Antonetti : “We were unfairly labelled”

In professional football, image isn’t to be neglected. Stade Rennes have already been able to realise that fact. “Sunday evening games are making a team’s reputation, Frédéric Antonetti reckons. We failed our match against Bordeaux (Ed.: On December 12th, 2010) in terms of attack, not in defence. From then we were labelled unfairly.” The image of a team strong at the back but thoroughly unexciting is born from that very game, for a fatalistic Frédéric Antonetti: “This is the way French football, and maybe even international football works today.”

"Not a politician" but “a man of action”

The success in Toulouse, 10 days ago, in front of Canal plus’ TV cameras changed the deal. The current run of four consecutive victories and the second place in the league also brought observers to rethink their position. On Sunday evening, Frédéric Antonetti will be invited on the Canal Football Club, the flagship TV show of French football. “They have been inviting me for three years and I never came. I’m also going to tell a few things about the Stade Rennais, the club, and a few ideas I have about football.” The Breton manager is not perfectly relaxed before the show. “I’m not a politicians, I am a man of action. But these are the sort of difficult situations one needs to face."

"The smallest budget in the Top 5"

In particular, he plans to insist on Stade Rennes’ real position in the French hierarchy. “The club gets recognition, but we are sometimes considered as the favourites as we remain in the second hat. You can’t not take the economics into account.” With a budget around 45 million euros, the club doesn’t play on the same court as Lyon or Marseille. “We have the smallest budget in the top five”, the Rennes manager reminds. This will also be the opportunity to make his own image change? “There are a lot of pre-conceived ideas (…), labels put on people without knowing them, on the teams, on the clubs. You can fight as much as you want… All that matters is to win games.”

Kader Mangane :"it will only get harder"

Frédéric Antonetti doesn’t ignore that his team’s new exposition, in contention for a final win in the league, could « disrupt » a squad that « Isn’t programmed to win the title ». He adapts his words: “We must focus on playing well and on the next game”. At la Mosson, against the sixth in the Ligue 1 table, « a draw would be perfect for us ».

"It will only get harder", Captain Kader Mangane affirms, he who is returning from his thigh injury. “In Montpellier, we will have to put on our costume of warriors”, Victor Hugo Montaño warns. Stade Rennes is indeed trying to focus on the footballers’ traditional leitmotiv, play one game at a time to already try and go nearer to a European qualification.

Nicolas Auffray - Le Mensuel de Rennes

- Photo : www.rennes.lemensuel.com