LOSC will quickly have to bounce back against Rennes, after their last misstep against Nantes at home last weekend. Fabrice, from the site Red-Memory, answered our questions.
After an average start to the season, Stade Rennais has seemed irresistible for a few meetings. What is this due to?
There have been a lot of newcomers this summer to the workforce. And late recruits like Majer or Laborde, so that the team was disappointing until mid-September. The season is really starting against Tottenham (2-2) with a big game and Laborde’s first goal at home. In the process, there is a defeat in Marseille, which was dashing at the time. Since then, it has been 14 games without losing in all competitions. We are the winner of our Conference League group and 23 points out of 27 possible in Ligue 1 with significant victories against PSG and OL in particular.
Do you see your team keeping pace over time?
I think the squad is deep enough not to string together bad results. It will inevitably happen but we have the weapons to bounce back quickly from the next game in my opinion. The question is especially the CAN during which we will lose Gomis, Aguerd, Traoré and Sulemana. January will have to be negotiated. We will know what we can claim very clearly after the CAN.
Often mocked since his beginnings as a coach, Bruno Genesio has made many of his detractors lie since the start of the season. Is he popular with supporters?
Genesio arrived timidly. The Lyonnais sold it as a “pipe”. We see that since he is no longer Lyonnais, Lyon no longer plays the C1. So he was still doing a good job. Since then, we are delighted. There is a collective and attacking football, far from the image that it dragged.
On the Rennes side, Martin Terrier was trained in Lille. What do you think of its performance? How is it perceived by the supporters?
Martin Terrier is an elegant and very efficient player. If he had more consistency in his performance, he probably wouldn’t play for us and more in L1 either. He is clearly in the shadow of Laborde and the elusive Sulemana and Doku this season but he remains effective (5 goals, 3 assists) and has changed dimension in contact with Laborde who made him our first defender on the field, a quality that he had not where little until then.
What is the main strength of your team? On the contrary, what is its weak point? Which player do you think should be followed in the upcoming meeting?
The strong point is the collective this season. We are the 1st defense in Ligue 1 and 3rd attack in L1, which means that everyone participates in good performances. We opened the scoring in our last 9 games so I would say that the weak point is the uncertainty around the games where we would concede the first goal. In addition, the pressing exercised collectively has been excellent for 2 months but the team has little margin over its opponents, so as soon as the pressing is messy, we suffer. It happens in a few portions of matches but has no impact on the score so far.
How do you see the start of the Lille season?
LOSC is the reigning champion with 3 men that we know well and that we also like: Olivier Letang, Jocelyn Gourvennec and Benjamin André. President Letang is the one who brought the ambition and rigor that Stade Rennais lacked. He will forever remain in the legend of the club. The man was not unanimous but the president will remain memorable. For me, LOSC is a candidate for UEFA places at the end of the season, they are currently going through the same period in L1 as us last year during the Champions League but that did not prevent us from being neck and neck with the OM until the end for the Europa League. LOSC needs a benchmark match in the league to embark on a crazy comeback. I hope it will take place after the trip to Roazhon Park…
Finally, what is your prognosis for this match?
I forecast a 1-1 for Wednesday.
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