This is a guest piece by @kirkbyera.
Stade Rennais faced up against a struggling RC Strasbourg trying to beat the drop and survive relegation from Ligue 1. A win for Rennes would’ve sent them into 3rd in the Ligue 1 table though Olympique Lyon, Montpellier and AS Monaco ultimately would’ve had a game in hand. The points were shared between both teams at the end of the 90 minutes, with Rennes holding most of the possession and creating the most chances. You could argue they were robbed of a win but Strasbourg did well to hold on to a draw with 10 men. Adrien Thomasson opened the scoring at the Meinuau Stadium turning in a well placed Kenny Lala driven cross. Things went from good to bad though for Thierry Laurey’s men after Stefan Mitrovic was sent off after a poorly timed tackle in the 39th minute. After countless shots and chances created Rennes finally pulled the game level with half-time substitute Adrien Truffert picking out a nice header across goal towards Adrien Hunou who headed it past Japanese vetaren Eiji Kawashima and into the back of the net.
Julien Stephan’s side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, with the likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Benjamin Bourigeaud and new signing Jeremy Doku starting Rennes were able to create many chances throughout the first half. Fullbacks Faitout Maouassa and Hamari Traore did quite well, getting forward on occasions and creating problems for Strasbourg fullbacks Anthony Caci and Kenny Lala. Flavien Tait and Sehrou Guirassy struggled to create for Rennes before coming off at half-time. Yann Gboho and Adrien Hunou changed that though, both having a significant impact on the game. Strasbourg were lucky to get away with the single point and Stade Rennes will be disappointed and will be looking to try and bounce back in Russia against Krasnodar in their Group E Champions League Tie on Wednesday night.
Ratings
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Eduardo Camavinga
Player profile:
- Nationality: French
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 10/11/2002
- Current Club: Stade Rennais
- Career: Stade Rennais
- Position: Defensive Midfield
- Secondary position: Central Midfield
- Preferred foot: Left
French wonderkid Camavinga didn’t have the best of games against Strasbourg but was very influential on the pitch and showed glimpses of why he is one of the most highly rated youngsters in world football at the moment. Eduardo played on the right side in Rennes 3 man midfield. He was very solid defensively, putting in 1 fantastic tackle, which was his only tackle, and continuously intercepting poor passes from Strasbourg’s men, showing fantastic anticipation and awareness.
Standing at 182cm, Camavinga is deceivingly strong on and off the ball, winning 4/7 of his duels and also holding off Ibrahima Sissoko and playing forward on multiple occasions. Camavinga also did well at blocking off passing lanes and tracking his man, forcing Strasbourg to look to play elsewhere on the field. What was also noticeable was the fact that a lot of the time he led Rennes’ midfield press, forcing Strasbourg to play side to side between their backline a lot of the time throughout the match.
Going forward Camavinga put in a good performance, picking out some great passes for Renne’s wingers to latch onto and finishing his game with a pass accuracy of 95%. One thing to note is that he didn’t use his extensive passing range to his advantage, instead opting to drive forward and play short passes into the attack, though he did complete 2/2 long passes. Eduardo also knew when it was the right time to go forward and join the attack , getting forward on multiple occasions but surprisingly recording 0 shots and only completing 1 dribble. One of the big positives from his game was his ability to drift into half space and link up with his fullbacks which you see him do in past games so often.
Overall not a bad display from the 18 year old French men, after being taken off at half time He will definitely be looking to put in a better performance against Russian side Krasnodar if he does start in the midweek European fixture. With Eduardo becoming a regular in the Rennes first team now he will be looking to improve on his game more, and he’s already attracting interest from Europe’s elite, the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain just to name a few.
Rating – A2
Adrien Truffert
Player profile:
- Nationality: French
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 20/11/2001
- Current Club: Stade Rennais
- Career: Stade Rennais
- Position: Left Back
- Secondary Position: Left Wing
- Preferred foot: Left
Fullback Adrien Truffert came off the bench at half time replacing Faitout Maouassa. The youngster put in a fairly quiet defensive display, he didn’t manage to complete any tackles but what he did do well in was reading and intercepting Strasbourg’s passes, finishing the game with 2 interceptions. At 5’9 and being quite agile and quick on his feet, Truffert can get from A to B quickly and he does it aggressively. There were quite a few instances in the game where he would anticipate the opponents pass and quickly get in front of his man and intercept the ball. What was noted was that sometimes he gets beat by his man too easily, losing 4/4 of his duels during the game. If he works on his defensive game in terms of knowing when to dive in and knowing when to hold and jockey his opponent it would help him become a better player defensively.
Attacking wise Truffert was fantastic. He excels in the attacking side of things and showed why he deserves that starting left-back spot in Rennes first team. His forward runs were great and he used his space to his advantage. Truffert has some great off the ball movement and the great connection he had with Gboho down that left-hand side created problems for Strasbourg’s Kenny Lala. Gboho would often drift inside giving Truffert acres of space to work with, completing 3/3 crosses Truffert’s delivery into the box was great.
Truffert also likes to drift inside himself and take on a man or two and have a shot on goal. At one point in the game he found himself occupying Jeremy Doku’s positioning after going on a creative run inside starting from the left wing. He also used his fantastic passing range to his full advantage making 2 key passes and completing 2/2 long passes throughout his 45 minutes on the pitch. The overall highlight of Adrien’s game was his assist, making a fantastic forward run into the box and putting in a lovely header across the box for Adrien Hunou to finish off.
A great game for Adrien Truffert and with opportunities to come he is quickly becoming a regular part of Stade Rennais first team and will be hoping to occupy that left back spot for the foreseeable future.
Rating – B2