A RENNAISsance in Brittany?
Is Rennes experiencing a new (old) manager bounce? Or is it a sign of long-term positive change for the Brittany-based side?
(Julian Stéphan is pictured above)
It’s 19 November, 2023. Rennes is flying high in its Europa League group with qualification to the knockout stages looking certain.
In Ligue 1, the plane hadn’t taken off.
After a good 2022/23 campaign under Bruno Génésio, Rennes endured a miserable start to the league.
With the loss of Jeremy Doku to Man City and the acquisitions of both Ludovic Blas from Nantes and Enzo Le Fée from Lorient, Rennes looked to have the quality to compete for a European place.
Up to November 19th, Rennes had only won 2 matches, drawn 6, and lost 4 which put the Brittany-base side in the lower half of the table and only sinking further and further.
The issue with Rennes at the time was the team’s inability to finish matches off. A few of those draws that could have turned into wins would have put the club in a good standing before Christmas.
But the problems did not seem to go away.
Rennes decided to part ways with Génésio (pictured above) by mutual consent. The next question was, who would be the next manager?
Well, Rennes decided that the way forward was to look back.
That same day, Rennes re-signed former manager Julien Stéphan to take revive the fortunes of the club.
Son of assistant to Didier Deschamps in the French national team Guy Stéphan, Julien’s playing career was left to be desired, but his managerial career has been rather positive.
While his side finished the 2018-2019 season in tenth place, he helped secure the club’s first trophy in 48 years by beating Paris-St. Germain in the Coupe de France on penalties.
He then repeated the same feat in the same year by beating PSG in the Trophée des Champions.
Despite the trophy haul and a place in the Champions League, Stéphan resigned from his post in March 2021 after his side went seven matches without a win including four straight defeats.
Stéphan then went to Strasbourg and helped the club achieve its first sixth-place finish since 1979-1980.
He was then sacked after the club sat in 19th place in January 2022.
Returning to Rennes seemed like the logical choice for both parties. Although getting the band together rarely works out (as 2nd stints for managers, if it doesn’t work out, may overshadow the positivity from the 1st stint), it seems like Rennes has benefitted from the return of Stéphan.
Since November 19th, Rennes have turned their fortunes around.
The club have won 7 of its last 11 matches in all competitions (7-1-3) and now sit 9th in the Ligue table.
The key improvement in the squad is the ability to now finish chances that they have created.
Much of that recent success they have achieved is down to the return of striker Martin Terrier.
A player who has seen a lot of good fortune come his way since his transfer from Lyon, Terrier was sidelined for much of last season due to a knee injury. The French forward has scored 4 goals across all competitions and contributed an assist since his return from injury back on October 5th..
His presence in the team has helped other forwards shine such as Arnaud Kalimuendo and Désiré Doué.
With Stephan tactics bringing about more chances due a more mid-block approach, Rennes have scored 20 goals in 11 matches.
At the moment, Rennes is unbeaten in the last six matches in all competitions (five wins 1 draw) and while they hung on to win vs. Lyon, momentum is in the club’s favor.
While we don’t know if this good run of form will continue, Julien Stéphan has his squad playing at a level which we saw for the last several seasons.
While the club is seven points back of a European place, a RENNAISsance could be taking place in Brittany as we speak.
For geography purposes, Brittany is a region in Northwest France (shaded in red). It was historically its own kingdom until France annexed it in 1532.
Haha smart title