Paris Saint-Germain and Rennes faced off this Sunday at Roazhon Park in the opening round of the 2026-2027 Ligue 1 season. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. After the game, Rennes coach Franck Haise spoke to Ligue1+.
Haise: “It sends a strong message, but the outcome proved him right.”
Coach, when a player has such a major presence in the squad—like Dembélé—taking him off at halftime is a significant move, isn’t it?
No, it’s certainly a strong message, but the outcome proved him right. When you look at the players coming off the bench, it might also make it easier to make halftime substitutions. He sticks to his principles: the team is the star, and everyone knows it—the situation is clear. If some players aren’t performing well—and they weren’t the only ones in the first half, by the way—he made those choices, and he was right to do so.
Does it help you with your own players when Paris does that?
If the team is the star at Paris, then obviously the team has to be the star at Stade Rennais too. Otherwise, there’s a problem. (Laughs)
Haise: “Of course we’re disappointed, but ultimately not too worried.”
You played your game; any regrets?
I didn’t want us to be completely demoralized after a match like this. Of course, we’re disappointed, but ultimately not too worried; getting caught out on the very things we had worked on explains the result and shows us what we need to improve.
Against opponents like that, you can’t afford to make mistakes. We made a few, and we paid the price. Regarding the match we played, I told the team we still needed to review it properly; if we had scored to make it 3-2, we might have said everything was perfect, but we shouldn’t view the game solely through the lens of the result. We have to look at the whole picture—there were plenty of positives, as we know, but we also know there are things to work on (otherwise we would have won). Still, that’s how it is. We’ll keep moving forward.
Haise: “We had to drop deeper because the opposition showed such great control.”
Would the initial game plan have been the same if you had been playing away at Paris?
I’d say yes; we tried to press a bit higher during certain spells, though we did it differently than usual—sometimes maintaining a bit of defensive cover, which isn’t something we always do.
Then there was the way the game unfolded: we scored quite early, which reinforced our mid-block approach. We had to drop deeper because the opposition was so composed on the ball—sometimes we dropped back a bit too much, perhaps even excessively. But overall, it was more or less what we were aiming for, combined with the clinical finishing we saw on the goal.
Haise: “It’s encouraging, though that doesn’t take away the slight sense of disappointment.”
Did you struggle a bit to stick to your principles late in the game—specifically by leaving too much space for Ruiz?
Yes, it was a series of small errors, particularly leading up to the second goal. We hadn’t really had that issue in the first half, despite facing a lot of shots—many of which were deflected or difficult to deal with. When you’re doing a lot of running, fatigue inevitably sets in, and sometimes you’re just a couple of meters off or miss that crucial step at the vital moment. It’s encouraging; it doesn’t erase the slight disappointment—since we were so close—but it remains encouraging for the future.
Haise: “The idea is to isolate their one-on-one player.”
How did you handle the positional rotations, the wide play, and closing down the middle?
Well, we had a slight numerical advantage on one side and less on the other. That made things a bit easier, even though there were sometimes situations where they doubled or even tripled up out wide. The idea was to isolate their one-on-one player and, whenever possible, double-team him—either using the wide player or, at times, one of our midfielders who could shift over during certain sequences.
We did that pretty well; that was the plan. It’s really over the course of the match that—despite all the effort and energy expended—you can sometimes run short. We fell a bit short in a few situations.
