Solidity regained
“We weren’t the worst a week ago, we’re not the best today. “ Spelled out as a maxim, this truth from Julien Stéphan reminds you that you have to know reason to keep in football. And beware of excessive runaway in one direction, as in the other. Admittedly, the defeat against Lens was alarming, the culmination of a long slide. After the victory in Lorient, the third in a row and these nine points taken, Stade Rennais reattached to the lead car. “Beyond the standings, this is the second game without conceding a goal, it had escaped us in the period October-November. We find solidity. We know that the championship is very long. We haven’t done half. It’s good to have repositioned yourself ”, admits the Breton technician.
The way too …
Rennes had not won by two goals difference since September 26 in Saint-Etienne. On Sunday, the Rouge et Noir never seemed to be in trouble. “I really liked the mastery we displayed. We hardly conceded anything, we left them far from our goal “, Stéphan notes, satisfied. Lorient has, it is true, shown its limits and its weaknesses in this match. But, is it not also the control of Rennes, the high pressing, which put the Hakes under the snuffer. Whatever the Lorient weakness, the goal of Bourigeaud concludes a magnificent double one-two with Doku, while the 3e Martin Terrier’s goal, is an individual feat of great beauty. “Everyone was in tune, the entrants also to preserve this result with the desire to defend well until the end. “
Confidence, mother of all victories
A few weeks ago, Bourigeaud would undoubtedly have shot the goalkeeper. Terrier’s cry of rage after his goal also shows the attacker’s relief in search of efficiency. “Confidence is essential for any football player, for any team. Being able to link one, two and today three good results, that brings us “, recognizes Julien Stéphan. Without confidence, no efficiency. But the players have become “Cold and clinical”. To the point of comparing this Stade Rennais with that of the summer? ” I do not know, Stéphan admits. It is clear that we have a little less gas athletically, the sequence of matches weighs. In any case, there is real progress in terms of efficiency, we feel solid and strong. “
New options
If the Rennes coach manages to play continuity in his team compositions, “It turns a little less, for the automatisms it is necessary”, he also imagined new tactical solutions such as the repositioning of Truffert on the left wing. It can also count on the budding harmony, on the right, between Doku and Traoré, but also on executives who have raised their heads. Damien Da Silva is the perfect symbol, he who disputed his 22e match since the start of the championship and who scored his 4e but.
– .
