Ligue 1 21/22, Round 22 – 23/1/22
NANTES – 4 (Girotto 39, Kolo-Muani 53, Bukari 69, Guebbels 86)
Alban Lafont, 5
Fábio da Silva, 7
Dennis Appiah, 5
Andrei Girotto, 7 – No one in Ligue 1 has blocked more shots this season and his defending in one-on-one situations continues to be crucial for Nantes. A flying block on a Laurienté shot stood out here before he powered a close-range free-kick through the wall for the opener.
Nicolas Pallois, 7 – Defended with typical bite, making the most defensive actions on his team (18) and it was his expertly timed toe-tackle that started the counter for the second goal.
Quentin Merlin, 6
Pedro Chirivella, 5
Samuel Moutoussamy, 5
Osman Bukari, 5
Randal Kolo Muani, 7 – Inventive, graceful and tricky as always. It was he who embarrassed Mendes for 2-0, breezing by and smashing home at the near post shot, while an intelligent looped header should have brought a deserved assist for Blas.
Ludovic Blas, 6
Others: Soumano 6, Lemoine 5, Diarra 6, Silva 5.
LORIENT – 2 (Moffi 56, Soumano 85)
Paul Nardi, 5 – Conceded four but there wasn’t a huge amount he could have done differently with any of them and made one very smart save from a first-half Kolo-Muani header.
Houboulang Mendes, 2 – Despite being a right-back, he’s been more secure as the right of three centre-backs and a return to full-back has been disastrous. He was at fault for the second Nantes goal as he allowed Kolo-Muani to ease past him with zero fuss and was embarrassingly ambushed by Guebbels for 4-2.
Julien Laporte, 4
Moritz Jenz, 4
Jérôme Hergault, 4
Thomas Monconduit, 5
Laurent Abergel. 5
Enzo Le Fée. 5
Quentin Boisgard, 5
Armand Laurienté, 6
Terem Moffi, 6 – He showed signs of his old intensity with some solid link-up play and he finally got his goal, having not scored since September, although he did his best to miss as he scuffed home a tap-in.
Others: Sa 5, Guebbels 6, Augustin 5, Corchia 5, Mbemba 5