Stade Rennais FC vs Montpellier preview - Courbis: Rennes trip not ideal

Rolland Courbis admits it is not the ideal time for his inconsistent Montpellier team to visit rampant Rennes as he continues to search for a cure to a crisis of confidence.

La Paillade rolled over at home when faced by St Etienne in midweek, with a 2-0 defeat leaving Courbis' men stranded in mid-table ahead of an arduous winter campaign.

Next up is Saturday's trip to meet Rennes, who have soared to fifth place in Ligue 1 on the back of four straight wins, and Courbis would have preferred to have had a little more time between engagements to investigate the reasons behind his side's current malaise.

"I'm not sure if it was a lack of fighting spirit or absence of will to win that lost us the game," he told L'Equipe.

"At this moment in time we just don't seem to be able to battle against a well-organised team with talented players.

"And now we turn our attentions to Rennes, who are not the ideal opponent right now.

"We still have plenty of work to do if we are going to catch up with the top-ranked teams. Our results speak for themselves."

Defender Daniel Congre could return to the first XI after recovering from injury to make the bench against St Etienne while on-loan Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios could start having appeared as a second-half substitute.

Gelson Fernandes has dropped out of contention for Rennes. The Swiss midfielder tore a hamstring in training this week and will be out of action for an indeterminate length of time.

Third place, currently occupied by Lyon but only two points away, is a potential destination for Les Rouges et Noires but coach Philippe Montanier is remaining grounded with less than half the season played.

"We're not even at the midway point yet," he told L'Equipe following a 2-1 win at Nice. "We will try to maintain these standards but we have to remain wary.

"We're happy to be collecting points and building our confidence, and we want to continue doing so, but we have to wait until mid-April before we can really speak of loftier ambitions. That's when it all starts happening.

"As we speak here today, that's a long way off."