Rennes manager Franck Haise expressed intense frustration with his squad following a 5-2 defeat against Nice, stating he could have substituted eight players at the interval. The French club suffered a heavy loss on the south coast as Elye Wahi scored a hat-trick to hand Rennes their third loss of the campaign.
Sebastian Szymanski initially levelled the score at 1-1 by cancelling out Wahi's early penalty opener. However, Nice responded with three unanswered goals from Wahi, Jonathan Clauss, and Mohamed Amoura before Boulaye Dia scored for the visitors. Wahi then added a fifth for Nice to seal a disastrous performance for Rennes.
Haise was visiting his former club almost a year following his dismissal, but his homecoming proved miserable. He blasted his players after watching their strong Ligue 1 campaign hit a stumbling block. Although Haise withdrew Przemylsaw Frankowski and Adrien Thomasson at the break, he argued his team performed so badly that he could have changed eight players.
Post-match, he stated, "We've conceded 13 goals in our last three away matches, changing our system, sometimes even changing players... But not changing our discipline or our attitude in certain duels." He added, "At half-time, I took off two players - Frankowski and Thomasson - but I could have taken off eight. Who was really on form in the first half? Hardly anyone."
Rennes previously enjoyed a strong run in Ligue 1, recording five victories, one draw, and three losses from their opening nine fixtures. They hold third position in the standings, sitting four points behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. Rennes began the campaign with three wins from their first four matches before falling to a 4-0 defeat against Lyon. They also suffered a 4-3 loss to Liam Rosenior's Paris FC, who converted a 97th minute penalty earlier this month.
Rennes secured sixth place in the league table last season, finishing two points away from the Champions League spots. That finish earned them a spot in the Europa League for this season, and they recently drew 2-2 with Italian club Juventus.
