Organization, aggressiveness, pressure…How Jorge Sampaoli tries to revive Stade Rennais

A (slightly) disappointing start. For his first on the bench of Stade Rennais FC, last weekend, Jorge Sampaoli saw his players lose (1-0) on the LOSC pitch after a rather convincing defensive performance…and a rather convincing offensive performance. sad. This is the third consecutive loss for the Rouge et Noir (15^e of the ranking) which plunge a little deeper into the crisis. So, to try to revive them, this Saturday afternoon against AS Saint-Etienne (5 p.m.), the Argentine coach intends to activate several levers.

Find more stability

Firstly, the one who is one of Marcelo Bielsa's disciplines wants to give real stability to his team, which still lacks it, even if better was glimpsed in this area against the Mastiffs. “But it makes sense, change takes time. […] If against Saint-Étienne, we play in a disorderly manner, we will lose, so we want to stabilize and order the team, that is the priorityexplained the 64-year-old technician. We can get by playing a little anarchically, but in these cases, you need players who make the difference on their own, and in Rennes, for the moment, I don't see that kind of player. Our organization must disorganize the adversary.»

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More concretely, the former coach of Olympique de Marseille wishes to favor a strong collective rather than individuals whom he considers, for the moment, not (yet?) to live up to his expectations. This is his biggest project – with restoring confidence to the team! – in the coming weeks; it was also that of Julien Stéphan at the start of the season. And it will be interesting to see, against the Greens, if he succeeded. It will also be judged, in large part, on this aspect, in addition to the result, of course.

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Play aggressively

Furthermore, in such a sporting situation – only one point ahead of the red zone and eight units behind Europe – Jorge Sampaoli wants his team to show a lot of desire, both physically and mentally. . According to him, this is the only way (currently) for the Rouge et Noir to bounce back by the end of the year. “What I ask is that the players play with great responsibility and aggression. The state of form is quite fragile, we have to respond to this situation and therefore for the moment, I must above all favor aggressive players, who have a lot of energy, whereas in another context, I would perhaps not have – not have made these choices. It takes a lot of energy to save the club and for its own good“, he said in a pre-match press conference.

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Against LOSC last Saturday, the Bretons were more aggressive than their opponents. They made more interceptions (13 versus 8), more tackles (24 versus 17) and (above all) won more duels (57 versus 49)….while committing fewer fouls (16 versus 19) . It is a good basis on which the Argentine technician can rely to obtain a positive result at home against ASSE.

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A message sent to his attackers

The last lever, and not the least, is offensive performance. With only thirteen goals scored, and none in the last three matches, Stade Rennais FC is fishing in the opposing penalty area. However, there is no shortage of talented players up front with Albert Grønbaek, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Ludovic Blas, Jota and Amine Gouiri. “More generally, I have players with great abilities but some have not yet shown it, so it is perhaps linked to the context, there are players, until now, not up to the level of my analysis», recognized Jorge Sampaoli. Before specifying: “But in any case, against Saint-Étienne, I want players who, in the event of a problem, rebel against the circumstances, who give absolutely everything, even if there is no result, because I want the image of the club and team changes, that we generate something among the public, enthusiasm.»

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Asked (in particular) about Amine Gouiri – considered the most creative player, the most capable of taking on the role of offensive leader – the ex-Sevilla FC coach did not hesitate to tickle him, as he wanted to wake him up: “I hope it can be [un leader offensif, NDLR]but for the moment, it is not, for factors that I have not finished analyzing.» The message has been sent. It remains to be seen whether it was well received. Answer this Saturday afternoon.