Rennes Review - Season Five

[bighill]

Rennes 2
M_Hamsik (32), A_Kalimuendo (60)
PSV Eindhoven 4
J_Duffus (3,45 pen), R_Kovac (7), I_Saibari (92)

Drew Hill's Rennes fell to defeat on the opening day of the season with an entertaining 4-2 loss against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
It is a familiar early season tale for the French side under Hill, who have now failed for three successive seasons to pick up maximum points on the opening day.
There were however, reasons to be positive this time around after a spirited performance which on another day could, and probably should, have resulted in a draw or even a victory.
Youth graduate midfielder Marek Hamsik notched his first goal for the club on his competitive debut but it was defensive frailties which cost the French side in their first match of the season.


Marek Hamsik celebrates scoring his first Rennes goal on his competitive debut

It had been the younger players who had been expected to make some mistakes this season as they adapt to football at the top level, but instead it was veteran goalkeeper and club captain Geoffrey Lembet who had a game to forget for the hosts.
PSV managed nine shots on target, and four of those ended up in the back of Lembet's net. Within the first ten minutes he had already picked the ball out of his net twice and his side had a mountain to climb.
Hamsik's goal before half time gave Rennes hope of a comeback but that seemed unlikely after the visitors scored a penalty seconds before the half time break to make the score 3-1.


PSV's Yan Couto disrupted the game with constant positional changes

By now the match had descended into some kind of farce with Eindhoven's Yan Couto constantly switching from defence to midfield and gesturing to the sidelines unsure of where he was supposed to play.
It disrupted the flow of the game but Rennes still managed to pull a goal back on the hour mark through Arnaud Kalimuendo.
The home side pushed for an equaliser but found Eindhoven keeper Ivan Provedel in good form and then were hit with a sucker punch when Eindhoven's Ismael Saibari scored in injury time to seal a 4-2 win for the Dutchies.

Manager Drew Hill remained positive despite watching his side fall to defeat.
He said: "Despite the result, quite happy with the performance. Possession was completely even and when we had the ball we created more clear cut chances.
"It looks like PSV had more action on the match report but that is mainly because one of their players doesn't know if he is a defender or a midiflelder or what day of the week it even was.
"We produced some very good football, their keeper has played one of the games of his life and our keeper has had a stinker and that is the only reason we ended up on the wrong end of the scoreline.
"That's the way things often go because all goalkeepers are horribly unpredictable and some days we will benefit from the opposite.
"Lots of positives, good gains for some of the players and entertainment for the fans. On to the next one!"

508

[bighill]

Joris Chotard has returned to the Rennes starting lineup for their EFL cup tie against Dynamo Zagreb after being left on the bench for the season opener at home to PSV Eindhoven.
The 23-year-old midfielder who featured prominently last season was forced to watch most of the opening day 4-2 defeat from the bench, coming on only for the last 20 minutes.
Chotard replaces Shaun Wright-Phillips for the first round cup tie in Croatia.


Rennes players explore the Croatian capital ahead of their match against Dynamo tonight.

Apart from the reintroduction of Chotard the Rennes lineup is expected to remain unchanged, which means once again no place in the lineup for experienced midfielder Nemanja Matic.

Manager Drew Hill expects his side to progress to the next round against their lower league opponents.
"This is a game we just have to win." He said.
"A cup run could be really important for us this season, both financially and in terms of morale.
"We know that things could be tough in the league but if we could go on some kind of cup run, draw some big sides and pick up some surprise results it could be huge for us.
"That doesn't happen unless we do our job tonight against a side from EFL3.

"We are not complacent, we are not expecting to just turn up and win but we will be very disappointed if we go out tonight".

237

[bighill]

Dynamo Zagreb 1
J_Drmic (55)
Rennes 3
A_Gouiri (48), J_Chotard (85), A_Kalimuendo (93)

Rennes just about did enough to progress to round 2 of the EFL cup after two late goals ended the challenge of Dynamo Zagreb.
The French side found things tough in Croatia against a limited but spirited challenge from their EFL3 hosts.
Joris Chotard's 85th minute screamer proved to be decisive and the win was wrapped up deep into injury time by Arnaud Kalimuendo.


All smiles for Joris Chotard after his late winner in Croatia.

Dynamo opted for a long ball approach which frustrated Drew Hill's side up to half time where the sides went in level at 0-0.
Despite taking the lead shortly after the break through Amine Gouiri's first goal of the season they were pegged back to 1-1 by the Croatian side and so the scoreline remained until the dying moments.
Despite the home side being down to ten men it took until the 85th minute before Rennes finally edged in front.
Reflecting on the game, Hill said: "On nights like this it is all about the result and coming to Croatia for a cup tie was not likely to be a simple job.
"We performed well and we did just about enough.
"We needed two very late goals but I would say that it flattered them to be level going into those last 5 minutes and the two goals for us were more than deserved.
"I was concerned at the start when I saw that Dynamo wanted to play long-ball football, always a change they could sneak a draw and the lottery of a penalty shootout but we managed to get the better of the key moments especially in the last minutes and we can be very happy to progress to the next round."

