Stade Rennais – Angers: An attack in search of volume
If he seems to be satisfied with a solid defensive base found again, Jorge Sampaoli has placed emphasis on the necessary improvement in the volume of attack, and put further pressure on certain players.
Jorge Sampaoli likes to proceed step by step. When he arrived a month ago now, the coach first wanted to emphasize the need to regain defensive solidity, rigor and balance. Since then, the sessions have been punctuated by pattern repetition exercises, and the technician has still had to deal with the long-term injury of Alidu Seidu, then the suspension of Mikayil Faye.
The transfer window could help bring about a necessary area of improvement on the defensive line, a quality of recovery still absent despite the summer recruits. The only thing that remains is that if the defense tends to be satisfactory, this is not the case for the attack.
Still no detonators
Sampaoli's first diagnosis was clear from the first days: no player today is able to make the difference. “But individually there are not yet players who make big differences, except perhaps against Saint-Etienne which was an atypical match. Against Nantes, Simon made the difference. Against Lille there was also a difference made. We need these individual differences, for these players individually to help us win.”“Sampa” recalled again on Friday.
Whom “not in full possession of his means”Gronbaek very little used, Gouiri and Kalimuendo have disappointed for the moment. “Being able to deliver the team on an individual feat, there is the quality for, with Amine, Albert, Ludo, myself”prolong Kalimuendo. “We can do it, we have done it in the past. You have to be able to step out of the ordinary a little”. And Rennes is struggling to succeed after 15 days, alone or together.
Collectively insufficient
During this press briefing, Sampaoli insisted several times on “improving the volume of the attack”. If no single element succeeds in unblocking situations, they cannot do so collectively either. “The team must grow”adds the coach. “At the moment we are really insisting on improving our offensive game, because we are creating situations but we are not able to make it happen. It leads to disappointment. I hope that, like Saint-Etienne, our attacking volume will be higher. »
“When we see the quality of the players offensively, there is room to do much better. We need to do a lot more in terms of volume, connections between us”also believes Kalimuendo, seemingly very optimistic. Too much ? Rennes is in a very bad situation heading into the last Ligue 1 match before the break. And the attacker sums it up well. “If we don't try anything, we'll end up with nothing. » For the moment, the odds are not there for a contender for Europe, an objective that is currently unrealistic.
