Kuzyaev in France found an unexpected situation. And his team has a powerful comeback with ten men!
Dmitry Zimin August 27, 2023, 17:00 Moscow time
After failing in the first half, Le Havre did a miracle in the second. But without Daler’s direct involvement.
Nobody imagined that Le Havre could score points in the match against Rennes. Too much class difference. Rennes last season finished fourth in the championship, its squad is four times more expensive than its rival’s. They also play at home. In the first round, Rennes defeated Metz 5:1. It seemed that with Le Havre something similar could happen. And the first half confirmed this assumption.
Daler Kuzyaev was in the starting eleven for the third time. True, he now finds himself in an unexpected position: if in the first two rounds we saw the Russian in midfield, then with Rennes he acted more like a second striker, supporting Aliui. The midfielder was not entirely attached to an unexpected role for many: in the first half, he repeatedly approached the defenders to win the ball back and start the attack. Rather, Luka Elsner gave Kuzyaev the role of a player who freely moves across the field. But with preferential activity in the attack center.
In this sense, the scheme of Le Havre also changed: in the first half the team acted, rather, in 4-4-2. Perhaps, even for this reason, there were gaps in the defense that Rennes used. The locals opened the scoring in minute 10. After Grandseer’s mistake. Samuel lost the ball under pressure and then saw the excellent actions of Blas. At the first attempt, Ludovik hit the defender Sangante, and only then – into the goal.
Eight minutes later, Rennes had to increase the lead, but Truffer fired over the goal. Le Havre did not have any success in attack, so the second goal for the hosts was only a matter of time. And in the 24th minute it happened: Wu guessed the rebound and sent the ball into the net from a meter away.
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It seemed to be the finish line. Rennes was forced to finish off their rival, who only defended for the first half hour. But Bruno Genesio’s team for some reason stopped. I tried to calm the game down without wasting extra energy. They knew perfectly well that moments would still arise. And, it seems, once again they didn’t want to try at all.
And so it happened, but Le Havre was lucky again: in the 40th minute, the guests unexpectedly played a ball. A large attack began with the participation of Kuzyaev – Aliui attacked Daler, but was shot down in the area. The ball flew back to the visiting players, and while everyone was waiting for the video review, it turned out to organize an attack with a second beat. Operi was very good on the flank, where Aliui struck with no chance for Mandanda anyway. Yes, Steve is still playing. After all, he is only 38 years old.
Lawsuit against Le Havre
Photo by: ZumaTASS
It is curious that in the last minutes of the first part Le Havre really looked better than its rival. So the half-time whistle for Kuzyaev’s team was definitely out of place. Football after the break began without an advantage for anyone. “Rennes” tried to act calmly, not allowing any special freedom to the opponent. And in the 62nd minute, everything seemed to be over: Grandseer, for some reason, got into a tackle in the opponent’s field and received the second yellow card. Half an hour with ten men, losing on the scoreboard, so even against the favourite…
But Le Havre did not give up! And he took advantage of the fact that the opponent still did not dare to make a full bulge. A competent interception of the ball turned into a quick forward throw, where Nego played very well against the ubiquitous Aliui, and he, from under, Wu perfectly hit the corner.
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Naturally, this caused Rennes to continue to run forward. Kuzyaev at that time had already gone down and was acting on the left in midfield. And very useful: he several times he intercepted great. In general, for Daler this match, although it was not productive, but for the team he passed it with benefit. He opened up a lot, he fought and in difficult moments he tried to tie the team with his passes.
In the 84th minute, the Russian left the field, after which Rennes created at least four very dangerous chances. The most serious, already on the goal line of added time, when the ball hit the post. But Le Havre kept the tie, for the team it is already the second of the season. Not too bad, considering that even this from a newcomer to Ligue 1, few people expected.
