Tops
If the Lorientais have remained in contact for so long, it is partly thanks to their goalkeeper. Yvon Mvogo was responsible for repelling Rennes’ strikes when they failed to infiltrate his area. With his 5 saves, the Swiss goalkeeper did good to his block in certain situations where the latter was overwhelmed on all sides. Even if he did not deflect each Rennes shot, he also distinguished himself in the air with ball catches which relieved his block when Stade Rennais pushed. In his raises he was also precise (6/6 in the hand) and allowed his team to project themselves quickly.
Even if they didn’t have a lot of chances, the Merlus knew how to exploit them perfectly. In the first act, they lacked technical accuracy but already showed that they could be dangerous on dazzling counterattacks and in the second half, that’s exactly what happened. On Mohamed Bamba’s first goal, the latter remained in the penalty area and took advantage of the ball released by Steve Mandanda to give the Merlus the advantage. Barely coming into play, Eli Junior Koupi projected himself perfectly to deceive the Rennes goalkeeper at point blank range. On two occasions, the Merlus were able to seize the opportunities left by the locals. They thus leave with a precious success in this race to maintain.
Flops
Rennes missed too many chances. In the first half, by not taking cover, Julien Stéphan’s men almost paid dearly for Lorient’s flashes which lacked precision. Benjamin Bourigeaud seemed physically worn out and did not shine in the midfield as usual. He missed his transmissions before then applying himself to his crosses but no one was there at the drop-off. Martin Terrier also had a very complicated evening with very few balls touched and no shots on target (0/3). Even if he tried to provoke his opponents in the first half, Ludovic Blas was then too discreet in the second half and above all lost too many balls (17).
The French goalkeeper unfortunately weighed down his team. Author of a rather good match, Steve Mandanda made a mistake at the worst time. On a strike that was no more dangerous than that, the Frenchman did not manage to push it away, except at the feet of Mohamed Bamba who did not ask for that much to give the Merlus the advantage. Following this error, the Rennais had to uncover themselves to get back up to speed and the defensive block was no longer in place at the end of the match. On the second goal, he can’t do much on Kroupi’s point-blank recovery. Even if he was perfect in his restarts, the supporters will especially remember his hand fault which gave Lorient the first goal of this game.
