Bruno Genesio was in a talkative mood this Friday at a press conference, two days before receiving Ajaccio. the manager returned to the criticisms made of his team after the first two games of the season, defending the content of the matches while sending a message to his players.
The coach expects more mental resources from his players
When discussing Dogan Alemdar’s error, which brought about the Monegasque equalizer last Sunday, the Rennes coach especially regretted the lack of reaction from his team after the goal: “There is no need to overwhelm anyone. I would like to give all the support it takes to Dogan who was very marked and that too _I would have liked us to have a little more support on the pitch when we took the goal_. We still had 20 minutes to score the second goal. I would have liked my team to show more mental resources to say to ourselves “we are going to score the second goal to win but also so that the individual error goes into the background” in particular. (…) I told them, I would have liked more support. This is not a criticism, it is an observation.“
Did his team lack a conquering spirit? The Rennes coach drives the point home: “In any case with a spirit of revolt! And then to say to yourself that it happens, it happens to Dogan, it can happen to another player, but that at least we will do everything to make up for it. Either we get there or we don’t. But I didn’t feel that in the last twenty minutes, eleven against ten moreover.“
We have not lost our values. – Bruno Genesio
The Rennes coach wanted to reassure about the general mentality of his group: “We have not lost our values. I always have very, very good players, and, I often say, very, very good guys. _We haven’t lost our values, that’s not it_. But it’s a period where everyone can have some moods. Around them, there are always “benevolent” people who aren’t, in the end, to tell them “young people are badly managed at Stade Rennais”, “those who play shouldn’t play”, “those who don’t don’t play should play more”, “those who have to leave don’t leave”… And it’s always a complicated period. So it’s up to us, staff and players, to put a shell on everything we can hear to avoid having our minds a little clouded by all these negative and parasitic ideas.”
An ambition and a requirement to be met
At the same time, the Rennes technician also mentioned the content of the first two matches, and the criticisms that resulted from it, sometimes judging the harsh looks on his team: “In the first two games, I think it’s very good to have outside people who communicate with us, because sometimes we are very demanding and there are so many expectations that we forget what is good.”
Bruno Genesio recalls that swe team shot far more on goal than their opponents in the first two games. (21 shots to 8 against Lorient, 24 shots to 12 against Monaco). While claiming the requirement that must accompany his team on a daily basis: “The requirement, the ambition, you have to have them. Otherwise, you shouldn’t play high-level football, you have to play recreational sports and that’s completely respectable, but when you’re at a very high level, in a club where you’re lucky enough to have an owner which gives you the means to be at a very high level, well you have to assume! You have to assume that you have high goals, high ambitions. That does not mean that we will achieve the objectives all the time, but we must assume them. But you also have to have the lucidity to analyze the matches and disconnect them from the raw results.“
Will the message, clear, be heard by its players? A response is expected on the ground on Sunday, with the reception of Ajaccio at 5:05 p.m. at Roazhon Park.