Update Post: November 30, 2023 5:54 pm
Kuzyaev crawls back to France! His team was helped by the poor play of the former Spartak defender
Anatoly Romanov September 24, 2023, 18:25 Moscow time
Cofrier missed in the game against Le Havre and Nicholson scored an assist.
Ligue 1 newcomer Le Havre recorded their second victory in the last three rounds with Daler Kuzyaev in the lineup. The Russian participated in one of the team’s scoring attacks.
After five rounds of the French championship, Le Havre was in 11th place, but Clermont, in which former Spartak players Maximiliano Cofrier and Shamar Nicholson play, shared the last place with… Champions League participant Lens . This team has never won and only tied once. Coffrier and Nicholson also played from the first minutes of today’s match: the Belgian covered the left center position in a 3-5-2 formation, and the Jamaican acted in attack.
Le Havre played in a 4-3-3 with Kuzyaev as the right eight and took advantage of the numerical advantage on the wings that he gained thanks to his tactics. The home team quickly found a weak link in the visitors’ defense: that link turned out to be Cofrier! The Belgian scored a goal in the 4th minute. Maximiliano was the first to have the ball near his own area, he turned his back to the rival, but fell absurdly, apparently hoping to earn a foul, and gave him the ball to the opponent. The Le Havre player did not break the rules, as confirmed by the VAR. As a result, Kazimir broke into the free zone and Alioui scored with his pass. A French commentator, speaking of Coffrier’s actions, uttered the word “nightmare.”
The Russian becomes the leader of the Ligue 1 team
Kuzyaev missed a spectacular moment in the match against Lyon! But he was still the best on the field.
But this was not Maximilian’s last mistake. Three minutes later, Le Havre scored again, breaking their flank. Kuzyaev developed the home team’s goal attack with a great wall with Kazimir. Cofrier left his zone and did not have time to cover it with Daler. Kazimir flew down the right side again and crossed to center forward Bayo. He decided the episode in the area with two touches. An ideal start to the game for Le Havre!
Having taken a 2:0 lead, Le Havre concentrated on positional defense with a medium and sometimes low block. Clermont finally tried to find something in attack, but the guests, with 70% of the ball possession, lacked team speed. Le Havre should have gone into half-time with a comfortable lead, but suddenly conceded in stoppage time. Previously, Nicholson had not threatened the home team’s goal, but here, after receiving a pass from Cofrier, he beat the Le Havre defender in the box and managed to shoot across the goal. The winger Konate flew to the far post and scored a goal that restored the intrigue.
In fact, the entire second part took place along the same lines. “Clermont” attacked positionally, but could not offer a pace that Kuzyaev found high even in comparison with the RPL. “Le Havre” defended calmly, allowed the opponent little, but almost abandoned counterplay. However, in the 79th minute the referee awarded a penalty to the home team: after a pass behind the defenders to Nicholson and a discount, Lloris played with his hand. But the referee made a mistake: the foul occurred outside the area. The VAR corrected its error. The referee annulled the penalty and awarded a free kick, which Saracevic hit the crossbar.
Le Havre coach Luka Elsner made all five changes and was the last to send the tired Kuzyaev to rest in the 88th minute. Daler played a fairly good game, although not the brightest for the new team. He has brought great benefits in defense. The Russian has 32 touches of the ball, 12 accurate passes out of 20 (including five in the opposite third), four tackles, one interception and two clearances, seven battles won out of 10, in addition to two self-inflicted fouls and 10 losses of possession. Le Havre, without Kuzyaev, preserved a narrow victory, although in added time they happily avoided another penalty for handball.