The Eaglets soar. The Rennais bury themselves. Sunday evening, at the end of the 11th day of Ligue 1, Bruno Genesio’s men met on the pitch at the Allianz Riviera with one objective: to raise their heads after a mediocre start to the season, to say the least. Yes, but now, facing the new leader of the championship, the SRFC has, once again, paid dearly for its mistakes. Betrayed by an achievement from Jérémie Boga, very active in this meeting, and an own goal from Steve Mandanda, from a free kick from Sofiane Diop, the Breton club thus went on to a 4th match without a victory in the championship. A terrible snub for a team that had very big ambitions on the starting line for this 2023-2024 exercise.
1 victory in the last 10 L1 matches
With the arrivals of Ludovic Blas (15 million euros), Enzo Le Fée (20M€), Fabian Rieder (15M€), Bertuğ Yıldırım (5.4M€) and Nemanja Matic (2.5M€), the high Rennes spheres hoped, in fact, to quickly make the powder speak. In the end, this is not the case. Eleventh in Ligue 1, Rennes today only won 4 small matches out of the 14 played in all competitions. Worse still, the Rennais have only one success in the last 10 matches in L1. A starving record and an increasingly strong impatience for the various observers. Rather spared from criticism despite this chaotic start, Bruno Genesio, the architect of this faltering ship, now logically finds himself in the spotlight.
While his team seems to be slowing down, the game plan remains as vague as ever, the youngsters are barely progressing and the captains seem to be in distress, the Breton coach raises many questions. The main one: how far can Stade Rennais fall? Symbol of these advanced difficulties, the Rennes team has already conceded 15 goals in Ligue 1 since the restart. Recently questioned about this failed start to the season, the Rouge et Noir technician pointed out the state of mind of a group too often judged to be in reaction. Sunday evening, the observation remained more or less the same after a new disappointment. “In the first half we did a lot of good things but it’s a match that resembles the first ten, we have the best chances in the first half but we come in trailing at the break because we make another mistake »assured the French coach at the Prime Video microphone before continuing.
Genesio gets annoyed, the locker room upset!
“It has to be paid in cash, even more so against a team like Nice which loves to lead by score, I think that if we are lucid it is us who come into the break in front of the score, perhaps with two goals even, but unfortunately we put them in the best possible condition. If they are too young (his players, editor’s note)? No I don’t think so, sometimes there are periods when nothing goes as we would like and then inevitably that weakens the spirits so we have to turn our backs and hang on. We showed good things in this match even if it’s the result that counts. We are beaten by a very efficient team unlike us. Europe can bring us a breath of fresh air, we thought that would be the case by winning with values of self-sacrifice at Pana, now there is Thursday (against Pana at home, editor’s note) then Sunday with the reception of OL before the break »concluded the person concerned.
Determined to move on and quickly bounce back, Bruno Genesio could, despite everything, be discussed in the coming weeks if the situation does not improve. Already trailing its evening opponent by 13 points – 11 on the podium – Stade Rennais is worried. A worrying and very frustrating situation, as evidenced by the acid reactions of certain locker room executives. Questioned a few minutes after this new setback, Benjamin Bourigeaud sounded the alarm with very meaningful words at the Prime Video microphone. “We had seen the difficulties they gave the opponents with their possession, we should not throw ourselves into the den of the wolf. We wanted to be patient, if we gave in we knew that they would easily find discrepancies. Unfortunately on half an occasion, we conceded just before half-time, and it hurts”regretted the Rennes midfielder.
A worrying defensive fragility…
And to add: “everyone makes mistakes, we don’t blame anyone, from one weekend to the next it could be us, we have to stay mobilized in these moments even if it’s always the same observations with this lack of efficiency in both surfaces. I may be crude but we have to shut our mouths and continue to work, stay mobilized with the staff, with us among the players, and with the supporters because it’s not easy for them, but believe us it’s for us too it’s not. We are aware that we must do much more and be more efficient, we cannot avoid being frustrated every weekend because we are actors and it repeats itself every weekend, inevitably we are the first to be disappointed ». Same story for Enzo Le Fée, who arrived this summer from FC Lorient.
“We leave frustrated, as usual I want to say. These are matches that have been similar since the start of the season, we have the impression of putting in all the ingredients, we say to ourselves that it will turn out but it doesn’t turn out, so we have to put in more, I think that if we arrive 0-0 at halftime it’s not the same match. These are the details that need to be resolved because otherwise the season will be long. I think we lack determination in both areas, we have a lot of chances, they don’t necessarily have many and win 2-0.. Disappointed, the 23-year-old defensive midfielder will also have to quickly move on to something else. Next meeting ? Panathinaikos, next Thursday, for the fourth day of the Europa League and there is no doubt that Roazhon Park will be waiting for its players around the corner.
Pub. THE