Ligue 1 relegation playoff : Metz FC-Stade de Reims
Reims are a legendary club in French football and were the dominant force in the 1940's-50's winning six titles, six domestic cups and playing in two of the very early European Cup (Champions League) finals. They then fell on very hard times and played third tier football for a while, but in recent seasons seemed to have established themselves back in the top flight finishing 8-5-14-12-11-9 in the six campaigns since promotion and came into 24/25 looking to build on that 9th place and with a good (8th best) budget and they started well, 6th through 9 games. They would have accepted a fall off from that level as they reached the Coupe de France final which is a very big deal for the club and this was to have been an historic week for Reims and one which the whole city was going to enjoy. All was fine until a month ago, they were 5 points clear of the relegation playoff place and people were only talking about the final and the President of the club was going to cycle the 170km to the game to mark the occasion. However, they picked up just one point from their final four games and that a 0-0 draw with long relegated Montpellier and Le Havre awoke from their slumber and collected seven unlikely points from the same sequence and left Reims where they are this morning......in Metz! The hosts have been a yoyo club between the top two divisions for some time and are looking to secure their FIFTH promotion to the top flight since 2014, but the other four all came automatically.
Let's return to Reims first, the club now realises they have not one but three finals in the next nine days and we can argue that the real final this weekend with Paris St Germain, is now the least important, instead of the biggest single game in decades. The cycle ride has been cancelled and the club made two statements this week .....
In the exceptional circumstances the Club is currently facing, and after last night's opposite scenario, all energies—those of the players, management, employees, and supporters—must be fully focused on the pitch and the three finals awaiting Stade de Reims.
Because he likes to put his words into action, the President set himself a symbolic challenge: to cycle to the Stade de France. This project has naturally been put on hold and will be postponed, as the President wishes to remain fully committed to his team.
Fifteen days of sacred union begin, driven by the energy and hope of an entire Club. All forces must be focused to achieve our objectives
.
Red & White People,
The final day of the championship has delivered its verdict. The disappointment is immense, but grief and anger cannot overwhelm our supreme objective. While the time for assessment will come, rest assured, it is now time to look forward, all together, with character, hope, and determination, to the three finals that await us in the next 11 days.
The second leg of the playoff on May 29th in Delaune will be the culmination of this decisive period for the Club's survival in the top flight, and we hope, more than anything, to have you by our side to ardently defend the colors of our Club and our City. Therefore, we are announcing now that this match will be free for all 2024-25 season ticket holders, and that a €10 ticket price throughout the stadium will apply to supporters who have been to Delaune at least once this season. Details on how to reserve your tickets will be communicated within the next 24 hours.
People of Reims, your loyalty is matched only by your love for its colors and this legendary name in French football—as you have given us ample proof of despite this season's disappointments. This historic club cannot spend its 95th year of existence in the second tier of the national league. All members of the Club are fully aware of the task before them: to maintain our place in Ligue 1, but we will only succeed if your team is by our side over the next eleven days.
Reims now have to re-find the quality which saw them finish 9th last season and reach the cup final. They have received a much needed boost to aid that as they have wide players Keito Nakamura and Mamadou Diakhon back today to ease a crowded injury list and the duo have 13 goals and three assists between them with Nakamura having the most team goal involvements and eye-catchingly, 10 of those came in away games, which could be priceless today.
Metz finished third in Ligue 1 some four points off the automatic promotion pace and lost their way , especially defensively, after forcing their way into the top 2 with only a few games remaining, look at the goals they have conceded .....
Two of those seven teams had nothing to play for and the other five were bottom six (two relegated) and yet they conceded 13 goals. They did keep a clean sheet against Dunkerque in the playoff game at the weekend, but that was a bit of a debacle, the visitors never looked like conceding until a red card just before the hour mark and held out until the 95th minute when the Metz goal came via a cross which deflected off two visiting players and then looped over the goalkeeper's head!
The Ligue 1 team playing in the playoffs have lost just one of the last five first leg away games and I feel the cup tie nature of the contest favours Reims who have all that Coupe de France experience, the return of Nakamura is timely as are the recent Metz defensive issues.
