How does Stade Rennes plan to score goals?
As they prepare for the return legs of the Ligue 1 Championship, Stade Rennes seems to have found the method to score more goals. Explanations before the home game to bottom of the league Arles-Avignon.
Third in Ligue 1, Stade Rennes cultivates its particularities at the end of 2010: best defence (12 goals conceded) and fifteenth attack in the league (18 goals scored). Well positioned for the European places, the “Rouge et Noir” are decided to resolve their attacking lacks. Against Cannes last Sunday, the recipe seemed to function. The National side conceded seven goals without having a chance to reply. “Against Cannes, the attacking success is due to the fact we put them under heavy pressure and fed our forwards with a lot of chances”, Frédéric Antonetti analyses.
Kana-Biyik : “The solution will come from behind”
After 19 games in the League, Rennes is sure of its defensive solidity: “With Apam, we will have the best defensive sector in France”, the manager declared last week. Tactically, they could play higher. “At the beginning of the season, the coach was especially requesting defensive solidity because it was lacking last season. He wanted us to rest on a big defence. Style would come later”, Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik reminds. “I participate a bit more to the attacking play and to the pressing”, recognizes the centre back, the revelation of this early season at Rennes.
"Play with more variety"
"I’m not telling them to stay at the back, Frédéric Antonetti reminds. There is a frame and a balance to respect. In that scheme, players have got all freedom to fully express themselves.” He also thinks that his forwards “aren’t that much in confidence”, but “could cause troubles to anyone.”
Saturday, Jirès Kembo (right), Razak Boukari (centre) and Yacine Brahimi (left) will probably start together against Arles-Avignon, bottom of the league with eight points out of 19 games and unable to win a single game on the road so far this season. According to the manager, the aim is now to “play with more variety in order to create more chances to win games”. This will notably require the “consistency and seriousness” displayed during the 90 minutes against Cannes. But also the support of the full backs and midfielders such as Yann M’Vila and Alexander Tettey, already on the score sheet in the Coupe de France.
Nicolas Auffray - Le Mensuel de Rennes
- Photo : www.rennes.lemensuel.com