Auxerre – Stade Rennais / Stéphan: “The objective is to keep the clock ticking”
Before the trip to Auxerre, Julien Stéphan was at a press conference this Friday.
4-3-3 system: Yes, this is the path we want to follow, which we had in mind from the start and which could not be used for reasons mentioned many times. We will take stock tomorrow.
Auxerre: This is a team that has managed to achieve convincing results at home. Our goal will be to do better than teams like Nice, Reims, Brest who lost there. Only Monaco managed to win. It shows that at home they managed to do very good things. Last weekend against Lyon they had a good draw there. It's not a simple team that can evolve sometimes by pressing, sometimes by repositioning itself a little lower, with a compact unit, by being efficient in transitions. They also have an athletic presence in defense on the centers with a 3 central system. They have shown quality since the start of the season.
Objective : The objective is to keep the counter ticking, always. He has turned 4 out of 6 times in the last two matches and the objective will be to continue to turn him around.
Difficulties using the ball: It's the development in the last 30 meters especially. Every match has its own truth. Sunday's match will be different again. We work a lot as a result of that too, in situation, we develop a lot of things on that. There is the knowledge of each other which must develop gradually, and the lucidity and technical accuracy to validate existing situations. There have been a number of them since the start of the season, some very interesting ones, which should lead to more qualitative actions in terms of creating danger.
Solutions offensives : At the time we are, I believe, in the implementation of combinations. We have a very young group, who actually know each other very little, and have very little common experience. To strengthen the benchmarks I believe more in the creation of combinations and strong collective benchmarks. Secondly, when we have passed this phase which we are far from having completed, we can allow a little more freedom.
Offensive Player Associations: Of course, over time we will have to allow a hard core to play matches together. Nothing is set in stone, but if we change 3-4 offensive players in each match, that's not how we're going to accelerate the process of developing common benchmarks. It involves duos, trios, and we work a lot in training on that.
Gronbaek : (On the wing) Yes, that could be an option. It can be used in 8-10 but also in a more outside position. What I expect is that we don't get excited over one or two matches about the value of a player and that we don't become hyper pessimistic after 2-3 more difficult matches either. Obviously we expect consistency, but he arrived in special conditions, in the middle of the season with a lot of freshness, he was ahead of the others. Afterwards he discovers a new championship with completely different characteristics. It will be like the others, it will improve over time, with benchmarks and collective confidence which will increase. I have no particular concerns but the necessary perspective on the analysis so as not to go to extremes, at the very top or at the very bottom.
Victory against Le Havre: It changes that when you attack again the following week, you don't have a headache. We know that we are also at the start of a process. We are not going to boast about having won this match against Le Havre. We are focused on continuing to work to improve, because we know that we must be more technically accurate, and have even more control and collective certainty. It gives the group a little more confidence, a key element in performance.
Faye : He had 3 quality matches, but we will judge on the duration. I have a lot of belief in him because he goes fast, is quite powerful, he releases the ball very well. He has strong characteristics, but I also say that he is a young 20-year-old player who is discovering first team matches, has no references in relation to that and will have to be judged over time and duration. . He will also have to be able to physically hold his own to play through the matches. He arrived with a slight delay in his pace which he had to make up for. The potential is there and belief in one’s abilities is important.
Truffert : First he had an exit voucher granted for the transfer window, due to the fact that there had already been previous requests that the club had blocked. He went to the Olympics and there was no exit. He stayed there to our great happiness. His preparation was special, it was done outside the group, he came back with a lot of desire. Quite honestly I think that the move to the 3-man defense, which could correspond to his qualities to pace and animate the corridor, it is clear that he is not able to find many points of reference in this system. If in a three-way system we have pistons that cannot find their bearings, there is no longer much point in staying in this system. The 4-person system is certainly the one in which he has more reference points, certainties and beliefs, where he feels the best. I am sure that we will see a rise in power from Adri in the upcoming matches.
