Almost five years after leaving L1, Guingamp will welcome Rennes to a sold-out crowd (nearly 17,000 spectators) this Sunday afternoon at Roudourou. And the 8th in L2 will have the heart to bring down his neighbor above, like in the final, in 2009 (2-1) and 2014 (2-0). Rennes had to wait until 2019 to no longer feel cursed and finally lift this Coupe de France, the only trophy of the Pinault era, and the journey, with Julien Stéphan, began in a derby against Brest (2-2, 5-4 in tabs, January 6, 2019).
A defender and a central attacker targeted
Until then, Stéphan had 3 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw in 7 matches. If his team concluded 2023 with a soothing success in Clermont (3-1), moving up to 10th place in L1, it is not yet cured. “We have 4 victories in 17 matches (in the Championship), we will have to have a higher ratio of success in the second part of the season, that’s clear,” he noted on Friday. We have not yet extricated ourselves from the zone we are in despite Clermont and that is still the priority objective in the coming weeks: to get ahead of the teams behind us. »
Upon arriving, Stéphan had opted for a new system with three central defenders which had not resolved all of his team’s inadequacies, behind and in front. As in Clermont, he sometimes switched to four behind during the match and, since the restart on December 28, he has returned to this option.
January is obviously a pivotal month with a transfer window which must also help to raise the level, with “real reinforcements which bring real added value with the aim of positive readjustment” (Stéphan). It is Florian Maurice’s job to identify a defender and a central attacker, in particular, while Stéphan has indicated that he wants to keep Arnaud Kalimuendo, in the sights of Frankfurt (6th in the Bundeliga), an interest which appeals to the international Espoirs. More of a midfielder, obviously, if Nemanja Matic remains guided by his initial desires. Guéla Doué (Paris FC), Ibrahim Salah (Toulouse, Lorient, Brest, Leicester, Feyenoord, Olympiakos) and Jérémy Jacquet (Clermont) are likely to be loaned.
2024-01-07 07:10:00
#Julien #Stéphan #Stade #Rennais #recovery #confirmed
