The new Rennes recruit gave a clear assessment of the crisis facing the Rouge et Noir, (again) beaten in Monaco on Saturday.
Red alert in Rennes. Defeated again this Saturday, in Monaco (3-2) – its fourth consecutive defeat in Ligue 1 – Stade Rennais is languishing in a very worrying 15th place in the standings before FC Nantes-Olympique Lyonnais this Sunday (5:15 p.m.). The situation is therefore serious in Brittany and Seko Fofana did not hesitate to sound the alarm, following the setback in the Principality. “There is a lot of frustration. We know we have to do better. Once again we reacted, it was positive but it was not enough to say that we are completely satisfied. We know that we will have to find solutions because we are in an emergency situation.“, declared the ex-Lensois who arrived at the winter transfer window, on the microphone ofHere Armorique.
And to add: “We must react. I hope that we will be able to find solutions very quickly so as not to have the same regrets after the matches. There are a lot of mistakes, a lack of personality at the start. Sometimes the best defense is attack, not starting matches afraid, playing. There is a lack of confidence, I think, from some players. But if you want to win, you have to get up to speed. When we arrive, we initially analyze. There is a lot of frustration. For me, if I compare it to Lens, it’s a totally different locker room. We feel that there is improvement. We all communicate, we try to make things change.»
“If I had been a coach…”
Once the general observation was made, Seko Fofana then spoke about his level of play and the choices of his coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has not found the solution since his appointment on the Rennes bench. “You know football because you make judgments. It’s true that there has been a lot of criticism towards me. I arrive in a complicated situation where the club was in difficulty. I am someone who takes responsibility, I am ready to take everything even if I find it sometimes unfair, launched the Ivorian, positioned on the left wing at the start of the game in Monaco before switching to his natural midfield position in the second half. We talk about my positioning at the start but we see that it gets better later. Yes there is a lot of frustration, I have both goals. But the thing to remember is the second half, I passed to midfield, they started to go backwards straight away. There was fear on their part, we created situations. I think we have to play to our strengths, not wait to concede goals to do things normally.»
-«It's certain that if I had been a coach, there are certain choices that might have been differentthen dared the neo-Rennais. But today the coach has ideas and also works with the players he has. We tried things this week, some worked, others not so much. When we start the match, we have confidence, we make sure things go well. We follow the coach's instructions. Everything is not perfect either but we have to rely on our qualities because if we want to adapt too much to certain situations, unfortunately we pay cash. The best defense is attack.»
