Rennes (AFP)

After a disappointing start to the season, Rennes tackles Thursday against Tottenham (6:45 p.m.) the big chunk of its group in the Europa League Conference and relies on Gaëtan Laborde, the latest recruit in an ambitious summer transfer window, to show his teeth.

If we except the play-offs against the modest Norwegians of Rosenborg, the record of the summer is not famous: two draws, a narrow victory, then two defeats 2-0 in a row.

Here is Rennes 11th in Ligue 1, 10 points behind the Parisian leaders and 4 from European places.

And with the inglorious title of worst attack in the championship, shared with Nantes and Monaco, with only three goals scored in five matches.

Sunday against Reims, this little pet peeve they have not beaten since 2016, the Rennes have fallen back into their old ways: a sterile possession game, an uninspired attack, a too tender defense and a total absence of revolt.

Even taking into account the absences of several executives - who should for the most part be available on Thursday - coach Bruno Genesio admitted to having "limited shame" after this match where the players came out under the boos of their supporters.

- 3 goals ... with Montpellier -

For several weeks now, the Rennes coach has regularly worried about the attitude of his group: "We must have character, want to win every game. We must refuse defeat. It is a general climate that must evolve. ", he warned.

For this, he relies heavily on Gaëtan Laborde, repeating over and over again that the former Montpellier striker "has that in him".

Final touch of a transfer window of nearly 80 million euros, Laborde arrives crowned with his 18 goals and 9 assists last season.

He even managed to score three times this summer before leaving Montpellier.

As much as all Rennes in L1 ...

At 27, Laborde chose Rennes to take a new step, without necessarily trying to climb too quickly, he who had been requested by larger foreign clubs (Seville, Zenit Saint-Petersburg ...) and French (Lyon).

Even if Stade Rennes already had many assets in attack, its fast, technical, altruistic, versatile and above all efficient profile provides new solutions.

- "I can feast" -

He himself presents himself above all as a starving person: "I am a player who plays for the win (...). I like to score goals. No matter what position".

A speech and an experience on which Genesio counts, on the pitch and in the locker room, to breathe life into a promising collective but among the youngest in Europe.

"Here there is a team that plays, I think I can enjoy myself", rejoiced Laborde during his presentation.

This was not the case on Sunday against Reims.

Aligned to the right, he remained abnormally discreet, touching very few balls and struggling to agree with his teammates.

Of course, the automatisms require a little time.

But with six matches on the program in 18 days, and against opponents a priori tougher than Reims (Marseille or PSG in L1, Vitesse Arnhem in C4), there is an emergency.

Failing that, Laborde will at least have to teach his teammates to show their teeth against Tottenham, finalist in the Champions League in 2019 and the favorite of this new European competition.

© 2021 AFP