Nantes offers a lesson in realism to Lorient which sees its good streak come to an end
The show was not particularly there this Saturday at the Moustoir between Lorient and Nantes. Only Jean-Charles Castelletto managed to find the net, with a good recovery after returning from the locker room.
While they were on a good dynamic, both in terms of play and in terms of results, the Merlus suffered a setback this Saturday when they hosted the Canaries.
The latter offered them a lesson in realism by winning by the smallest of margins (1-0), while they left control of the ball during the entire match.
A sterile Lorient possession
From the kick-off, the respective game plans of the two teams were put in place. On the locals’ side, the ball is constantly sought, with the idea of hurting a placed attack, and therefore playing quite high up the pitch. On the other hand, visitors do what they do best, which is to bend, but never break.
Indeed, Jocelyn Gourvennec’s instructions seem clear, the objective is to hurt on the counter, or even in transition, if the ball can be recovered between the lines.
And in the space of a few minutes, the inevitable Mohamed Bamba alerts Alban Lafont (12th) for the first time, but the Ivorian’s shot goes over. In return, it is Moses Simon who appears against Yvon Mvogo, but the Swiss goalkeeper responds to make the necessary save (15th).
The minutes pass and the show is not there. Lorient lacks creativity in the opposing half to destabilize the Nantes defense, while the Canaries try their luck several times from afar, but it is not too dangerous.
In fact, this is what both teams are missing: making themselves threatening when approaching the surface. And, Nantes is banking on its realism to hurt…
Castelletto puts on his hero’s cape
While we expect a second half similar to the first, the FCN takes advantage of the collective inattention of the Merlus to sting with a direct attack. Following a throw-in, the Canaries manage to throw Moses Simon in his left lane, who takes the opposing defense from behind.
His speed does the rest and he then manages to put himself in a good situation to cross. On the other side, his teammates have followed and hope to find the target. Even better, it’s Jean-Charles Castelletto who is all alone at the far post. From the right, the Cameroonian takes the flat foot and catapults the ball to the opposite side. Mvogo can do nothing, the Nantes camp logically exults (49ᵉ).
Régis Le Bris’ players no longer have a choice, they must find the solution and the means to break through the opposing block. Except that the accelerations do not happen and it is then difficult to find spaces and thus obtain scoring opportunities. Knowing that no individual stands out today, it is Nantes which is on the verge of carrying out a great operation.
In the rankings, the visitors temporarily moved up to 12th place, while the locals saw their series of three consecutive victories come to an end.
2024-02-24 23:39:22
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