Match Focus: Feisty Brittany Derby Flips the Region’s Script

So when Guingamp take on Lorient, it’s not a ‘real’ derby? Try telling that to anyone involved at the Stade de Roudourou on Saturday night. Though these two modest clubs are separated from one another by 110km and are (figuratively speaking, at least) even further from the traditional peaks of passion in French football, this was a Brittany derby to savour.

For many close to the heart of it, it defied being broken down, certainly in the moments immediately after the game. Lorient coach Sylvain Ripoll called the 2-2 draw “difficult to analyse” due to how “crazy” it was, but amidst the heat, there was reason of sorts.

It also continued the theme of this pair from the north-west continuing to confound expectation of their status in Ligue 1. Both experienced the loss of star forwards – Claudio Beauvue and Jordan Ayew respectively – that might have seen then drop from mid-table comfort into the relegation scrap.

Beauvue scored 17 in Ligue 1 alone in 2014/15, which contributed towards a total of 27 overall, eclipsing Didier Drogba’s club record for a top-flight season. Further south, Ayew the younger hit 12 in 29 Ligue 1 starts, while chipping in with another 5 assists. The now-Aston Villa striker’s haul accounted for 27% of his side’s entire total last season (directly contributing to 39% of the team total when one factors in his supply role). Guingamp were even more Beauvue-dependent, with his strikes making up 41% of the squad’s aggregate, and his 3 assists pushing that level of direct involvement up to 49%.

Gourvennec had been there before having lost Mustapha Yatabaré, who jumped ship to Trabzonspor after a 2013/14 in which he scored 11 league goals. The coach had no real budget to replace him so simply switched Beauvue from an attacking midfield role to centre forward, with quite spectacular results.

This time around, Gourvennec has pulled another rabbit from the hat by bringing Jimmy Briand back to the French top-flight. Despite failing to fulfil the hopes of earlier in his career, when many believed he would become a mainstay of the France national team, the 30-year-old is a canny operator. After declining to extend his single-season stay in the Bundesliga with Hannover, he was snapped up on a free.

It was Briand’s second successive out-of-contract move, and few players have provided more bang for the buck in recent years. Despite arriving in the capital of Lower Saxony with the last campaign already underway and without a group pre-season programme, Briand scored 3 and set up another 6 in a poor Hannover side, a vital contribution to their narrow escape from relegation.

This continued his form in difficult circumstances in his final season at Lyon. The club attempted to force Briand out of the exit door and froze him out (along with Bafetimbi Gomis) when he declined to move, but he battled his way back into contention under Rémi Garde, and made a series of highly useful contributions as a pinch-hitter. His 6 goals and 5 assists (in just 9 starts) in 2013/14 included a famous last-gasp derby winner at Saint Etienne.

Now Briand is enjoying an Indian summer at Roudourou, slotted into the centre forward position (directly replacing Beauvue, who had joined his old club, Lyon) he occupied in his early days at Rennes, before being farmed out wide. His spectacular opener against Lorient after 19 seconds was the quickest goal scored in Guingamp’s history, and it was the fastest in Ligue 1 since Yoan Gouffran’s 13-second opener for Bordeaux at Auxerre in May 2012. It was stylish too, a papinade – the tumbling, scissor-kick volley so named in France after Jean-Pierre Papin. It was Briand’s second such goal of the season, having already used the move in the September win over Gazélec. If there are many more, perhaps it’ll be renamed after Briand.

It spoke volumes for Guingamp’s incision. They edged the shot count 13-12, despite being a distant second-best in terms of possession, with Ripoll’s tidy visitors having 58% of the ball. The home side used their time in possession well, with star man Yannis Salibur – a Ligue 1 late bloomer at 24 – epitomising this, scoring as well as assisting Briand’s opener, and adding 4 key passes to his 3 shots from midfield.

Briand should have been the pivotal figure a second time, when Lorient forward Abdul Majeed Waris was sent off late in the first half for an outrageous tackle on him. Unfortunately for Guingamp – and much to Gourvennec’s chagrin – Younousse Sankharé was given a second yellow card in the ensuing melee, negating what may well have been a winning advantage for the home side.

Instead, Lorient fought back after the break. Even if Waris was the summer’s flagship signing, they have talent elsewhere. The firepower in Waris’ absence – and he is looking at a long ban for his flip-out – will come from Benjamin Moukandjo, whose two goals here included a last-gasp equaliser. Like Briand, the former Monaco man is probably a bit too good for his current team, and his goals took him to 7 already this season.

Ripoll’s team is one that suits having the ball, too. Behind Moukandjo, Didier Ndong again caught the eye, with 3 key passes and a 91.5% accuracy rate in possession. At 21 and only months into his first experience of European football – after learning the ropes in the senior game in Tunisia - the Gabon international already looks like president Loïc Féry’s next big profit. His composure was key in Lorient rising above the hectic atmosphere.

Ripoll, who has been under frequent scrutiny since he replaced the long-serving Christian Gourcuff, also deserves credit, with his 59th-minute introduction of Raphaël Guerreiro helping to swing the momentum of the game. The Portugal wide man’s delivery meant Moukandjo couldn’t miss for the second equaliser, and though Guerreiro recently remarked that “I’m not worth €15m”, his contribution was vital here.

Guerreiro was a reminder that it was possible to find clarity in the derby chaos. For both sides, it was more than enough to convince the viewer that they have the quality to steer well clear of the trouble that they looked set for at the season’s dawn.

Will Guingamp or Lorient be involved in a releagtion battle this season? Let us know in the comments below