Rennes (AFP)

Sacred in the Coupe de France five months after his appointment in December 2018, third in Ligue 1 in the spring of 2020, Rennes coach Julien Stéphan is going through a complicated period in 2020-2021 while his team, which has been failing for success since mid-January, receives Nice (16th) on Friday (9:00 p.m.).

In search of a new European qualification for next season, the Breton club lost its fifth place last weekend to Lens, after having already seriously stalled in the fall, during a first Ligue des Overall disappointing champions (one draw, five losses).

After two draws and three defeats in L1 since January 17 and an elimination in the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France, Stade Rennes (38 pts) is playing part of its future with the reception of Nice on Friday at Roazhon Park for the 27th day of L1.

"Our latest results are not positive," admits Stéphan himself.

"We are a team which has neither the success, nor taken the expected number of points for a certain number of matches. But if we were really sick, I do not think that the players would have clung so much to Montpellier (1- 2) despite the contrary facts ... It's a more slack period. We are in lack of points, but we are all hanging on together ", argues the young coach of 40 years.

Saying to wait for a revolt of his group for several matches, Julien Stéphan admits living the period "surely the most difficult" since his arrival in Rennes.

- Stéphan not threatened, according to his management -

"Because we are expected, we are played differently than two years ago. There are more expectations, more pressure too. All that is different to understand. Yes, but that is part of the life of a trainer, ”he says.

However, despite the recurring ills displayed by his team, in particular a cruel lack of offensive efficiency and a sometimes worrying defensive feverishness, Stéphan ensures that he still has the keys to relaunch Stade Rennes.

"I'm not at a loss. The life of coaches is made up of very good times, I've had the chance to experience many over the past two years, and also more difficult times, where things are not going as well, where we meet more difficulties. We must be lucid and as objective as possible, without darkening, without embellishing, "he said on Wednesday.

Last week, President Nicolas Holveck and Technical Director Florian Maurice indicated that their coach, under contract until June 2022, was absolutely not threatened.

They just reminded the whole group of the European ambitions expressed at the start of the season.

For the rest, the idea of ​​an extension of the young technician, mentioned last December by the same management, has not advanced.

"We did not discuss it again between us. And, very sincerely, when we are in a lean period, we have all our energy caught up in everyday life," swept the Rennes coach for his part.

"The pressure, we put it every day. After, that the management reaffirms ambitions, it is logical. We are all in front of our responsibilities from the first to the last day. We want to turn the tide," says he.

Words to be translated into action Friday against Nice, under penalty of seeing Rennes stagnate a little more, far from the ambitions displayed at the start of the season after a particularly expensive transfer window.

© 2021 AFP