After madness, Stade Rennais sinks into boredom

• Stade Rennais lost 1-0 to Reims on Sunday and sees their 3rd place in the standings threatened.
• Dominated, the Rennes players seemed helpless to reverse the trend. Their coach Julien Stéphan "takes full responsibility" for this defeat.
• They will enjoy a full week of rest before the reception of Nîmes.

Ninety-four minutes lost. On Sunday, the supporters of Stade Rennais did not take much pleasure. Unable to pack the game, their protégés did not offer a great show on the poor lawn of Auguste-Delaune. Dominated in all areas of the game, Julien Stéphan's men seemed helpless and lost 1-0 to Reims. Without doubt the worst Rennes match since the rout in Dijon in November. A defeat that had allowed the Rennes to question themselves. Bis repetita?

Saved by their victory against Belfort in the French Cup on Tuesday, the Rouge et noir marked time in Ligue 1 and saw all their competitors return to the classification. After the madness of the eight goals scored at Angers and against Nantes, Rennes sinks into boredom. As against Marseille, Lille or Brest, Stade Rennais first worried by its inability to score. "The 0-0 would have been very good," said Damien Da Silva after the meeting, summarizing in a few words the ambitions of Rennes on Sunday. We were heading straight for it but the captain of Rennes offered a free penalty to the young El Bilal Touré after foolishly tearing off his jersey.

Sans @ ecama10 Rennes is a team without imagination, without talent. Stephan was wrong (see Tait or Siebatcheu). IBye bye the Champions League, hello boredom #SRSRFC

Rennes haven't scored in 3 Ligue 1 games. The most worrying thing is that there have only been 3 real opportunities in these 3 games ... #srfc

To blow certain executives like Mbaye Niang or Eduardo Camavinga, Julien Stéphan had attempted a tactical coup by establishing Jordan Siebatcheu on the front of the attack, supported by Benjamin Bourigeaud. In front of his former audience, "Pefok" did not weigh at all, not much more than the former Lensois, not at ease so high on the ground. "We did what we could," conceded captain Damien Da Silva, at the Beinsport microphone. "I take full responsibility for this defeat, I did not make the right choices, certainly did not take the right options, not well prepared the players for this match," said the Breton coach.

Dull, without genius, the Bretons were unable to approach the goal of Rajkovic. Only a shot from a discreet Raphinha forced the Reims goalkeeper to take off his gloves in overtime.

A point of catch, a president of lost

After taking a point in three games and losing their president, the Bretons squandered their lead in the standings. Only positive point: they will finally be able to breathe a full week before the reception of Nimes on Sunday then a trip to Toulouse. "We have practically not trained for a month because we are chaining the matches, I hope we will be able to improve this week", warns Stéphan.

With a close eye on a generous month of March: semi-final of the cup in Saint-Etienne, reception from Montpellier and Lyon and trip to Bordeaux. We will have to regain our appetite.

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• Soccer
• Julien Stéphan
• Sport
• Rennais Stadium
• League 1
• Rennes
• Reims stadium