A poorly released star, Ben Yedder record, the artist Majer: the tops and flops of the 34th day of L1

The tops

Rennes has not been as flamboyant as recently against Saint-Etienne (2-0). But the formation of Bruno Genesio had a master asset to tip the meeting in his favor. Not Eliaquim Mangala, uninspired on the two Breton goals. Well Lovro Majer. The Croatian strategist, with remarkable accuracy in construction and full of self-sacrifice in defensive work, was above all decisive by scoring the two goals for Rennes’ victory. He caused his success. And showed, once again, that the SRFC had got their hands on a hell of a nugget.

If Monaco wins its ticket for the Champions League in three short days, ASM will be able to say a big thank you to Wissam Ben Yedder. Because the former Toulousain, still scorer during the victory against Angers (2-0) this Sunday, weighs with all his weight in the Monegasque season by his realism. And if he has sometimes had to settle for a super-sub role this season, the ASM captain has shown impressive regularity in scoring goals: 21 in 34 L1 matches. It’s simple: he had never been so prolific in the league on an exercise. At almost 32 years old, he gets better with the years. And Monaco is rubbing its hands.

• Gusto, the man who can (now) do everything

Revelation of the season on the side of Olympique Lyonnais, Mal Gusto was slow to really make his mark on the right of the Rhone defense. But, for a month, the 18-year-old right side has been turning a corner. First a big counter-attacker, an excellent centerer like his new decisive pass for Dembélé (76th), the Lyonnais also takes advantage of his enormous volume to control his side more and more defensively. Like his performance against OM and Dimitri Payet. The Marseille number 10 was suffocated by the liveliness and combativeness of Gusto, who never let anything pass on his side, not even hesitating to dezone to come and cut the trajectory of an opening in front of Milik (11th). A full match for the one who is becoming OL’s lucky charm.

The flops

• Paris, the star changes nothing

If Olympique de Marseille did not manage to deceive the vigilance of Anthony Lopes, it owes it in part to the Portuguese goalkeeper of OL (48th, 67th) but above all to the own clumsiness of its attackers. And in particular Arkadiusz Milik, tenured this Sunday. The Pole first spoiled a first face-to-face with Lopes, with an ill-fitting lob which went over (29th), but he especially missed, a few minutes before the break, an incredible situation by missing the frame, 5 meters from the wide open goal, when he was alone (43rd). And when Bakambu replaced him, the Congolese was no longer successful, wasting a huge 1-2 opportunity, missing his shot after one of Lukeba’s rare errors (87th). But the OM attackers were determined not to score in this Olympico. And it’s expensive.

• Waste in the race to maintain

Each point can be worth gold at the end of the season but the teams at the bottom of the table have all the trouble in the world to garner them. Including when they nevertheless manage to put themselves in a favorable position, as was the case this Sunday for several of them. Probably the author of his best match in 2022, Metz led 0-2 on the lawn of Montpellier before cracking in added time (2-2). Clermont played him more than an hour in numerical superiority and not only did not win but even lost in Brest (2-0). For its part, Lorient had a good shot at home against Reims, almost already assured of maintenance, but the Merlus missed out (1-2). To save yourself, you will have to start exploiting favorable situations. Already they are rare…