Antonetti comes back on Verhoek’s case

Is it the calm returning after the storm for Frédéric Antonetti ? Angered by his team’s elimination against Reims, the Rennes manager had had harsh words to try and explain yet another disillusion: “There are important decisions to take and sometimes you have to show in an absurd way that you are right. There are players that are not good enough for Stade Rennais FC, simply”. On target (among many others): John Verhoek.

Brought in to replace Jirès Kembo, injured after fifteen minutes, the Dutchman only spent fifty minutes on the Route de Lorient pitch before being replaced by Yacine Brahimi. After a couple of days thinking about it, Antonetti came back on Verhoek’s case today: “If I had to do it again, I would not bring him in. It was too early. He hadn’t had a week training with us yet and maybe I was impatient to see what he could bring us immediately. By all means, I haven’t judged him on that match”, he explained to L’Équipe. With Kembo out for three weeks, the young Dutch striker could be included in Antonetti’s squad to face Paris Saint-Germain next Saturday (21:00 CET).