Brest – Stade Rennais / Hateboer: “I don’t want to be negative”
Before the trip to Brest on Saturday, Hans Hateboer was the player present in front of the press this Thursday. Transcription.
How were your first months in Rennes?
I’m happy to be here. I wanted a new opportunity, a new club, a new championship. I am happy with my choice. It’s a different style from what I’ve ever known. It’s more physical, we faced several teams with different styles, with long balls, fighting for each ball. It’s a new style for me.
What is your favorite position?
I played mostly as a winger in a 3-4-3 in Italy. It was a bit new for me to play more as a central defender here, in Italy it happened when certain players were injured. But it suits me well too. I can play both positions. Often when players get older they move back on the pitch, maybe it’s time for me too!
How do you explain the team’s complicated start to the season?
Yes it’s complicated, it’s not what I personally expected, what we hoped for. But I think there’s a really fine line between a good and a bad start to the season. If we look at the matches, the xG, things did not go in our favor. I think we deserve better, in certain matches in particular. Against Lens, we deserve to win. Against Monaco, we deserve more. There are 3-4 points more than we deserved but that’s football. Everything can change quickly. I have confidence, we must continue on this path and we will be able to have points, and a positive season. I don’t want to be negative. The problem is that we don’t score a lot, but we don’t concede many chances either. We are working to create more opportunities.
There have been a lot of changes in this team. How are you adapting?
We are 10-12 new players. We cannot hope that at the very start of the season these new players will create a new competitive team. I arrived a week before the start of the season. If you want to create a new team, it takes time. In football, we don’t have time. We played 7 games with two international breaks with half the team on international duty, that doesn’t help. I have a good feeling about the way we play, not the results. We must continue to show what we show on the pitch, that’s the process. We are only talking about 7 matches played.
Is it a challenge to create a group mindset with so many nationalities?
Yes, at Atalanta the start of the season has always been complicated too. Everyone speaks English, foreigners take French lessons. It takes time, but we have a good group of players, with young people coming from different championships. They have to get used to this very physical championship, even more so if they are young. I already have the experience, I can get used to it, they need time.
Did the coach give you certain responsibilities based on your experience?
No, we talk about that a lot, but I’m not the one who has to tell the guys “we have to do it this way or that way”. It must be natural. I try to help young people, to help everyone, and they try to help me too because on the ground with the language it can be difficult. I also play on the field next to Azor (Matusiwa) and we can speak Dutch.
Do you feel that there is more pessimism than at the start of the season?
From what I hear, there is more pessimism around the club. For me it’s new. I have been at the same club for a long time and I never have that kind of “pressure”. I feel like it’s more negative than it really is. We deserve more than what we have, we work on it. In the last matches, we cannot say that the players gave nothing. They did their best. We won more second balls, more duels, we had more chances. I don’t feel at the stadium that it’s so negative, we played there 4 times and 4 times it was full. That’s not how I feel. Maybe it’s more the negative that you’re creating.
What did Arnaud Pouille tell you upon his arrival to the group?
He introduced himself and wished us good luck before Monaco. We didn’t talk much.
What do you know about Stade Brestois and what do you expect from the match?
I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about this team. I played with the goalkeeper in the Netherlands (at FC Groningen in 2013-2014, editor’s note) and I have followed him in recent years. I saw that they had a great season last year. I watched the match against Salzburg, they did a really good job, they already have 6 points in the Champions League. They’re a good team, it won’t be an easy match and it’s a derby with more pressure. We don’t have many points and a negative climate around the club, so there is even more pressure. We go there like every match, to win.
