Lille-Rennes: David declared revolt, Blas isolated himself... the tops and the flops

TOPS

The French goalkeeper once again produced a top performance in the Rennes goals this Sunday afternoon. Steve Mandanda made up for his mistakes last week against Lorient during this meeting against Lille. In a first act where the Mastiffs had difficulty getting closer to his surface, the former Marseille player was reassuring in his aerial exits from set pieces. Always vigilant, he also repelled the few bullets that came his way in these first 45 minutes. In the second act, he especially stood out on his line with reflex stops at point blank range to keep his team's lead intact. On David's first goal, he was beaten by the Canadian's beautiful shot while on the second, he first repelled Cabella's head before seeing the ball land at the feet of his tormentor of the evening who had come to equalize.

The Canadian is the symbol of this Lille self-sacrifice which allows them to remain so high in the standings this season. Little seen during the first act, Jonathan David gained momentum like all his partners at the end of the half. He has a first good opportunity on a cross but stumbles on Mandanda. Behind, on a sublime delivery from Angel Gomes, he saw his curled shot hit the post before returning to the locker room. Even though these two misses could have discouraged him, he never gave up. He continued to go behind the defense to tire out his opponents and was finally rewarded at the very end of the game. Found by Dago in the area, he adjusted Mandanda perfectly to reduce the gap and give hope to an entire team (1-2, 84th). In added time, he remained on the lookout and perfectly followed Cabella's recovery which was pushed back by the Rennes goalkeeper to score the equalizing goal (2-2).

FLOPS

The Lille defender will have had a complicated evening. In a role where he tried to contribute a lot in attack, Tiago Santos will have missed far too many things in this meeting. Often in percussion and projection, the young full-back (21 years old) did not find his partners on his balls to the penalty area (0/9). He tried to take responsibility a few times without much success either (0/2). But if he was not successful offensively, it was especially in the midfield during his transmissions that he hurt LOSC. With his 22 lost balls, Santos gave too much ammunition to the Rennais and he then suffered from the runs of the opposing attackers, whom he did not succeed in containing well.

Despite his goal at the very start of the match, the French winger lacked impact. Ludovic Blas too often remained glued to his line waiting for the ball in depth. Result: only 43 balls touched by the former Nantes player who lost 13 in total. Even if he tried to make the effort to participate in the pressing, he often put too much intensity (6 fouls called) for the number of balls won. In the duel, he was often controlled by the Lille defense (6/15 duels won) and was not much more successful in his technical movements. When he tried to make the difference on his side and cross towards his partners, the latter lacked precision and fled the Lille area far too often. He received a yellow card shortly after returning from the locker room.