2 units Stade de Reims level ball @ 2.49 asian line.
J-League 1: Yokohama F.Marinos- Vissel Kobe
J-League Cup: Kyoto Sanga- Cerezo Osaka
Very briefly, I have been bigging up the Cerezo numbers with mixed results and in terms of actually putting the ball into the net, from an enormous amount of chances created, they are a work in progress. However, one of the times they did was in the league game here in Kyoto just 18 days ago when they won 3-2. Not everyone takes the League Cup seriously, but this is effectively the Group stage final and there will only be 12 teams left after today and Cerezo made the final in 2021 and 2022, so give it more importance than most and have those positive memories in the bank of such a recent h2h meeting.
I laid bare all the Marinos' woes recently (see below) when they lost 2-0 at home to Kashiwa Reysol and they have played once subsequently, losing again on home soil without scoring and this time conceding three goals ( Kyoto Sanga). Now they host defending two time champion Vissel Kobe, who have not yet reached peak form, but who could move sixth with the win and still have a game in hand or even two on some teams. They have also won 6 of their last 10 games, Marinos none and in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king and all that and in this case, they are Emperors!
2 units Vissel Kobe to score "over" 1.5 goals @ 1.98 asian line.
1.75 units Cerezo Osaka to score "over" 1.5 goals @ 2.48 asian line
Good luck!
Japan J-League: Yokohama F.Marinos- Kashiwa Reysol (written May 14th)
I do not think the quick turnaround does the hosts any favours and ahead of their trip to Cerezo Osaka at the weekend I wrote.....
Marinos are having an annus horribilis and the Steve Holland reign in charge did not last long, ahead of the season opener I wrote .......
Gareth Southgate's former England assistant Steve Holland is the new head coach of Yokohama F. Marinos.
The 54-year-old was Southgate's right-hand man during his eight years in charge of England. Holland worked under several managers during eight years as an assistant coach at Chelsea but his only previous experience in charge of a team was at Crewe Alexandra between 2007 and 2008.Yokohama is part of City Football Group and was coached by Tottenham's Ange Postecoglou from 2018 to 2021.
It was an odd appointment, he had no real experience at a big club in the main job and to do it 10,000 km from home in a country where you do not speak the language and have no history seems strange in the extreme and he was sacked two months after his first game. They have played once since his departure losing heavily at home to Al-Nassr in the Champions League, with an interim head coach in Patrick Kisnorbo in charge and they are now out of that competition, cast adrift at the foot of J-League, with no signs of any likely improvement ATM. They have conceded 15 goals in five starts, 2+ in each, losing the last four......
They are winless in eight and in a mess, especially defensively and they were never very good in that regard in any case as long term readers will know and that was even when they were winning titles (champions in 2019 and 2022). They were fortunate to only concede 4 to Al-Nassr and it is all too easy to see Cerezo racking up the chances and those h2h trends continuing.
They lost 1-0 but Cerezo had enough premium chances to have added to that and Marinos huffed and puffed a lot, but created little really. They also played Sunday, whereas inform Reysol were in action on Saturday, posting a comfortable 2-0 win over Fagiano Okayama, who are not great travellers, but we cannot blame Kashiwa, who won xG by 2.1 goals along with BC's 3-0 and TIPA's 36-15, for the quality of opposition! Reysol are second and will move to within a point of leaders Antlers should they win today and they have now, and finally, caught up with those numbers they have been chasing for two seasons, which I touched upon in preseason ......
Kashiwa Reysol: are an odd one, of the teams that survived they picked up the fewest points in the second half of the season, BUT, xP gave them 56 points, a whopping 15 more and XGD was 18 goals better than the actual table suggests. However, it was much the same in 2023 when they were also 17th and they are an enigma. In both 2020 and 2022 they finished 7th and have that kind of upside, if results can start matching performance levels. A bit of a watching brief to start as they have a new head coach and have had a revolving door transfer policy this off season.
Quite pleased with that and it is always good to impress yourself! I do feel my hands are tied and am not going to struggle to release them , so.....
2 units Kashiwa Reysol -0.5 ball @ 2.48 asian line.
Al-Nassr