Stade Rennais – Lille: The recovery of Les Dogues (0-2)

Lille kept showing why it was one of the most entertaining teams to watch in France, in a match that took some time to turn in their favor in terms of the score.

Tactical analysis and match report by Juan Lauz.

After the dismissal of Jorge Sampaoli as head manager, Stade Rennais seemed to have found some peace with Habib Beye as the team's manager. Two wins in their first two matches had given some peace of mind regarding the relegation positions in Ligue 1, with a five-point cushion over Saint-Étienne, who was in sixteenth place.

For this seemingly tough encounter, they fielded almost the same starting lineup as in their last victory against Les Verts. They used a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Lilian Brassier, Christopher Wooh, and Jérémy Jacquet from left to right in the defensive line; Adrien Truffert and Lorenz Assignon as wing-backs, supporting the double pivot of Djaoui Cissé and Ismael Koné, who had replaced Jordan James in the starting eleven; up front, Ludovic Blas and Mousa Al-Taamari played behind the striker Arnaud Kalimuendo.

Meanwhile, Lille, under Bruno Génésio, was looking to recover from their elimination against Dunkerque (a Ligue 2 team) in the Coupe de France, as well as their loss to Le Havre, who was in the relegation zone. To do so, they lined up with Alexsandro Ribeiro and Bafodé Diakité as center-backs, and Ismaily and Thomas Meunier as fullbacks; a midfield consisting of a three-man midfield with Benjamin André as the holding midfielder, and Ayyoub Bouaddi and Ngal’ayel Mukau as central midfielders; in attack, Mitchel Bakker and Hakon Arnar . . .