Since making his first steps into first-team football at Lille back in 2016, aged just 19 years old, Martin Terrier’s career has seen plenty of ups and downs, along with plenty of instability. At just 24, Terrier (184cm/6’0, 73kg/160lbs) has already played for four different clubs in Ligue 1 — Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, and Rennes.
The “versatile” attacker, who’s comfortable playing at centre-forward, as a second-striker, as an attacking midfielder, or on either wing — especially the left-wing — seems to have found a suitable home for himself at Roazhon Park, however. Last season was Terrier’s most prolific in France’s top-flight, in terms of goal contributions. The 24-year-old ended the 2020/21 league campaign with nine goals and seven assists to his name. Terrier has had similarly impressive seasons to this in the past, notably scoring nine league goals for Lyon in 2018/19, but the difference at Rennes may be that he’s following his impressive season up with yet another high-scoring campaign. Terrier currently has five goals and one assist to his name in Ligue 1 this term, while he’s generated an impressive 4.62 xG and 2.1 xA — highlighting his threat in front of goal both as a scorer and creator.
Terrier is more than just direct goal contributions, his value to Rennes is evident every time he’s involved in an attacking passage of play. Per Understat, the former France U21 international has got the highest xGChain (total xG of every possession the player is involved in) of any Rennes player this season, 9.88xGC. This leaves him with an impressive 0.93 xGC per 90 for the 2021/22 campaign. As explained by Statsbomb, this is a statistic that credits players for attacking contributions other than shots and assists, and can provide a more comprehensive look at attacking contribution, in some ways, to get a more complete idea of a player’s value to the attack. As we can see, Terrier is very valuable to Rennes.
Additionally, the Rennes attacker isn’t just an asset during possession phases, but also in out-of-possession phases. As we’ll go on to discuss, Terrier’s defensive contribution is undoubtedly one of the strongest elements of his game. This, in turn, becomes another offensive tool for Terrier and Rennes, as he’s good at forcing high turnovers in dangerous areas of the pitch from where he and his side can counter to hurt the opposition, while he’s a great counter-attacking threat from situations when Rennes have won the ball in deeper areas too, thanks to his movement and pace.
This tactical analysis and scout report aims to highlight three of the biggest strengths to Terrier’s game that have made him Les Rouge et Noir’s key cog since the arrival of Bruno Génésio at Roazhon Park, back in March. I hope to give readers some greater insight into Terrier’s game and highlight a budding star who’s got the potential to end this season with much higher stock than he’s had before.
The 24-year-old has likely still not entered his prime years but is performing very well for a Rennes side currently sitting third in France’s top-flight. He’s currently valued at €13m, per Transfermarkt, with a contract that runs until the summer of 2025, while he moved to Rennes from Lyon for €12m just over a year ago. For me, this is excellent value considering the attacker’s versatile skill-set and the all-around package he offers on the pitch. Stylistically, Terrier is in the mould of Antoine Griezmann, currently on loan at Atlético Madrid from their La Liga rivals Barcelona, as I think he’s shown great ability to perform a similar role within his team’s strategy and tactics to a high level in one of Europe’s strongest leagues, which I hope to convey via this tactical analysis.
Defensive contribution
Terrier performs very well in terms of defensive statistics when compared to other strikers, wingers and attacking midfielders from Ligue 1, as well as from the other four leagues that make up Europe’s top-five. The Rennes man has completed 5.43 successful defensive actions per 90 this term, which is a relatively high number. He also has a very good defensive duel success rate (58.49%) for an attacker, highlighting his efficiency with winning the ball back when he does commit to challenging for it.
Les Rouge et Noir have been one of France’s most aggressive sides without the ball this season, as highlighted by their relatively low PPDA of 9.86, which ranks fourth-lowest in Ligue 1 — essentially indicating that Rennes have deployed the fourth-most aggressive press in their league this season. Terrier plays a big part in his side’s pressing success. His 89 pressures in the attacking third rank him behind just four other Ligue 1 players for pressures in the attacking third this season, while he’s also managed to make 57 successful pressures in total this term, which also ranks pretty highly among Ligue 1 players (of any position).
When compared to other forwards (with Terrier mainly playing as a forward, as opposed to a winger/attacking midfielder, in this time) from Europe’s top-five leagues in the last calendar year, Terrier ranks in the 89th percentile for tackles, 90th percentile for tackles won, 99th percentile for tackles in the attacking third, and 89th percentile for successful pressures, highlighting the fact that the 24-year-old is an excellent asset for his side in defensive phases who offers far more than the vast majority of forwards. With defensive work rate, contribution, and skill becoming increasingly spotlighted as an area of importance in football today, even for forwards, this immediately makes Terrier a standout.
Figures 1 and 2 highlight an example of the Rennes attacker pressing the opposition high. This passage of play emphasizes the 24-year-old’s ability to press intelligently and with technical proficiency versus high-level opposition, in his former side, Lyon. Just before figure 1, the opposition midfielder now just behind Terrier passed the ball back to the teammate occupying a right centre-back position in the backline at this moment. This backpass acted as a trigger for Terrier to spring into action and start closing down the receiver, as we see in figure 1.
Terrier doesn’t just run quickly and in any direction, however; he presses with intelligence. Note how the Frenchman keeps the closest midfielder in his cover shadow while pressing the right centre-back. Terrier also bends his run here, angling himself to approach the ball-carrier from out-to-in to force play inside, where Rennes have got a very strong defensive structure set up at this moment.
