Saint-Etienne lost the second leg of their qualifying match against Târgu Mure? 2-1. They then barely managed to scrape a 2-1 win over two legs in the playoffs against Milsami Orhei. Meanwhile, Bordeaux didn't have any trouble in the third round, but again in the playoff they could only manage a 2-2 draw against FC Kairat and went through on the away goals rule. Then, of course, Bordeaux failed to win a single game in the group stage, and Saint-Etienne struggled as well, picking up just two wins from six games. Even Celtic failed to win a single match in their group as well, although it was a tough one! I mean even Ajax failed to get out of that group!

Still, I would imagine Rennes would at least be the narrow favourite in most possible matchups in the qualifying rounds. A lot of the squad lacks European experience, but a handful of them have played on the biggest stages. Guys like Armand and Gourcuff (if they stick around) have played dozens of Champions League and Europa League matches and could help the younger lads acclimatise. Players like Gelson, Pedro Mendes and Danzé could also help out with their own European experiences, and the squad has a fair number of full internationals who know what it's like to play in the big games. However, if we do qualify, I think we'll need to have a good summer and focus on recruiting a few guys with experience in this competition.

New York Breton a écrit:

Johnny Q. a écrit:

Hey, what do you think about the victory against Nantes ? And, what are your forecasts for the end of season ?

In my opinion, the best team performance all season.

The team has the chance to take a huge step forward by qualifying for Europe next year, and I believe it will happen. Does anyone have the specifics on what happens to 5th and 6th place if PSG wins both cups?

This is a very belated reply, but I'm pretty sure that the teams in 5th and 6th go straight into the Third Qualifying Round for the Europa League. At least, that's what happened last year. Last season, PSG won both cups and the league. Saint-Etienne finished 5th, Bordeaux 6th, and both of those teams entered the EL at the third round.

In that round, Bordeaux played against AEK Larnaca, a Cypriot club, while Saint-Etienne played ASA 2013 Târgu Mure? from Romania. They then entered the Play-off Round where Bordeaux had to beat Kazakhstan-based club FC Kairat and Saint-Etienne were pit against the Moldovan champions FC Milsami Orhei.

Based on that, we would enter the third round and probably have a very decent chance of making it to the group stages. We'd have to beat two teams to get there, but it would certainly be possible, especially as the play-off round takes place over two legs. The teams in the third round and play-off aren't usually very good, with a lot of league champions and runners-up from countries like Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Finland, etc. However, there's always a chance we could get matched up against someone a bit tougher, so it's all about the luck of the draw.

I wouldn't take these teams from lesser countries as wins for granted. I've been following Celtic (a team probably just as/were as good as Rennes right now) and they have faced some very tough ties over the years in their qualifying rounds. I'll note that the hardest fought were the ones in the far off non-European countries such as Kazakhstan. A few years ago, Celtic lost 2-0 over in Karagandy but managed (just) to beat them in the return leg at Celtic Park. These big distances in far off roasting hot countries is a different environment entirely, and most of the Rennes players have no European football experience.

Johnny Q. a écrit:

Hey, what do you think about the victory against Nantes ? And, what are your forecasts for the end of season ?

In my opinion, the best team performance all season.

The team has the chance to take a huge step forward by qualifying for Europe next year, and I believe it will happen. Does anyone have the specifics on what happens to 5th and 6th place if PSG wins both cups?

This is a very belated reply, but I'm pretty sure that the teams in 5th and 6th go straight into the Third Qualifying Round for the Europa League. At least, that's what happened last year. Last season, PSG won both cups and the league. Saint-Etienne finished 5th, Bordeaux 6th, and both of those teams entered the EL at the third round.

In that round, Bordeaux played against AEK Larnaca, a Cypriot club, while Saint-Etienne played ASA 2013 Târgu Mure? from Romania. They then entered the Play-off Round where Bordeaux had to beat Kazakhstan-based club FC Kairat and Saint-Etienne were pit against the Moldovan champions FC Milsami Orhei.

Based on that, we would enter the third round and probably have a very decent chance of making it to the group stages. We'd have to beat two teams to get there, but it would certainly be possible, especially as the play-off round takes place over two legs. The teams in the third round and play-off aren't usually very good, with a lot of league champions and runners-up from countries like Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Finland, etc. However, there's always a chance we could get matched up against someone a bit tougher, so it's all about the luck of the draw.

Hey, what do you think about the victory against Nantes ? And, what are your forecasts for the end of season ?

In my opinion, the best team performance all season.

The team has the chance to take a huge step forward by qualifying for Europe next year, and I believe it will happen. Does anyone have the specifics on what happens to 5th and 6th place if PSG wins both cups?

Hey, what do you think about the victory against Nantes ? And, what are your forecasts for the end of season ?

An incredible victory. Truly incredible. I couldn't believe it. It was a historic moment for the club and I think it gave the players a lot of confidence too. The free kicks were really smartly worked and Dembélé absolutely deserved his hat-trick. It was a shame about the red card for Sio and the second half was obviously a little disappointing compared to the first, but we played so so well and I was really happy to have seen the match.

Then there was the Lyon game. Another brilliant moment. Someone in the French side of the forum said something like "Last season, at 2-0 down, we would never have been able to come back and get that draw, but this season is different" and I completely agree with that. There's a real fighting spirit in the team lately and they showed a huge amount of character and determination to score those two goals. I mean... Lyon were obviously a lot better than us technically. They were running circles around us in the first half and they seemed to be so much faster and fitter, but I think our players deserve a lot of credit for staying in the game and giving every bit of effort they had. For me, Lyon are easily the second-best team in France this season and we've managed to take 4 points from them, so that's a huge achievement!

