Marseille loses 1-0 at home to Rennes in Ligue 1
Marseille couldn't escape its poor run of form in a 1-0 loss at home to relegation-threatened Rennes in the French league on Saturday.
"There's a lot of misunderstanding," Marseille coach Jose Anigo said. "You get the impression that we don't work with this team every day while we do. The players aren't doing their job.
"It's a collective problem in this team. We haven't found a balance, whatever the system or the players, so we have to stop talking about reaching third spot. They have to just have respect for the shirt they wear."
Marseille remained sixth after seventh-place Reims fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat at 10-man Bastia, and Evian snatched a 1-1 draw at eighth-place Toulouse.
"We have a lot of regrets after that match," Reims coach Hubert Fournier said. "We didn't do what needed to be done. There were too many deficiencies to win a Ligue 1 match.
"We didn't seem like a team that has European aspirations as some may think. We need to find our spirits again and show that a lot more in the future."
Bordeaux, which is also hot on Marseille's heels in the chase for a European spot, was held to 1-1 at home to Nice.
Elsewhere, Montpellier finished with nine men as it lost 2-1 at fellow struggler Nantes, which moved eight points clear of the drop zone.
Montpellier has seen 13 players dismissed so far this season after Joris Marveaux and Daniel Congre were both shown straight red cards
Valenciennes lost 3-2 to bottom club Ajaccio.
Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the winning goal for Rennes in the 77th minute after being picked out by Nelson Oliveira, finishing off a swift counterattack by slotting the ball in off the left upright.
Marseille should have leveled immediately but Mathieu Valbuena headed Andre Ayew's cross wide of the right upright.
It was Rennes' second win in seven matches and ended a run of three consecutive defeats as it moved six points clear of the relegation zone.
Marseille, which was booed at points by the home fans, has lost three of its past four games, drawing the other one.
Toulouse looked to be on course for a fourth straight victory after Wissam Ben Yedder broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half. A shot was parried into Ben Yedder's path and he feinted to shoot with his right, sending Evian goalkeeper Jesper Hansen to the ground, before firing a powerful left-footed effort into an empty net.
Clarck Nsikulu snatched the equalizer in the final minute.
Toulouse moved level on points with Reims.
Bastia took the lead in the ninth minute. Reims goalkeeper Kossi Agassa did well to punch clear Romaric's free kick, but Florian Raspentino was on hand to tap in the rebound.
Raspentino then turned provider three minutes from halftime to set up Gianni Bruno, after Floyd Ayite hit the post for Reims.
Bastia played the final 13 minutes in 10 men after midfielder Sambou Yatabare was shown a straight red card for placing a boot on Reims striker Gaetan Courtet's head.
