Julien Stéphan dug his grave

The fuse is lit, and we wonder when the bomb will explode. If there was no need to wait this evening and the slap received against AJ Auxerre (4-0) to know that Rennes was not the team at the start of the season in Ligue 1, this match at least reminded us that it was one of the weakest, both in content and in raw result. “I have to seize an opportunity to, excuse me for the expression, shut people’s mouths and continue to move forward (…) There is a very strong motivation not to give up, to fight against headwinds, hearsay”declared Julien Stéphan in recent days at a press conference.

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After this new football porridge served up by Rennes, and not the first this season, we do not see why the same causes would not continue to produce the same consequences. Amorphous, without ideas, incapable of reacting, the Bretons have once again played their hand and the results are grim: still no away victory, a 13th place in L1, far from the expectations generated by the XXL transfer window this summer, and only 5 points taken over the last 6 days. We know how fragile the theory of “encouraging” defeat is, but in Rennes, even the defeats are not encouraging.

Difficult to see Stéphan continue

In recent weeks, we revealed to you that Julien Stéphan was on an ejection seat, due to a lack of results in line with the club's ambitions. Since then, Rennes has obtained a very well paid point against Brest (1-1) and achieved a narrow success against Le Havre, candidate for maintenance (1-0), before being caught up by its deep nature this evening with this no -match against AJA. “It's a shame, it's shameful, we take 4-0 at Auxerre, there is no reaction… We play like a team that is facing relegation, we cannot achieve our objectives by playing like that , it’s impossible”lamented Amine Gouiri after the meeting.

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From the final whistle, the reactions of the other Rennes players spoke volumes about the seriousness of the situation. Furious, Arnaud Kalimuendo returned to the locker room, when another part of the group, passive and with a blank look, gave the sensation of enduring the situation as on the pitch. Obviously, it's difficult to get your head back on track after such a trip, even if Julien Stéphan called for people to get back to work: “we are ashamed, it was an unworthy performance throughout the meeting, not in line with what we had prepared and imagined. It's a difficult evening, in this kind of situation, you have to take refuge in work. What if I feel threatened? I have courage and the desire to work, to make things progress”he confided on DAZN. Not sure that his management will be of the same opinion this evening. Nor his supporters, whose grievances are becoming more and more massive on social networks, and who would not see the departure of their coach as heartbreaking… According to our information, the Breton management would already favor a French-speaking profile to replace him …