As for the end of the season, it's so hard to judge. I think we've obviously got the potential now to keep this run going and pick up some important points, but there are a lot of big games still to come. We've got to play Paris, Marseille, Monaco and Nice, and none of those games will be easy. I think we need to try and win as many of the "easy" games as we possibly can (Bastia, Guingamp, Reims, Montpellier) and just do our best in the others. If we can win the easier games and pick up 4 or 5 points in the tougher games, we could definitely finish in the top 6.

Personally, I hope and believe we will finish 5th or 6th. I'd like us to finish higher, obviously, but I think Monaco are too far ahead of us and Lyon are too good. I just want us to get into the Europa League and I think, over the course of the season so far, we've been good enough to deserve that. We're really starting to play well lately and I think Courbis has been great for us. He's not a master tactician or anything, but he's got everyone motivated and he's making some smart decisions in the games. We just need to carry on like this and hope that players like Dembélé and André carry on being brilliant.

Hey, what do you think about the victory against Nantes ? And, what are your forecasts for the end of season ?

The Nantes victory was obviously fantastic and very unexpected in the way it happened with the four goals coming in the first half. This is great for any derby!

I think we are doing ok to good so far, obviously our target is to finish as high up in the league as possible and we're doing ok in that respect. Yesterday vs Lyon we seemed to revert back to old Rennes in the first half - we were run over and just couldn't keep up with them and I thought we'd blown it. However, in the second half it was a completely different change, we seemed more energised to the point we matched Lyon and this showed by scoring the two goals to level the match.

I felt like, once again today, one of our biggest recurring problems is not starting games in a positive fashion. We've let ourselves down so many times in the first halves of games this season and it happened again today. There's also the issue that after we got the equaliser, we suddenly didn't look too bothered about pushing for a winner. A point at Lille isn't bad, especially with our history against that club, but still... they were on the ropes and down to ten men, there was no reason for us to become so lethargic all of a sudden. Hopefully, with Gourcuff finally set to come back this week and perhaps link up with the likes of André and Quintero, we might be able to start ending those "coupée en deux" critics and start seeing better teamwork and fluidity all around the pitch.

Personally, after seeing so much crap out of Sio in the past couple of months, I'm really looking forward to our first sighting of Erasmus. I feel and hope that he could really offer something different. I've watched more footage of him and am starting to understand some of the admittedly optimistic people who compare him to Tevez. He's a good little fighter who battles away for the ball and doesn't lose it easily. Where Sio might just give up and shake his head, I feel like Kermit will put in the extra effort and try to make the difference for the team. I do hope he gets an opportunity soon to show us what he can do.

What a difference it is though with Andre on the field, player of the year for me maybe. He's someone who can do the dirty work but also pick it up and get something going out of nothing.

The guy has been the team MVP since last spring. Good work rate, wins free kicks all over midfield, and an all-around likeable player. And the only player who consistently connects the defense and attack.  (Occasionally Armand and Danzé do contribute in that regard). The French announcers for Thursday's game were not great, but they correctly observed that the team seems to be "cut in half."

I think you mean Danzé.

Yeah, don't know why I typed Armand.

Agreed about André. He really does make a big difference whenever he's on the pitch. Very lucky to have him and we need to use him as much as possible in these last few months.

The group for the Lille match has been posted. Still no Gourcuff, still no Kermit, still no Baal. 8 defenders in the squad. Apparently Mendes will be used as a DM. For me, he was easily our best player against St Etienne and I suppose he can do a good job in that position. With him and presumably an Armand/Mexer combo at the back, we should at least be pretty solid. We've just got to start creating more though. There's just too many individuals and not enough teamwork.

I think we had two chances the entire match, Boga's effort over the bar and Sio's....whatever he was trying.

All very static, no movement in the midfield. What a difference it is though with Andre on the field, player of the year for me maybe. He's someone who can do the dirty work but also pick it up and get something going out of nothing.

Don't know why we persist with Sio and Boga up front. They're never lone strikers, and Boga isn't even a striker full stop! Once the opposition know to isolate Ntep and let Ousmane doddle on the ball, then they know how to beat us.

I live in hope that Kermit The Frog does a turn for us in the coming matches. I think there's some serious problems with our jumping at centre-back. I don't understand why big Sall was Armand's man at the crossed free kick which led to ASSE scoring.

The worst thing is, as you say, we'll all be back on Sunday for more. The optimistic ones amongst us will somehow convince ourselves that the next match will be the one, that it's not over yet, that we're only a few points away from the good spots.

It's hard to be positive after last night though. We just look completely bereft of inspiration. It's incredible to see a team of professionals have no clue whatsoever what to do when they get the ball. We created virtually nothing. And then the one decent chance we make, towards the very end of the match, gets completely wasted by Sio who couldn't even hit the target from 5 yards out.

Get Gourcuff in. Get Erasmus in. Start André in every game. And where the hell is Baal? Do something Courbis, please. We need three points on Sunday.

New kits, same old shit.

New players, same old shit.

New stadium name, same old shit.

New coach, same old shit.

Of course, I'll be back for more pain on Sunday.