how Brest went from a relegation team to a candidate for Europe in one year

Surprising 3rd in Ligue 1 before facing PSG this Sunday for the 19th day of the championship, Brest seduces with the strength of its collective.

Who could have believed it? Paris Saint-Germain, undisputed leader of Ligue 1, welcomes one of its first pursuers this Sunday, January 28, in an exceptional dynamic with four victories in the last four championship matches. Lyon? Marseille? Lille? Nay, it’s Stade Brestois which is chasing Kylian Mbappé’s gang. Surprising given the situation of the club which, barely a year earlier, occupied a relegation place and changed coach to call on Eric Roy, although unemployed since his dismissal from OGC Nice in June… 2012 !

At the time, Brest was 18th and was coming out of a catastrophic first half of the season with only two victories in 13 matches. A year later, the club is third in Ligue 1, and has had a series of convincing performances. A success which owes nothing to chance for Eric Roy who saw in Brest “a group which had qualities, and which needed a little defensive serenity to be able to regain a little confidence”.

“When I arrived, the club was on a difficult balance sheet, which normally takes a team straight to Ligue 2. The team and the staff were almost traumatized by the bad series. I found them lacking directionexplains to franceinfo: sport the Brest coach. My priority was to give it a boost, first in the results, to put the club back in the race to maintain itself.” Today, the “Roy” effect has infused itself into the locker room: “He tells us a lot that we have to be a boring team to play, difficult to beat, that for that, we have to put in the intensity, Hugo Magnetti said in mid-January in an interview with the Ligue 1 website.. It also gives us the idea of ​​having an identity, of playing with our values, which means never giving up.”

Defense, priority for Eric Roy

The former Nice technician has revisited the Brest system. He replaces Jérémy Le Douaron in the left lane as a second offensive weapon, establishes the great Steve Mounié at the forefront, and brings back the offensive Pierre Lees-Melou, to place him as a sentinel in front of the defense. “If I had wanted to create good play and turn the team towards attack as soon as I arrived, we would not have been able to string together the results. We first had to find our defensive framework to be able to build. A team is like a house, it is above all solid foundations“, explains the coach.

The results are not long in coming: Brest has five matches without defeat in Ligue 1, including convincing performances in Lyon (0-0), as well as against Lens (1-1) and Lille (0-0). Criticized upon his arrival on the bench, Eric Roy silences the critics by ensuring the maintenance of Stade Brestois, with nine points ahead of the first relegation. “This period united us. And having experienced this is beneficial for this season, because the group has changed little and now knows each other well,” estimated former Saint-Etienne midfielder Mahdi Camara at the beginning of January on the Ligue 1 website.

Six months later, and while many promised Brest a difficult season in this very competitive 18-club Ligue 1, the team has 34 points at mid-season, and is firmly established on the championship podium. Carried by a very complementary offensive trident, Eric Roy’s men have the third best attack with 27 goals scored. Two statistics which represent a record for Stade Brestois at this time of the year. “We are capable of continuing and being the surprise team of the season. We are a group with a lot of charactervs“maybe this is what we were missing in previous seasons”, said midfielder Hugo Magnetti after the victory against Reims on September 17, the other sensation team of the summer.

Strong individuals in an involved collective

In its quest for summits, Brest relies on individuals who exist on a national… and international scale. In just a few months, Pierre Lees-Melou has become a member of the elite of defensive midfielders in Europe. The Girondist by birth is the midfielder who recovers the most balls in Europe, with more than ten balls won per match on average. He is notably supported by Marco Bizot, who has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the championship, or by Romain Del Castillo, best dribbler in Ligue 1 since the start of the season.

Assertive leaders who only open the door to new faces. Indeed, Eric Roy is the Ligue 1 coach who has used the fewest different players this season (22). “The team was calibrated to play only one match per week, especially with Ligue 1 expanding to 18 clubs. We didn’t need to have a large workforce, the important thing is to have a group of 18-19 in order to involve everyone, and that everyone can contribute to the project“. Three Brestois have even played the possible 1,620 minutes this season in Ligue 1: goalkeeper Marco Bizot, and full-backs Kenny Lala and Bradley Locko.“We have quality players in all positions and everyone is capable of scoring. That’s what makes us strong. Perhaps that’s also why we’re able to win matches every weekend. end”, declared Steve Mounié on the sidelines of the victory against Nantes last December.

While the Bretons are preparing to experience several key weeks, with matches against Paris, Lille and Marseille, the ambitions are still the same for Eric Roy who “does not want to talk about anything other than maintaining until the points target is reached. Today, four are missing to be accounted for, and the priority is to get them as quickly as possible.“

Maintenance above all, but still the desire to dream bigger. “Once these four points are gleaned, it will perhaps be the time to plan on something else, another goal. Beyond the points or the ranking, what I want is above all to continue this dynamic where we feel the players are invested, who enjoy playing for the club.” Opinion shared by Hugo Magnetti, for whom Brest “realized that we were no longer a small Ligue 1 team. Now we have to show it on the pitch”. Whether they are a simple story of autumn or real competitors to Europe, the motto will therefore remain the same for the people of Brest: have fun.