“I’m maintaining all my confidence (in him),” said Stade de Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot of his coach, Olivier Guégan. “But I’m not giving unlimited credit.” This ‘backing’ of Guégan, in the immediate aftermath of the damaging home defeat to Toulouse, was about as threadbare as it gets, even giving rise to a claim on TF1’s Sunday morning flagship Téléfoot that Frédéric Hantz, who was still unattached at that point, had been lined up to take over the post.
That was less than a month ago, but it is probably only in the past week that Guégan has started to sleep a little more easily. In a three-match week, successive wins for Reims for the first time since August have lifted them out of the bottom three and breathed new life into their season.
Most notable, perhaps, was that those wins weren’t against fellow strugglers but high-fliers, albeit unexpected ones. After beating the season’s shooting stars Angers at Stade Auguste Delaune during the week, Reims travelled west to turn over Caen, a not-inconsiderable feat when Patrice Garande’s side could have gone into fourth place with a win.
They also put an end to a 19-game run without a clean sheet, stretching back all the way to September. Not that Guégan was getting ahead of himself after the game, having already been let down once or twice this season. “We played a very solid match,” he said in his press conference. “There are still 13 battles to go and if we can keep this level up, we’ll take some points.”
Solidity is a precious commodity at the bottom of Ligue 1 at the moment, especially with little Gazélec experiencing a big wobble - Saturday’s goalless draw with Guingamp put an end to a run of three straight losses - Lille fluffing their lines late on at home to Rennes on Sunday, Toulouse and their star striker Wissam Ben Yedder misfiring and Montpellier warming up for Saturday’s draw at Lorient with a huge on-field argument between teammates Bryan Dabo and Ryad Boudebouz, which the warring pair later resolved with a kiss for the benefit of the beIN Sports cameras.
Even if the results have only really come in recent days, the new-found resolve at Reims has its roots in the days that followed that defeat against Téfécé. Guégan took the nudge from Caillot and decided to revamp his team, switching from a 4-2-3-1 formation to 5-3-2, which has also manifested itself as a 3-5-2. The principles are simple; strength in numbers at the back, coupled with width to create going forward.
The new plan took its first steps in Corsica, and enabled Reims to prise a point from Gazélec, which in the coming months could mean as much in terms of depriving the promoted side of two points as in gleaning one for themselves. The 2-2 draw has been a real momentum changer at the bottom. Thierry Laurey’s side entered the match with Reims on a 10-match unbeaten run in the league, but have not won since, and have now slipped behind the northerners in the table.
It was a circumspect performance from Reims, as the situation dictated. Guégan had his team sit deep against Gazélec, with eight players taking up average positions within their own half - very much the 5-3-2 interpretation of the new shape - and the team taking just 41% of possession. Nicolas de Preville, enjoying a best-ever top-tier season, played a key role. The 26-year-old has six league goals, is comfortably the club’s top scorer and scored both against Gazélec.
Yet his contribution went beyond his goals. Playing as part of the front two, he used his qualities as a winger wisely, occupying Gazélec with his pace and dribbling, completing eight dribbles during the match. It still tends to be thought that a big, target man style centre-forward is the best outlet for a team hoping to soak up pressure and play on the counter, but de Preville fits this strategy well.
Now, de Preville has help. It is little coincidence that Reims’ two wins in the past week have followed new signing Thievy Bifouma arriving in the XI - a “breath of fresh air,” as Sunday’s L’Equipe called him. The pair make for an extremely quick strike partnership, and it was clear in the performance at Caen that Reims have quickly learned how to get the best out of the duo. If we look at the attack sides in the positional report, we see that only 17% of Reims’ moves forward at the Michel d’Ornano were made in central areas. 49% of the play came down Thievy’s right-hand side.
The on-loan Espanyol forward had two efforts on goal before finally scoring with the third, almost inevitably being teed up by a de Preville cross. That was de Preville’s fifth assist of the season, while he was also heavily involved in the second goal, put away at the second attempt by Prince Oniangué.
Perhaps the unsung hero in all of this is Gaëtan Charbonnier. The 27-year-old’s top-flight career has been a bit of an anachronism, starting as an unprepared, underwhelming replacement for the departed Olivier Giroud at Montpellier. It looked as if it might be all over when he was dropped by Guégan to train with the reserves before Christmas.
Charbonnier was given a lifeline with the tactical reshuffle, brought into the team that played at Gazélec for his first game in two months. He is the sort of number 9 that might have been seen to fit a team playing on the break, but has instead been used in a de facto number 10 role, with de Preville and his striker partner - now Thievy - making runs beyond him and making the most of his ability to find through balls.
Reims’ current confidence - buoyed by the victory over Angers, which was authored by Charbonnier’s headed winner - saw him pushed up into the centre of a front three at Caen. Like de Preville, Charbonnier is also a strong defensive contributor, but Reims’ revival is built around bravery; a position that Guégan was perhaps forced into, with options running out.
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