After the slap received by Stade Rennais on the pitch at Auxerre, this Sunday in Ligue 1 (4-0), Julien Stéphan expressed his dissatisfaction at a press conference. Despite his team's bad luck, the 44-year-old coach explains that he wants to continue his mission in Ille-et-Vilaine.
One poor performance too many? Julien Stéphan finds himself in a difficult situation after the slap received by Stade Rennais on the Auxerre pitch this Sunday, during the tenth day of Ligue 1 (4-0). Lacking inspiration and combativeness, his team was swept aside in humiliating proportions at Abbé-Deschamps. With three wins, two draws and five defeats on the clock, the Bretons find themselves 13th in the standings, one point from the red zone.
“There is a feeling of shame that drives us,” reacted the 44-year-old coach, a native of Rennes, at a press conference. “I believe that in these moments, we must first apologize, to the owners, the supporters and those who follow the club. Because it was an unworthy performance. There was nothing in first half, in the use of the ball, no rhythm, no dynamism. Not enough in the intensity, in the duels. We made three changes at half-time, we could have made a lot. more if the regulations had allowed us to do so (…) There was a big gap between what we worked on during the week and what we were able to achieve. It's a very insufficient performance.”
“The rest is not my responsibility”
A performance which necessarily weakens the status of the Rennes coach, who returned to the club last year, after a convincing first mandate between December 2018 and March 2021. While his players have not won a single match since September 15 ( 3-0 against Montpellier), Julien Stéphan still wishes to continue his mission in his stronghold.
“I have the energy to continue, so I might be anticipating a question,” said Guy Stéphan’s son. “I have the energy to fight, the energy to do everything I can to help this team progress.” Asked about his near future, the former Strasbourg coach replied: “It's not up to me to answer that. I don't have those keys, they're not mine. I'm talking to you about my state of mind, of what I have in mind. The rest is not my responsibility.
“A production from a bottom-of-the-table team”
In the meantime, Stade Rennais can start to worry by looking in their rearview mirror: “We have to be realistic about what we produced today. Very clearly, it is not a production from a top team part of the table. It's a production of a team at the bottom of the table. Should we look down? In any case, we are far from the top. To the point of feeling “let down by your players”? “Ask them the question,” Stéphan concluded dryly.
