out with knocks. Other than that, no real surprises, with Cissé, Nasri, Valbuena, Cana, Givet and Mandanda in the side. Rennes had a less strange line-up, with Echiejile filling in at left-back, Cheyrou starting as a central defender and Lemoine in central midfield as the only rare occurences.

Marseille

Mandanda
Bonnart - N’Diaye - Givet - Krupoviesa
Cana – Cheyrou
Valbuena - Nasri - Akalé
Cissé

Briand - Pagis
Wiltord - Leroy
Sorlin - Lemoine
Echiejile - Cheyrou - Hansson - Fanni
Pouplin

Rennes

Marseille started strong, with Akalé proving to be quality down the left flank. The first twenty minutes showed a great deal of potential, and Anigo might just have been saved having his face punched in by an annoyed Gerets… However, the main threat I was looking out for was wonderkid Nasri. He’s on par with Ben Arfa and Benzema as one of the best young talents in Ligue 1, and the opening stages of the game saw him strut his stuff down the center of the park almost effortlessly. Valbuena’s tireless running on the left wing, as well as Cana and Cheyrou’s midfield performances were very good, and it was pretty obvious Rennes wouldn’t be able to hold out. And guess what happened ? Well, Cissé scored. Great work by Akalé down the left wing, who manages to keep the ball in play, gets past Fanni and plays a great cross in for Cissé to shoulder in as he beat Cheyrou and Echiejile in the air.

0-1 down after 18 minutes, and Marseille looked like they had the game in hand. Sure, Leroy, Wiltord and Pagis had managed to move forwards, but the sheer athleticism Marseille were putting into the game was proving too much for Rennes. Sorlin and Lemoine were generous in their efforts, but Nasri and Valbuena are a wonderful pair of technical, speedy, and aware players, who managed to keep the ball moving and dangerous. After about half an hour, the game started to shift in Rennes’s advantage however. Nasri was recieving considerably fewer balls, and was coming deeper and deeper in his half to get them, whilst Leroy was running the show for Rennes. We pushed forwards, attacking in waves, but two or three times Briand was flagged offside, and Marseille’s defence proved not only to be solid enough to clear the ball -luckily for us not better than long punts towards Cissé or Akalé, however- but were also playing a very effective offside trap. In the end, Pagis beat the offside trap on what seemed to be a run from a slightly offside position. A long passing movement had almost put Wiltord through on goal, only for the ball to be returned to Lemoine, who slid the ball between N’Diaye and Givet right into Pagis‘ path. As cool as ice, he fainted twice to shoot, and once Mandanda had committed himself he coolly chipped the ball into the back of the net. Marseille have the right to feel aggravated about this goal, since although the offside position isn’t very clear, it is there. However, Pagis did slice the back four open with a diagonal run that relied more on ball control than speed, and Krupoviesa on the left puts him on-side as soon as he recieves the ball…

So Pagis‘ 39th minute goal made it 1-1, and nothing much happened until half time. The second half started with Rennes dominating, and quite to my surprise, Akalé was the best player for Marseille, I felt. Nasri had almost vanished, as Sorlin just tagged him constantly after the break. Cissé was isolated up front, and the long balls he recieved contrasted with the short pass game Rennes was setting up. Wiltord, Leroy, Echiejile, Fanni, Pagis, Lemoine… It was really looking good, as not only were we moving the ball forwards, but we were changing the tempo, changing sides, pulling our opponents out of position with overlapping runs, and Briand had two clean chances on goal that he wasted. Akalé and Cissé were the only potential problems, but Cheyrou did well to close them down. Hansson wasn’t spectacular, but managed to deny Cissé two goalscoring occasions. The only problem is how slow those two are at the back. They looked like they could be beaten day in day out. Luckily though, we didn’t loose many balls, and the long balls towards the strikers didn’t always find their target.

Then, in five minutes, it all went wrong for Krupoviesa and Marseille. 63rd minute, whilst Rennes were pretty much dominating without much success, there’s a small foul by Valbuena (I think) on Wiltord. As the referee blows his whistle to give a free kick to Rennes, Pagis stomps on Krupoviesa’s ankle in a pretty late challenge. The referee brings out the yellow card and puts Pagis in his notebook, whilst Krupoviesa recieves medical assistance. Thankfully, he walks to the side of the pitch, so at least nothing was broken. But Krupoviesa didn’t like it at all it seemed, and three minutes later, he lays a two-legged tackle from behind on Pagis on the half-way line. He didn’t even get close to the ball, and the referee whips out the yellow card and jogs over to where the foul was, whilst calling Krupoviesa to come see him. Krupoviesa however didn’t come. From what I could make out, he was surrounded by Leroy, Wiltord and Briand, who didn’t seem to appreciate the aesthetic quality of his tackle. Givet, Cheyrou, Rodriguez and Cana served as a human wall between the Argentine wing-back and the angry Rennes players. Now, all this is pretty much normal when there’s a hard challenge, and since I’d seen the referee get out the yellow card, I was just waiting for it all to get back on track as soon as Krupoviesa had recieved a yellow card. But quite surprisingly, Krupoviesa seemed to turn his back on the referee and start to get back in position. I think this is when Coué shifted his mind from a yellow card to a red card, as he jogged over to Krupoviesa, put away the yellow card and dismissed him. Pretty harsh jugement I feel, because it was pretty much the same as what Pagis had done to him only a few minutes before. Except I think that it’s his attitude that earned him a red card. Whilst the referee was flapping for him to come over, he turned his back on him, and that’s when yellow became red. Not surprisingly, this proved to be a pivotal moment in the game. Until then, Rennes had dominated, but without breaching Marseille’s defence. Sadly, with only 10 men left, the defence crumbled.

