Stade Brestois long believed it had its fourth success in a row at home in Ligue 1 on Saturday, but also its first victory at Le Blé against Stade Rennais since 2011. But Rennes and Jota (86′), from the thigh, punished Brestois too wait-and-see at the end of the meeting. “Unconsciously, when there are five, six minutes left, we move back but it is not our strong point to wait for the match to end,” regretted Hugo Magnetti after the match.
“The general feeling is one of regret”
“We weren’t able to have the control that we often have at the end of the match,” said Éric Roy. They brought in quality players at the end of the match. And we have not been able to find the keys to be able to contain them. »
And unlike the Rennes bench which was able to make the difference, the Brest bench did not have the expected impact. The exit of Pierre Lees-Melou (74′), as valuable in recovery as in the use of the ball, also weakened the Finistère collective. “It is certain that his exit unbalanced the structure of the team. Now it’s difficult for him to continue and play a complete match. We have to protect it,” recalls Éric Roy. “We have the clearest opportunities. They don’t have much, so the general feeling is one of regret,” explained the man who had his first tenure with Brest since last May.
Stade Brestois in search of its reference match
Without being flamboyant, with only two shots on target, the Stade Brestois players generally dominated a weak Rennes team. More enterprising, more energetic, with a constant desire to press the opponent, they were even rewarded for their efforts by opening the scoring with a contentious penalty converted by Romain Del Castillo (54′). Except that the Brest collective has not yet completely regained its dynamic from last season. The one that would have pushed him to score the break goal and thus seal the fate of the match.
“Afterwards, we know that matches, to win them or to take shelter, you simply have to have more realism,” summed up the Brest coach. “We are starting to regain our pressing but offensively, we are missing our forward play, our technical quality in order to ignite the matches,” explained Mathias Pereira Lage.
After two sluggish victories against Toulouse (2-0) then Le Havre (2-0) and a big hitch at Auxerre (3-0 defeat), Stade Brestois therefore seems to be gaining momentum, even if it missed the opportunity to move to the top of the ranking (a victory would have propelled him to sixth place in the ranking). “Overall, in terms of content, it was nevertheless interesting. But I think that to have a reference match, you have to align all the components of a match, concluded Éric Roy. And it’s true that we will have to continue to progress. Because there, the next opponents will be of even higher quality. » With the reception, on Wednesday, of Bayer Leverkusen, reigning German champion, in the Champions League, Stade Brestois will continue with heavy action and will not be able to be content with only playing for 70 minutes.
