The ASSE, deprived of several executives, lost against Stade Rennais (3-0) in a friendly match at Roazhon Park. Claude Puel gave the reasons for this heavy defeat on the website of the Loire club.
SRFC – ASSE: Claude Puel points to the lack of physical freshness
ASSE and its team of young players were no match for Stade Rennais FC on Wednesday. The Stéphanois were sharply beaten by the SRFC in their penultimate preparation match. Led (1-0) in the first period following a goal from M’Baye Niang, the ASSE players conceded two more goals in the second period. This disaster was confirmed after the entry into play of the young goalkeeper Stefan Bajic, in place of Jessy Moulin. Mathieu Debuchy had meanwhile injured his knee and was left after 26 minutes of play. According to Claude Puel’s explanation, his team failed physically. “I didn’t find us very well physically. We were less conquerors and less fresh. We lacked the audacity and the juice to impose ourselves. We lacked rhythm and simplicity… ”he said. Asked if he regrets building his squad with a lot of young players, the ASSE coach replied: “Young people are cutting their teeth and learning in situations. They sometimes make mistakes, but that’s part of their teaching. This playing time will benefit them later ”.
Claude Puel also believes that the case of COVID-19, declared in his group last week, has somewhat disrupted the preparation of the match against Stade Rennais FC. He recalled that the Greens of AS Saint-Étienne had “an almost individualized week of training, because they could not all be together during the sessions”. “It was quite penalizing to have to prepare for this meeting like this,” he said. According to the ASSE manager, this partly explains, “the lack of benchmarks and the delay on their opponent”.
The Greens had recorded 4 victories before Stade Rennais
Recall that AS Saint-Étienne had beaten in a friendly match GFA Rumilly (4-1), OGC Nice (4-1), Charleroi (4-0) and Girondins de Bordeaux (4-2). Before the loss to SRFC, Claude Puel’s side had lost only one game to RSC Anderlecht. Saturday, the Stéphanois will face Angers SCO, at Stade Raymond Kopa (5 p.m.), in their last preparation match.
By ALEXIS
Posted on August 13, 2020 at 09:41 |
updated on August 13, 2020 at 10:31