Stade Rennais kicked off their season on Saturday 7th August when they lost to new foes Bastia in a tightly contested match.
Les Rouges et Noirs will be aiming to do better than last season, in which they finished an average 9th place in France's top flight, Ligue 1. With only a few squad changes, the country's most frustrating team set out to do just that bit better.
Pre-Season
Rennes didn't have the greatest pre-season in terms of results. Scores were up and down as manager, Philippe Montanier, experimented with different formations and players.
The previous season had barely finished before Rennes were kicking off against Stade Laval in early July. Montanier's men defeated the Ligue 2 outfit by a slender one goal margin. Not long after, Rennes were playing another second tier side, Le Havre- this time being defeated by two goals to one.
A few days later, Rennes and Brest partook in the first Breton Derby of the new football calendar, with Rennes coming out as victors. Germans, Borussia Monchengladbach proved better opposition in the next match with both sides providing a great game for the neutral- playing out a 2-2 draw.
Next up for Rennes was lower league side Ulm who gave the biggest scare yet by coming back from being 0-2 down to lead 3-2, before Ola Toivonen's leveler spared his side embarrassment. A trip to Scotland to play Celtic followed in which Montanier gave his 3-4-3/5-4-1 experiment another go. He was picked off by the Scottish champions who ran out 2-0 victors.
Pre-season was finished off at the new looking Roazhon Park as Rennes defeated Serie A outfit Torino by a spectacular goal from Pedro Mendes.
Signings
Out: Vincent Pajot (Saint Etienne), Zana Allee (Ajaccio), Philipp Hosiner (Koln), Christopher Dilo (Dijon), Sadio Diallo (Bastia), Jean II Makoun (released)
In: Yacouba Sylla (Aston Villa), Ludovic Baal (RC Lens), Pedro Mendes (Parma), Giovanni Sio (FC Basel)
Unpredictably, holding-midfieler Vincent Pajot exited Rennes to Saint Etienne. The move was on the cards long before last season had finished. For part of the season, he and Gelson Fernandes had formed a formidable partnership in central midfield. Rennes fans will not be too fussed as Benjamin Andre has slotted into that position with no problems.
Philipp Hosiner rarely featured since arriving from Austria Vienna last summer with a massive reputation for scoring goals. Unfortunately for the Austrian, he couldn't oust Ola Toivonen from the striker position. Then after taking ill, Hosiner was out for the majority of the second half season.
As for the newcomers, Yacouba Sylla has all the attributes required to try and take Benjamin Andre's position at holding midfield. Sylla was on-loan in Turkey last season and has finally brushed off Aston Villa's shackles to join Rennes.
Ludovic Baal comes from RC Lens who are experiencing some problems which Rennes have taken advantage of. Primarily a left-back, Montanier has experimented by playing him in midfield.
Rennes have also used Parma's downfall to get themselves a coup in centre-back Pedro Mendes. Finally, Giovanni Sio, a talented journeyman striker will push Toivonen all the way to be Rennes' main hitter.
Expectations
Rennes midfielder, Anders Konradsen: "The French league is very competitive with a lot of good teams. For us in Rennes, the ambition is always to do better.
As with every season, Rennes push to do better than the season previous. Anders Konradsen confirmed this recently, he said:
"We finished ninth last year and we definitely want to be in the top part of the table."
There hasn't been too much squad disruption in terms of transfers. However, the loss of Paul-Georges Ntep for a while could take its toll as the winger provided many of Rennes' goals last season.
Rennes had a phenomenal start to the season last year which provided a cushion to take the hit for a disastrous second half. The successful first half shows that a Rennes team can put together consistent positive results.
The transfer window isn't shut yet, so there is time to get some important players in. Talks around the fandom is on former attacking-midfielder Yoann Gourcuff which is the biggest 'Will they, won't they' since Ross and Rachel in Friends.
If Montanier sticks with his 3-4-3/5-4-1 variation, this will take time to get used to as he tries to implement a new style on his side. Counter-attacking with fast forward men seems to be the tactic with the purchase of Sio and the attempted buy of Waris illustrating this.
For now, take it from the horse's mouth, Rennes just need to do better than last season.