Toulouse 3-1 Strasbourg: Hidalgo pierces the fog, corners do the rest

Fog had settled over the Stadium before kick-off, and the game stayed just as murky for a long time. For forty minutes Toulouse struggled against a well-organised Alsatian block in a midfield battle that offered few chances. The first real scare for Strasbourg came just before the break, when Filip Jörgensen turned away an Hidalgo shot heading for the corner.

Relief arrived in stoppage time. Tengstedt crossed, Oppong played the ball back into the box, and Hidalgo beat Coulibaly with a swerve before scoring in the 45+1. The video assistant referee spent several minutes reviewing the move for a possible handball by the Argentine, then allowed the goal to stand. Toulouse went into the dressing room a goal to the good.

The second half turned on a set piece. In the 56th minute Cásseres swung in a corner and McKenzie, unmarked, sent a header out of the keeper's reach. Strasbourg hit back in the 67th: taking advantage of a lapse in the Toulouse midfield, Reyna wrong-footed Restes. Three minutes later the American midfielder limped off, replaced by Diogo Sousa. Toulouse restored their two-goal lead in the 76th, again from a Cásseres corner: the ball was cleared back into the box and Thomas Jørgensen volleyed it in. The final quarter of an hour changed nothing.

Less of the ball, more in the box

Strasbourg had slightly more possession, 52% to 48, and completed more passes, 497 to 446. That volume almost never reached the Toulouse box: Racing had only five shots from inside the area, against ten for Toulouse, who did not shoot from distance once. Expected goals told the same story, 1.21 to 0.77.

The most telling figure lies elsewhere: seven corners for Toulouse, just one for Strasbourg. Two of those seven corners led to a goal. Otherwise the two sides cancelled each other out: ten shots to nine, five on target to four, sixteen fouls to fifteen and three bookings each. Restes had to make three saves, Filip Jörgensen two.

One swerve, then two corners

Toulouse's first goal came from a three-man move, Tengstedt, Oppong and then Hidalgo, and from a position won against Coulibaly. The next two sum up Strasbourg's night: two Cásseres corners, two goals. McKenzie first outjumped everyone, then Thomas Jørgensen was sharpest to a loose ball. Reyna's goal came from a lapse in the Toulouse midfield, which the Strasbourg playmaker punished by wrong-footing Restes.

The two Jørgensens, Toulouse's Danish midfielder and Strasbourg's goalkeeper, crossed paths on the 3-1: one struck the ball, the other could only watch it go past.

Toulouse find their edge, Strasbourg sink deeper

SNA verdict: Toulouse did not smother Strasbourg, they made the most of their best spells. Jens Berthel Askou's TFC came into the game after two matches without scoring, 0-0 against Troyes then 0-2 at Marseille, and had often produced more play than goals since the start of the season, especially at the Stadium. On Friday they converted three of their five shots on target. Hidalgo, in the starting line-up, brought the pace that had been missing up front and scored his first goal of the season.

Strasbourg, for their part, had won 5-1 against Auxerre the previous weekend. Hugo Oliveira's Racing failed to build on it. They had the ball without making it dangerous, conceded two goals from corners and let in the third just nine minutes after drawing level. The Alsatian side remain in 13th place, with 10 points, and the international break arrives with questions over the dugout.

Oliveira makes three changes, Toulouse manage the game

Trailing 2-0, Oliveira replaced all three of his forwards at once in the 62nd minute: Harder, Yassine and Godo made way for Ortega, Nanasi and Amo-Ameyaw. Racing pulled a goal back five minutes later through Reyna. His exit, in the 70th minute, then deprived Racing of their only decisive player. On the Toulouse side, Russell-Rowe replaced Hidalgo in the 67th and Azizi came on for Oppong in the 72nd. Vossah and Amaaouch played only the final seconds.

Oppong decisive, Tapé and the Moroccans below par

Swedish-born and a Sweden youth international, Oppong also holds Ghanaian nationality. He provided the assist for the 1-0 and earned an SNA rating of 7.5 in 72 minutes, with two tackles and three duels won out of eight. In the Toulouse defence, Ivorian Tapé played the whole game but won only one duel in five and was booked in the 38th minute for dissent (SNA rating: 6).

At Strasbourg, Moroccan El Mourabet was the most consistent: 68 passes in 90 minutes, at the heart of a midfield that had the ball without finding an opening (SNA rating: 7). Behind him, Doukouré, a dual national who chose Ivory Coast, played 78 passes and won two of three duels at centre-back (SNA rating: 6.5). Moroccan Yassine was the busiest of the attackers, with four successful dribbles out of six, seven duels won out of fourteen and one shot on target, but he was also shown a yellow card in the 38th minute, for dissent, before going off in the 62nd (SNA rating: 6.5). Ivorian Godo won six duels out of nine without managing a shot, then was replaced in the same triple change (SNA rating: 6.5). Senegalese Pape Demba Diop came on in the 77th minute in place of Essugo, for thirteen minutes with no influence on the scoreline.

Toulouse climb, Strasbourg wait for the break

It is Toulouse's third win of the season, and the TFC move up to 10th place with 13 points. Strasbourg stay 13th, with 10 points and five defeats in their last six league games. After the international break, the TFC will face Lens on 21 November.

SNA player of the match: Santiago Hidalgo

Starting from the first whistle, the 21-year-old Argentine forward broke the Alsatian lock when the first half seemed to be heading for 0-0. His goal, his first of the league season, was preceded by a shot saved by Filip Jörgensen. In 67 minutes he attempted three shots, two of them on target, completed one dribble out of two and created one chance for a team-mate. SNA rating: 8.5.