With a stronger and more substantial squad than last year, Frédéric Antonetti can finally do "some real coaching". Since the beginning of the season, Stade Rennais’ attacking substitutes have often made the difference. An extra argument to try and defeat Caen next Sunday.
With the Europa League, Stade Rennais learn to play every three days. An opportunity to Frédéric Antonetti to "support his group" by keeping his whole squad focused. The rotation is important, and the coach has tried many alternatives during the first seven games of the season. Only Benoît Costil, arrived during this summer, has never left his position. "Our goalkeeper needs to play", the coach explains simply before the home game against Caen.
Against Red Star Belgrade last Thursday, substitutes have shined. Jirès Kembo scored and gave an assist. Stéphane Dalmat delivered another assist (his fourth of the season) while Vincent Pajot scored his first professional goal. Overall, except for the defeat in Montpellier, the statistics of attacking players launched by Frédéric Antonetti as substitutes are convincing: substitutes (Victor Hugo Montaño, Stéphane Dalmat, Jirès Kembo, Alexander Tettey and Vincent Pajot) have been involved in delivering the assists or scoring in eight of Rennes’ nineteen goals.
"We have possibilities we didn’t have last year, says Frédéric Antonetti. When Kembo is on the pitch like yesterday (NDLR, Thursday) or Dalmat, it make life easier. But we have to avoid injuries." This is the end of the attacking shortage regretted by Frédéric Antonetti last season. Waiting for the recruitment of an additional forward, the arrivals of Jonathan Pitroipa and Julien Féret have given more solutions. They allow the team to get a breather with the entrance of fresh players. Especially needed since the style of play of Stade Rennais is based on constant pressing and fast passing, and exhausting for the players. Frédéric Antonetti can now rotate his squad without losing in quality: "Real coaching is the ability to replace attacking players, and I can do it more often this year than last year"
Sunday, against Caen at the Route de Lorient, the “Rouge et Noir” are returning to their league duties. "If we win, the defeat in Montpellier will be partly forgotten, and our early season has been good", considers Benoît Costil. "Even if we still have things to improve, we need to repeat the performance of Thursday against teams with different style of play", the coach continues. Franck Dumas’ players, beaten by Lille last week, are expected to wait Rennes with a squad playing defensive football. The Bretons will need patience. And once again, attacking replacements could be very precious.
Nicolas Auffray - Le Mensuel de Rennes
- Photo : www.rennes.lemensuel.com
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