Habib Beye looked to be a dead man walking when, in late October, it was reported that his position as head coach of Stade Rennais was hanging by a thread. Some outlets in France even jumped the gun and broke the news that he had already been sacked ahead of a do-or-die match against Toulouse FC on the 29th of October. 

Beye himself admitted to the press before the game that he thought that his time had come to an end when he was called before the club president, telling reporters, “The question [of my dismissal] was raised.” However, instead of marching orders, he was given a stay of execution and a chance to turn results around. Beye explained, “The management felt I had the energy and the ability to make this team win tomorrow.” 

Rennes wouldn’t win. They went two goals up against Toulouse in the second half before succumbing to a collapse, drawing 2-2 and continuing a run of six games without a win under Beye. Rennes wouldn’t win “tomorrow”, but they would start winning shortly after as the faith in Beye was repaid in full. 

Rennes make plain sailing of tricky waters 

Since the draw with Toulouse, Rennes have sailed through a tricky run of games, winning all their matches in November, beating RC Strasbourg Alsace, Paris FC, AS Monaco, and FC Metz. Both Strasbourg and Monaco were statement 4-1 wins over European rivals, while 1-0 wins over newly promoted Paris and Metz were nothing to be sniffed at, especially considering Rennes had lost 4-0 to the other newly promoted side, FC Lorient. 

Friday night’s narrow win over Metz, courtesy of a goal from summer signing and captain Valentin Rongier, was enough to send Rennes temporarily into fourth, although they would eventually slide a place down in the table into the UEFA Europa League spot by the end of the weekend following Lille OSC’s Sunday afternoon victory over Angers SCO. 

The interesting aspect of this turnaround in form is that, as Beye noted in his pre-match press conference before the Metz victory, he hasn’t made many dramatic changes to his team. “It’s not a spectacular rebound,” Beye said. “We’ve reinforced the clear principles in our game, but we haven’t fundamentally changed our approach with the squad.” 

Subtle changes make the difference

Throughout the season, Beye has stuck vigilantly to a 3-5-2 shape that wants to build on the talents of top scorer Estéban Lepaul and his fellow summer signing Breel Embolo (or, less commonly, the teenager Mohamed Kader Meïté). This has not changed, but there have been personnel alterations behind the two strikers that appear to have coalesced to find a balance that had been missing pre-November. 

The most notable being that Beye has found his first-choice midfield three in Djaoui Cissé, Rongier, and Mahdi Camara. Each of the three brings a complementary skillset to the midfield, which has allowed Rennes to better control matches for the entire 90 minutes, rather than as was frequently happening, where they would squander leads in second-half collapses. 

The patience shown by the Rennes hierarchy looks to be a masterstroke as everything looks to have finally clicked into place for Beye and his squad. However, the biggest test to their momentum is just around the corner with the club set to face Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes on Saturday evening. 

This Week’s Ligue 1 Sub-Plots

• PSG were stung on Saturday afternoon when they were defeated 1-0 away at AS Monaco. It was a result that cost them their grip on first place… although not to their rivals, Olympique de Marseille, who failed to take advantage. Instead, it was RC Lens who put a marker down in the growing title race. Read the full story HERE.

• Violence broke out as OGC Nice returned home from a chastening 3-1 defeat to strugglers FC Lorient. Foot Mercato writes that a supporter was allowed onto the team bus and threatened the players to get off the bus. Once outside, Terem Moffi and Jérémie Boga were targeted with supporters spitting, slapping, and kicking the pair. Read the full story HERE.

• Paul Pogba marked his home debut for Monaco with a win against Ligue 1 title holders PSG. The 2018 World Cup winner was once again not part of the starting lineup, but came on late in the game to help Monaco see out the narrow win. Read what happened HERE.