Team Focus: Rennes' Green Shoots of Recovery Frustrate Marseille

If you had to choose a Ligue 1 coach to babysit your kids, who would it be? There are plenty of good candidates; Hubert Fournier allows his young charges at Lyon to tread the line between precociousness and sensibility, Marcelo Bielsa’s tough love approach has worked well for Marseille (despite a recent wobble), and Christophe Galtier’s firm but egalitarian approach at Saint Etienne gets all types of personalities to give the best of themselves.

If you’re looking for patience and stoicism, though, Philippe Montanier of Rennes could be your man. His ride at Stade de la Route de Lorient since arriving in 2013 has been anything but smooth, encompassing an unexpected relegation battle last season and latterly an alarming drop in form this time around. The brutal end to a promising eight-game unbeaten run with the home defeat by Montpellier in December has ushered in a contrasting eight-match sequence; this time, a winless one.

“We have to persevere,” Montanier said, with stiff upper lip clearly showing, after Saturday’s draw with Marseille. “We have to get stuck in even more because matches turn on the small details. We’re more consistent but we’re not having much luck. But we can’t give up, and we won’t give up.”

Montanier’s phlegmatic side had already been apparent at Real Sociedad. The locals were never really convinced by the French coach until quite late in his tenure there, when his young side hit a thrilling vein of attacking form that propelled them all the way into a shock Champions League qualification.

One of the reasons Montanier opted to turn his back on a Champions League campaign at Anoeta and take up Rennes’ offer in the first place was a sense of greater security – the Brittany club gave the coach a three-year deal (La Real had signed him on a two-year term in 2011), which was perhaps also a recognition by the club of the extent of the rebuild which he had ahead of him.

On the last occasion this column checked in at the Route de Lorient last March, Rennes were looking nervously over their shoulders. They survived but even then, it was clear that major surgery was required on the very core of Montanier’s team. Previous go-to men such as Romain Alessandrini, Jonathan Pitroipa and Julien Féret (with the latter now flourishing at Caen, as discussed last week) were falling woefully short of their best.

All three have moved on, and the uneven nature of the team’s form is at least partially a reflection of that upheaval. A creative vacuum is clear even now. Rennes average just 9.6 shots per game – only Bastia (8.4) and Evian Thonon Gaillard (8.3) manage less. Their average of 3.3 on target is more than only the two aforementioned sides and lowly Toulouse. They are the third-lowest drawers of fouls per game (10.9), suggesting that their attackers hardly have opposition defences quaking in their boots.

It looked difficult at the start of the visit of Bielsa’s high-fliers to the west, with neither of Rennes’ two outstanding performers of the season, Paul-Georges Ntep (average rating 7.14, and deemed not fit enough to start) and Mexer (7.23, out injured altogether) present in the XI.

One also wondered whether Montanier’s men would have the appetite for the fight ahead of them. The degree of rigour that one expects from a Rennes side has seemed to be missing too frequently this season. They win an average of 15 aerials per game (the 17th best in a division of 20), and make only 13 fouls per game (15th).

The face that Montanier and company showed to the world against Marseille, however, was anything but average. They were organised, and led in midfield by the experienced Gelson Fernandes, who suggested that he could be the anchoring presence the club has lacked since the best days of Yann M’Vila.

Fernandes made 12 tackles against Marseille, three times as many as anyone else in the match, and was backed up by Cheikh M’Bengue, Vincent Pajot and Abdoulaye Doucouré (4 each). It was a key effort against a Marseille side that always has numbers in midfield and likes to dominate, which they were simply not allowed to do in the first half especially. Fernandes’ tidy display also saw him land 84.8% of a team-high 46 passes.

Rennes’ refusal to allow Marseille to settle was also clear in that they won 68% of aerial duels, far above their season average. Pajot, out of contract at the end of the season and so, as L’Equipe put it, “must be better than the others to hope for a starting place”, perhaps epitomised that spirit as much as Fernandes. His defensive enterprise was matched in the opposition half, with his deft cushioned header of an assist allowing Ola Toivonen to give the home side a deserved lead in the first period.

Sweden international Toivonen has, like his team, had his challenges this season. The strike was just his 5th of the campaign and his celebration was low-key, after the home fans recently booed him. He is another who knows he has fallen short, having hit the ground running after arriving last January from PSV Eindhoven. The 7 goals he notched in just 13 starts were integral to Rennes avoiding the drop.

Some old shortcomings were still evident, and there is plenty more work to do. Lucas Ocampos' equaliser was the 18th goal Rennes have conceded at home this season. We must put holding Marseille into context, too. Their away form is notoriously poor at present, despite their continued position near the table’s summit. Bielsa’s team are winless on the road since early October, encompassing nine games in all competitions and cup exits to fourth-tier Grenoble - and Rennes themselves.

The recovery of Ntep, who was excellent on that heady night in autumn, is integral to the team dragging themselves back up the table. Montanier knows it will take a prolonged and painful group effort for Rennes to stretch towards achieving their ambitions. He is ready for a long haul.

Do you think Rennes can turn around their poor run of form? Let us know in the comments below