The meeting between Lille and Rennes (1-0) on Sunday ended with the lowest total of expected goals – which calculate the expected goals according to the degree of danger of an occasion – of the season among the five major European championships .
Jorge Sampaoli would have done without such a “performance” for his big debut on the bench at Stade Rennais on Sunday. Appointed on November 11, the Argentinian suffered defeat in Lille (1-0) for his first appearance on the Breton bench after a very mediocre match. It even took the lead in a strange ranking by posting the lowest total of expected goals (0.58 xG) of the season among the five major European championships.
Expected goals determine the number of expected goals depending on the dangerousness of the opportunities during the match. Losc, more dominant and dangerous, found the fault just before half-time thanks to Edon Zhegrova, victoriously taking a pass from Jonathan David (44th). Lille were then content to manage their short advantage during an even more insipid second period against the Bretons arranged in 5-4-1 and completely harmless.
“We worked a lot on the defensive aspect against this very good Lille team, to avoid being disorderly,” Sampaoli said. It worked quite well, but we conceded this goal in the 45th minute.” After this new setback, the third in a row in the league, Rennes is now 15th with one point ahead of Nantes, the roadblock.
“Stade Rennais is not used to this reality of the ranking, but I find that we were competitive against a strong opponent,” added Sampaoli. “For me, we were on par with him, it's a good starting point. Now we have to find answers on the offensive level. We sometimes lacked offensive arguments. I have been with this group for a short time time, we need it to create more things and generate more situations.” Lille, which celebrated its 80th anniversary, is 4th in L1.
