Forced to challenge Toulouse to keep its place in Ligue 1, Nantes has done half of the way to maintenance. Victorious at the Stadium, the Canaries managed to keep in the second half the advantage acquired during the first forty-five minutes, which allowed them to make the difference. In the first half, in fact, Toulouse paid for a lack of compactness and defensive aggressiveness. Fairer and faster, the Nantes residents enjoyed entering the spaces left by their opponents during the transition phases. Blas, after pressing Simon, was the first to take advantage of these largesse by going deep before beating Dupé, guilty of not having closed his first post against his cross shot from the left (0-1, 10th ). In the process or almost, Louza wasted a ball 2-0, on a service from Coulibaly (14th). A miraculous failure for the TFC, which believed to reverse the trend when Machado equalized with a big shot from outside the left (1-1, 18th).
Except that a new individual error committed behind was fatal to the Violets: not enough conqueror in the duel against Coulibaly, Dewaest, already too passive on the first goal, let the Malian escape, whose strike was repelled by Dupé on Kolo Muani, easy (1-2, 22nd). Superior to the level of collective mastery until the break, the FCN even almost scored a third goal when the center – missed – Appiah hit the square (25th).
On the resumption, on the other hand, the Toulousans returned to the field with what they had lacked in the first period: intensity, aggressiveness, impact. But only a dangerous cross from Adli (54th) materialized their enormous highlight, so that they ended up running out of steam and giving control back to their opponent. Nantes, who could even have worsened the score by Kolo Muani (77th) but also be joined by a shot from Koné (78th), can see the return match coming with serenity, Sunday (6pm).
The player: Blas up
It was in the sparkling wake of Ludovic Blas that Nantes won in Toulouse. Very available, the former Guingamp player played a central role in the animation but also the finish, since he opened the scoring (10th). Author also of an offering for Simon (12th) or a magnificent individual action in the opposing box (45th + 1), Blas was bright before the break, but much less in sight after, when his team defended more. This did not prevent him from offering an excellent ball to Kolo Muani (77th) before leaving.
15
Toulouse’s home unbeaten streak ended at 15 matches in all competitions.
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