This 13th day started Friday evening with the quiet victory of OM in Nîmes. Handicapped by the absences, the Gardois had no way of hindering the Olympian team, which inevitably ended up opening the scoring on a nice ball from Alvaro in the depth and a beautiful sequence of chest-ball stung control from Benedetto. The Villas-Boas players then doubled the bet by Germain, well served by Sanson. This is OM’s 5th consecutive victory but the adversity was so low that it is difficult to learn lessons for the future. Knowing all the same that the points are piling up and that Marseille is more than ever in the race …
On Saturday afternoon, Lens went to plunge Rennes into a crisis perhaps deeper than it looks, with only one victory gleaned from the last 13 games. So OK, in the lot there are Champions League matches, but still. This is obviously very insufficient compared to the new objectives of the club. So there are explanations for that. First, the team has become impoverished with the departure of Mendy replaced by Gomis and Raphinha replaced by an 18-year-old kid who undoubtedly has great potential but who does not reach his ankle and cost 26 M €. And then, there are incomprehensible choices, like leaving Niang on the bench to play Hunou …
The club sails on sight and as I said to the CFC, we have a coach who took the skin of his president with the approval of the shareholder and who now has full powers. Which means that he logically finds himself alone in the face of his balance sheet. It is certainly not Holveck who will help him, nor Maurice who has to deal with his recruitment, which looked attractive at the start of the season but which is generally disappointing. And then, we saw a rather striking athletic difference between the two teams. Of course, the Lensois who had a game postponed due to COVID were certainly fresher, but the difference in impact was mind-boggling.
The first goal was scored by Kalimuendo with a nice cross strike from the left, his third in Ligue 1 and the second by Ganago, who deceived Salin after a good sequence. The Sang et Ors continue to impress and continue their excellent start to the season, with this freshness and this mentality where everyone plays their part for the collective, without adding more. Franck Haise’s team are very attractive and should be maintained without any worries.
Mbappé, reviews and performance
Finally on Saturday evening, seeing the composition of the PSG team aligned by Tuchel to face Montpellier at La Mosson, we could say that Paris was simply skipping the match in order to prepare for the most important meeting of the end of the year for the club, namely the reception of Basaksehir on Tuesday at the Park. But in the end, the defending champion won 3-1 against a Montpellier team which did not create an opportunity in the second half and which disappointed me a lot. OK, Delort was not there but if we make the balance between those absent from Hérault and those absent from Ile-de-France, there is no picture. Paris nevertheless presented itself with a three-way defense Pembélé-Diallo-Kurzawa.
In fact, I have the impression that the men of Der Zakarian played the PSG jersey more than those who were in it. Even Mavididi’s equalizer thanks to goal-line technology came at a time when the Parisians were dominating so much more than expected that they were countered. After the rest, Paris got their hands on the ball with an excellent Rafinha whose technical finesse and aggressiveness worked wonders, like his interception and his ball given to Kean, whose monstrous strike did not leave no luck at Omlin.
The third goal signed Mbappé would be completely anecdotal if it was not the 100th in the Paris jersey. With 49 more assists, all in 137 games. A monstrous record for a player of barely 22 years old who, however, suffers only criticism of his performance and behavior. Even the criticisms I have heard about his failure to score in Manchester strike me as particularly inappropriate given that he is involved in both the first and the third. Once again, he will have to play abroad for everyone to find him great …
Pierrot
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