Bruno Genesio: “You have to acquire a ‘dog’ mentality when you don’t have the ball”

Guaranteed show? On Saturday, the only two Ligue 1 teams to have more than 100 shots on target after 19 days will compete: Lens (105) receives Rennes (102), in a poster that promises, between two rather attractive formations since the start of exercise. Bruno Genesio did not deny this “sexy” side, Friday at a press conference. But he would like it to be crowned with even better results, for Rennes who occupy fourth place in the championship at the halfway point.

The former OL coach identifies a central point in his quest for progress: “Our weak times, whether they last 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes, very often, we go through them with a goal conceded or a penalty conceded. “Even with overall control of the debates, his group must learn to bend without breaking:”Very few teams can dominate their subject for an hour and a half without ever being lower, cornered on their goal. We must be able to do better in these situations.”

“We might as well have won 1-0…”

“Against Monaco (defeat 2-1, Editor’s note) and Nancy (1-1, then elimination on penalties in the Cup), I did not have the impression that the team opposite created a lot of scoring chances … but each time, we were penalized, either by errors of placement, or by mistakes of ‘inattention“, continues the technician of 55 years. Against the ASNL, last weekend, it is especially the clumsiness of Rennes which jumped to the eyes, like that of Serhou Guirassy, ​​who missed a pleiad of opportunities.

Bruno Genesio does not eliminate the problem of efficiency. But he insists: pouring concrete for a few moments can also be useful. “Even if we should have, or could have, led by two or three goals or more, at half-time or at the end of the match, we could just as easily have won 1-0 and we did not know do it“, he laments. The problem is twofold: Rennes struggles to kill matches as much as to win them small. It’s almost the box or nothing. The last four victories of the Red and Black in Ligue 1 illustrate it. : 4-1, 2-0, 0-2, 0-5.

“We like to play football and we have to continue to develop that”

Genesio supports his point with another example: “I also remember the match in Troyes (2-2, last October 31 in L1, Editor’s note), we lead very quickly 1-0, we have opportunities to lead 2 or even 3-0, then we take two goals, just before half-time“Seeking to remain attractive and to become more solid is in no way a paradoxical injunction in his eyes:”We like to play football and we have to continue to develop that, to encourage that. But we also have to be able to like defending a result, winning 1-0 by defending a little lower sometimes, by being more united. “

“We worked on the defensive aspect this week. I think it’s also a question of mentality “, he adds. The trigger hoped for by the Rennes coach is therefore in the head: “We have to acquire a mentality – I’ll use a slightly weird word – of a dog when you don’t have the ball, and be able to clear in the stand if necessary, or to take a ball out of the head in a duel, even if it is not very beautiful. “A small concession that could have big consequences.