Antonetti’s half season, worthy of the Lacombe heritage
With 31 points at the break, Antonetti’s Stade Rennes is completing the second best league start in the club’s history. Only Guy Lacombe did better. As his predecessor, the current Rennes manager built his success on a heavy defence and constant ranting.
Finally, Frédéric Antonetti isn’t doing better than Guy Lacombe at Stade Rennes. The comparison could irritate some at la Piverdière, as the club keeps such a terrible memory of the current Monaco manager. With the winter break starting however, the assessment is clear as water. Frédéric Antonetti is leading one of the best performing Rennes squads in the club history, with 31 points halfway in the league. Only Guy Lacombe had managed beteer, during the first half of the 2008-2009 season, with 34 points taken.
Defence, Defence !
Beyond the numbers, more similarities spring to the eye between Antonetti’s Stade Rennes and Lacombe’s. With the club entering a “new cycle”, both coaches went back to basics: build a defensive wall. Since the league started, Kader Mangane’s team-mates conceded 12 goals. 13 in 2009. “It’s our base to success. I won’t deny it », Frédéric Antonetti admits. Jérôme Leroy explains the new way of playing at Rennes: “We wanted to settle an issue (Ed.:The defence) and we unsettled the rest. Last year, we played very well but we could not score. Now, the team defends well and scores on the very few chances it creates.”
Frédéric Antonetti’s very young and inexperienced team has got to be praised for being efficient rather than spectacular. Something which tends to annoy the Rennes supporters. The five 0-0 conceded since the beginning of the season are a perfect illustration of the boredom the “Rouge et Noir” can cause. The problem was the same under Lacombe’s management, a big believer in the “Go Jimmy Go!” tactic. In other words, long through balls forwards, hoping for a exploit by Jimmy Briand. Frédéric Antonetti’s style differs: many short passes, moves forwards based on an athletic midfield line, attacks based on the forwards ability to escape their defenders…
Loud Mouths
Since he arrived in Brittany, Frédéric Antonetti has stunned the journalists several times during his press conferences. For example, on December 2nd this year, the coach promised: “One day, I will say everything. I always say the truth.” On that day, the coach was taking the defence of Stéphane Dalmat. He was once more regretting the presence of “dark forces” in the club’s environment. Dumbfounded, the journalists were trying to understand the sense of the coach’s intervention. “Guy Lacombe, get out of this body”, many professionals concluded in irony.
Indeed, the former Rennes never hesitated to spill the beans either. Often to defend his men, sometimes in pure paranoia. The press conferences were often lasting a few minutes only. Voices were getting louder. It was the same in the club’s management offices. This is probably the big difference between Guy Lacombe and Frédéric Antonetti. The latter is in excellent terms with the club’s management. Thanks to the Corsican, the mood has improved in the dressing-room too.
Frédéric Antonetti has got half a season left, to brush aside the comparison between his spell at Rennes and Lacombe’s. If the Corsican can do better than his predecessor, he will probably hand his resignation in May next year.
Benjamin Keltz - Le Mensuel de Rennes
- Photo : Romain Joly - Rennes.lemensuel.com