Thomert, Pagis, Cheyrou and Hansson can celebrate at last!

Right after the red card, Gerets used his last two changes (N’Diaye had been replaced by Rodriguez for the second half) : Zenden came on for Akalé, and M’Bow came on for Valbuena. Sadly, it didn’t have much effect, as Rennes piled on the pressure. Pagis missed two good chances, and then perhaps the best change of the game was made by Lacombe : Lemoine off for Thomert. Yes, I know it’s easy to make a “good change” when you’re 11 against 10, but he really changed the match as soon as he came on. Only two minutes after coming on, he collected a blocked shot at the by-line, just inside the box. He crossed a deep ball for Pagis, whose strong header was turned to one side by Briand, only for Wiltord to get the second goal for Rennes from point-blank range. Now, I don’t know what Wiltord does outside football, nor why he chose to celebrate all his goals in 2008 so far (he already did it against Martigues) by dancing Tecktonik… But damn, I’ll suffer watching him do that dance if it means he’ll score loads.

Pagis was replaced by Didot, with only 5 minutes left to play, and yet the pressure just kept on. Echiejile and Fanni were almost wingers, and I honestly didn’t see Nasri or Cissé after the red card incident. In fact, I didn’t see Zenden either. Cana and Cheyrou tried all they could, but it was pretty much 9 against 6 since only Pouplin and Hansson weren’t attacking. Pressure paid off, and Wiltord got to dance again as Briand powered a shot at Mandanda’s goal that was so good that poor Mandanda could only tip it onto the post, where it bounced back into Wiltord’s path. I’m not completely up to date as to what the rules about passive/semi-passive/positional offsides are, but I am strongly dubious of Wiltord’s position when Briand shot. Had the referee called offside, I wouldn’t have any complaints, so I’ll sympathise with any Marseille supporters (only now though!) because that’s a second goal that is borderline off-side, as well as a harsh red card that changed the game. I still think that the pressure Rennes were putting on would have eventually taken at least one, if not all three points. But it’s pretty obvious that Mr Coué played a decisive role in today’s game.

Well, how did Cheyrou and Hansson fare in central defence?

Pouplin : Not much to do. Passive on Cissé’s goal, even though his defence hardly helped him. Afterwards proved reasonably solid, denying Cissé, Akalé and Cheyrou to keep the score down. 5,5
Fanni : A real beast, extremely useful in attack. However, seemed unable to cope with Akalé for the first 40 minutes. However, Marseille’s dip in form during the second half allowed him more freedom. 6,5
Cheyrou : Good central defensive display, even though he was hardly tested during the second half. Provided useful support in midfield after Krupoviesa’s dismissal. 6
Hansson : I like him because he’s a no-nonsense, straightforward defender. But against Cissé and Akalé he was just too slow. His placement was approximative at best, and only his tackling and heading redeemed him, but even those weren’t great. 4
Echiéjilé : Very solid display, even if he seemed a bit awkwards at times when going forwards to play with Wiltord, Sorlin, Lemoine or Thomert. Contained Valbuena very effectively after 15 minutes of fragility at the beginning of the match. Also, managed to keep Nasri out of the game once he was re-positioned on the right wing after Krupoviesa’s red card. 6
Lemoine : Good display, very active, but still quite brash in some sequences. Needs to calm down a little, so that he can use his skills more effectively. 6 - Replaced by Thomert (77′) : Wonderful performance, crucial in setting up the 2nd and 3rd goals, and ripped Marseille’s defence to shreds. 8
Sorlin : Had the ungrateful role of having to keep Nasri out of the game. For 30 minutes he wasn’t up to it, and then he did it so well it was a bit disappointing he didn’t manage to participate in the game a little more. Sometimes I wondered if he was still on the field, only for him to receive a pass and quickly play it away. Lacked cutting edge and desire. 4,5
Leroy : Great display by the ex-OM player. He pulled players at him, and kept the ball alive. A constant threat to Marseille thanks to his association with Fanni and his ability to create spaces to play into. However, seemed to become less involved in the latter stages of the game when he was playing a little to deep compared to other players. 7
Wiltord : Fantastic display. Kept on involving other players with simple passing moves, and clinched two goals to round off a performance of constant danger. 8,5
Pagis : Didn’t do much for 30 minutes, and then had perhaps his best hour in a Rennes shirt yet. Brought Rennes back level with a lovely strike against Mandanda, and from then on was involved permanently in the build-up of Rennes’ moves. His harsh tackle on Krupoviesa is the only blimp in an otherwise full-action hour. 8 - Replaced by Didot (86′) : Not enough time to show anything. N/A
Briand : Plenty of movement, but failed to get back on the goalscoring road. As Marseille started defending more and more during the second half, he found it harder to get involved, and subsequently weighed less on the back four than the other offensive players Rennes fielded. Got two assists, although neither seemed voluntary. 6,5