288

[bighill]

Rennes manager Drew Hill will be hoping for a Monster performance from his Stade Rennais side this evening against Salzburg.
Rennes head to Austria looking for their first points of the season after a home defeat on the opening day of the season.
Confidence should be high after a 3-1 EFL cup victory over Dynamo Zagreb in Croatia.
The players travelled directly to Salzburg after the game to prepare for the encounter with the fizzy drink lovers.


Hill will be hoping to see energy from his players in tonight's match.

At the pre match press conference Hill said: "I think this will be a tough game, a Monster challenge for us.
"Salzburg have some good players and are undefeated so far this season.
"We will need to be at Full Throttle and every player will need to have the confidence of a Rock Star. If we do that we can surely win and start our league campaign with a Bang."

Shaun Wright Phillips is expected to return to the starting line up tonight with Hill also considering deploying an extra midfielder to shut down any threat Salzburg may offer from the wings!

205

[bighill]

Red Bull Salzburg 1
S_Pavlovic (3)
Rennes 4
F_Mane (4), M_Hamsik (9,30), J_O_Mikel (21)

Stade Rennais commited one of the most convincing smash-and-grab victories in history with a 4-1 victory at Red Bull Salzburg.
Youth midfielders Marek Hamsik and John Obi-Mikel were stars of the show. Hamsik in particular impressing with two goals and assisting an effort from Obi-Mikel.


Hamsik and Mikel starred in Salzburg with three goals between them on the way to a surpise 4-1 victory.

Special mention should also go to captain Geoffrey Lembet, who put in one of the perfomances of his life to restrict the home side to only one goal.
Salzburg dominated most aspects of the game but found Lembet in incredible form, the veteran making 17 saves to keep the Austrians out.
At the other end, particularly in the opening half an hour, everything which Stade Rennais touched seemed to hit the back of the net.
Within half an hour the French side lead 4-1 and never looked back.

Manager Drew Hill said: "We need to make a swift exit from Austria before we get arrested for theft. This was a travesty, but we will take it!
"Salzburg dominated every available metric apart from the scoreline. Our new youthful midfielders certainly packed their shooting boots, two goals for Hamsik and one for Obi-Mikel.
"Meanwhile Geoffrey played one of the games of his life, credit to him for that after he was so poor on the opening day.
"We felt unlucky to lose on the opening day and incredibly lucky to win today, so now we are even."

250

[bighill]

Rennes 1
M_Hamsik (32)
Real Betis 2
B_Traore (27), D_Nunez (76)

Rennes fell to their second home defeat of the season with a 2-1 result against Real Betis.
The Spanish side went in front just before the half hour mark through Traore but within five minutes Rennes were level with another goal from young midfielder Marek Hamsik, his fourth of the season so far.
Both sides had chances in an entertaining encounter but it was Betis' Darwin Nunez who earned his side victory with a 76th minute strike.


Disappointment for Brenden Aaronson at the final whistle.

Hill said: "This was a good game with two sides who came out looking to play entertaining football. I want to say that made it enjoyable but only if we end up on the right side of the result.
"We gave a good account of ourselves but in the end Betis had that little bit of extra quality up front which saw them get the win.
"Overall we can be quite pleased with the performance and can expect to pick up points if we continue to pay like this."

Hill's side hit the road again for their next match, an EFL2 second round tie at Union Berlin.

192

[bighill]

EFL Cup Round 2
Union Berlin 3
S_Aguero (12,25), M_Faye (65)
Rennes 2
A_Gouiri (32,36)

Stade Rennais' cup journey came to an end at the second hurdle with a 3-2 defeat in Germany against Union Berlin.
The French side went two goals behind early on but battled back to level matters before a second half goal from Mikayil Faye sent the Germans into the next round.
Rennes showed their battling qualities and played their part in an entertaining encounter, but will be watching the next rounds of the competition at home on the TV screen.
The biggest positive for the Breton side is the return to form of last season's topscorer Amine Gouiri who netted twice as Rennes battled back to 2-2 before half time.


Disappointment for Drew Hill in Berlin as his side exits the cup in the second round.

Manager Drew Hill had no complaints after the game, claiming that Union Berlin were worthy winners.
He said: "Of course there is always disappointment when you battle back from a 2 goal deficit only to concede again and lose the game.
"Overall, Union played a good game and we were a little too predictable and paid the price.
"Our cup journey ends earlier than we would like but this is not a result we can complain about."

200