Toulouse wins again, movin’ on up!

By: Dave Trotter | November 8th, 2009

toulouse-et-ses-hommes-forts Along with Auxerre, Toulouse are the hottest team in Ligue 1. And it isn’t a moment too soon, with the top teams falling like flies in recent weeks.

Today, Toulouse hosted Rennes at Stadium Municipal and defeated the Brittany side by a score of 3-2.

In recent weeks, Andre-Pierre Gignac has been able to find his scoring touch. That trend continued today as he netted a goal in the 63rd minute. This is Gignac’s 3rd goal of the year. And with how impressive he has looked on the pitch, one could assume that more are to come from the French international.

Along with Gignac, Moussa Sissoko continued his scoring streak of three goals in three games, as he scored the opening goal, his 6th for the season, for Toulouse in the 31st minute.

Also, Daniel Braaten, who has had a quiet season, added a goal for Toulouse to put Le Tef up 2-1 in the 59th minute.

No surprise, Asamoah Gyan netted one of the goals for Rennes, tying up the game at 1-1. Rennes’ second goal came from defender Kader Mangane.

While Toulouse did win the game, Rennes continued to pressure throughout the match. Rennes out-shot Toulouse, as well as possessing the ball more and playing more physical. But the impressive play of the defense, especially Albin Ebondo and Dany Nounkeu, kept some pressure off of goaltender Olivier Blondel, who was in goal replacing traditional starter Yoann Pele, who is serving a one game suspension.

Rennes also suffered from some bad luck, like a header off the crossbar from Romain Danze in the 55th minute.

Pele wasn’t the only player that Toulouse were missing. Jean-Christophe Devaux, Mauro Cetto and Fode Mansare didn’t play, as they have been nursing injuries for some time. Mansare and Cetto, both defensive minded players (though Mansare is a forward) are expected to return to the lineup next month.

Rennes were missing some top players as well, Jerome Leroy missed his first game of the season for Rennes, and it was noticeable on the pitch. Rennes were also without Jimmy Braind, who has yet to play a game this season.

On the other hand, Franck Tabanou returned to the line up this week. Also, Etienne Didot started off the bench for Le Tef, but entered the match in the 79th minute as a substitute for Paulo Machado.

This win moves Le Tef to the top half of the table, where they currently sit in 9th place. They are now only three points behind a Europe League position, where they have looked less than impressive this year.