Stade Rennais rarely does things by half measures. These last few weeks had seen him refresh sad statistics, such as his lowest total of points after 12 days (11) since 2002-2003, his shortage of opposing goals which had exceeded 300 minutes and his 4-0 debacle at Auxerre , a score he had never suffered during his six consecutive European years. Even Jorge Sampaoli's first in Lille, despite a generally regained defensive solidity, was marked by terrible offensive poverty.
A full first week of training, a favorable opponent and match scenario were enough for the Argentinian and his staff to make a 180° turnaround. We can always talk about the weakness of the Greens, but was Le Havre, against whom Rennes had the worst difficulties in generating play five weeks ago (1-0), really more dashing?
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Records that take you back to the Genesio era
Whatever the opposition, a 5-0 victory in Ligue 1 is in any case never trivial, even if the Bruno Genesio era had almost trivialized the thing. You have to go back at least a year to find the closest comparisons. Starting with the raw result itself which we had not seen since the 5-0 in Ajaccio on May 21, 2023. Arnaud Kalimuendo's hat-trick, incidentally, responded to that of Amine Gouiri one year and a half earlier in Corsica.
Sampaoli had advocated control of the game and a protagonist team, there seems to be no deception on the merchandise. Here again, the 72% possession of the ball is a statistic not seen since the Genesio era. The last time the Rouge et Noir confiscated the ball so much was… against Saint-Étienne, on April 30, 2022 (2-0). A match where Saint-Etienne coach Pascal Dupraz, intimidated by Rennes' recurring failures at Roazhon Park, shamelessly assumed his choice to limit the damage as much as possible.
The 9 shots on target (record since the 3-2 in Metz on May 4) or the 818 balls touched (record since the 3-0 in Budapest against Maccabi Haifa on November 30, 2023) also remind us that Julien Stéphan's second mandate was not only synonymous with depression. Jorge Sampaoli's starts with euphoria.
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