Lille – Stade Rennes: Sampaoli looking for executives
Ten days after his arrival, Jorge Sampaoli now knows a little more about his workforce, from which he will have to bring out executives, the first step in a vast project.
His first match is looming and with it the first questions. In a little over a week, Jorge Sampaoli was able to discover his new players, at least part of them. Many of them left for the selection the day after an apocalyptic defeat against Toulouse (0-2). The Argentinian took his first steps at La Piverdière with a smile, cap on his head, and his « tac-tac » repeated to give rhythm to a group that needs it.
Starting from scratch
More than restoring momentum, Sampaoli's challenge will be for Rennes to make this group a team. In three months, not a single individual, except Alidu Seidu and Ludovic Blas perhaps, has passed. None of the 24 players regularly making up the first team squad emerged, was able to carry the others, or embody the man in form on whom the coach in place could capitalize. Since August, no senior player has emerged at Stade Rennes. With Sampaoli, the counters do not need to be reset, they were already there.
Mandanda, captain worried?
However, there was one certainty. Captain appointed by Julien Stéphan upon his return, Steve Mandanda took over the armband from Benjamin Bourigeaud, and has held this role until today. Will it be the same tomorrow? The history of the goalkeeper and his new coach has stirred up debate since the arrival of the latter, Sampaoli having jostled Mandanda in Marseille during the 2021-2022 season which the Frenchman had finished, after giving way to Pau Lopez. Some sources attest more to a dispute between Mandanda and former members of the Sampaoli staff at the time, than with the coach himself.
“I have a good relationship with him. I always had a direct relationship with him. It will help get us out of this pitfall”evacuated the Argentinian during his presentation on November 12. Two days later, Mandanda, injured against Toulouse, returned to training. Far from his level since the start of the season, will the goalkeeper keep his armband? Friday's press conference will allow us to find out more about the state of mind of his new coach.
Where are the executives?
But the Mandanda-Sampaoli case cannot hide for too long the real question that will arise for the coach and his staff: which players to count on? Within a completely disrupted workforce, no framework has emerged since the start of the season, over time. The “histories” of the club are no longer legion, and the candidates have not come forward in numbers under Julien Stéphan. With a new situation, will they become less discreet under Sampaoli, more able to mobilize them?
In defense, Adrien Truffert and Lorenz Assignon embody the formation of the Breton club but neither one nor the other was at the level, completely lost in the 3-4-3, at the end of a summer where both were seen leaving the SRFC. Alidu Seidu has held the house more than once, and embodies the only satisfaction from this point of view, but could well return injured from selection, having not played his second match with Ghana.
In the middle, Baptiste Santamaria is one of the experienced players that Sampaoli has had on hand since his arrival, just like Azor Matusiwa. What to rebuild? Both have been very far from their standards recently, like Amine Gouiri, unrecognizable and not the biggest fan of his previous coach whom he no longer seemed to support. The attacker has not, however, demobilized, working internally to try to create social bonds between the players recently. Demobilized, Arnaud Kalimuendo seemed to be, particularly during his outing against Toulouse, a match at the end of which Gouiri and Ludovic Blas in particular moved to the mixed zone, confirming their rigor when assuming their responsibilities in this thankless exercise .
It is in this field of ruins, and under the snow disrupting his program for the week, that Jorge Sampaoli will have to find his new executives, the new pillars capable of holding the Stade Rennes house, at least for the maintenance initially, and more if affinities.
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