US Concarneau solidified their lead in the Championnat National, the third tier of French Football, with a 4-1 win over FC Villefranche. The hosts played in a 4-2-4/flat 4-4-2 formation, which in possession sometimes changed to a 3-4-3 with the right back moving far up the pitch and the left back staying more defensively. The game started a bit slow but in the blink of an eye, Amine Boutrah scored a hattrick. After Concarneau’s third goal, they seemed to lose a bit of focus and Villefranche had multiple big chances, but they only managed to score one just before halftime. In the second half US Concarneau refound their concentration and played quite safe. Late on in the game, they even scored a fourth, with again a big role for Amine Boutrah.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Amine Boutrah
Player Profile:
- Nationality: French
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 26/10/2000
- Club: US Concarneau
- Career: SC Bastia, FC Lucciana, US Concarneau
- Position: Attacking Midfielder
- Secondary Position: Striker, Left Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Amine Boutrah was the man of the match for US Concarneau today. Le Petit Prince de Concarneau, as the commentators called him, scored a hattrick in the first half and gave a lovely assist in the second half for the last goal. After nine matches Boutrah has now scored seven goals and given four assists, making him the MVP of the league so far.
The 22-year-old played as the second striker in Concarneau’s 4-4-2, with a lot of freedom to move to either wing or drop back to collect the ball lower up the pitch, which he all did. Boutrah’s first two goals were pretty similar. Both times the other striker Antoine Rabillard got the ball on the right side and put in a cross towards the second post, where Boutrah was lurking and just had to tap the ball in. His third goal was also quite an easy finish. After a lovely chipped pass right winger Mannai found Boutrah in the box with a short pass, who could then find the empty net. His assist was where you could really see his class. After a deep pass on the left, the striker easily beat his first opponent and then instantly got past the second one with a lovely drag. Then he found Gboho in the box who could tap in.
It’s maybe weird to say about someone who scored three and assisted the fourth goal, but there was still a lot of improvement in Boutrah’s game. His passing was quite inconsistent at times, after his first goal he lost the ball three times in a short period of time because he was just a bit too sloppy on the ball. I think this was mainly something about his concentration, as his technique looked solid. He has very quick feet on the ball and looked like a good dribbler. He also seemed to scan well throughout the match and made some smart runs off the ball.
Boutrah is quite a small player standing at 1.73m, but his low centre of gravity and good balance make him hard to push off the ball. He seemed to be quite fast on the first few meters with decent top speed.
Rating – A1
Boutrah is having a fantastic season and with this form he could play on a higher level for sure. However, he has to show that he can keep this form up obviously. If he can stay pretty consistent, I think he could be a good fit in the Belgian or Dutch league.
Gaoussou Traoré
Player Profile:
- Nationality: French
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 04/12/1999
- Club: US Concarneau (On loan from Amiens SC)
- Career: Amiens SC, Quevilly Rouen (Loan), US Concarneau (Loan)
- Position: Central Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
Gaoussou Traoré played as one of the two defensive midfielders for Concarneau next to Thibault Sinquin, mainly on the left side. The 22-year-old doesn’t have a lot of physical presence defensive midfielder, standing at 1.78m with a regular build. I didn’t see him in a lot of very physical duels, so it’s hard to really judge his strength. Defensively he mainly impressed me with his interceptions and the number of loose balls he picked up. I didn’t really have the feeling that he was working that hard, but then he would be everywhere on the pitch at the same time. He also helped out Sinquin on the right, keeping the midfield compact. At the end of the first half, Traoré gave away a penalty with a very silly tackle. His tackling overall was solid, so I don’t really understand how he gave that away.
Traoré was very much the playmaker in Concarneau’s build-up, moving to the middle of the pitch more than his partner in midfield Sinquin. His distribution of the ball was good against Villefranche. His long passes were a bit inconsistent, but he showed that he can put some dangerous passes into the final third, with two lovely pre-assists for the 3-0 and the 4-1. These moments showed that Traoré really likes to play forward and take some risk in his passing, which as I said didn’t always work out well for him. He also liked to drive forward with the ball, which went well if he had space. His dribbling in tighter spaces let him down at times, as he seemed to lose his composure a few times. When he was pressed though, which mainly happened in the second half, he did well overall. Turning away from his opponent with ease on a few occasions.
Rating – A2
I definitely think Traoré could play higher than the Championnat National, but I think it’s quite hard to properly judge him based off of this game. If Amiens stay in Ligue 2 he should get a chance in the first team next season though.