Fabrice Lefrançois (Cholet coach): “It was difficult, it was a tense, choppy, rough match, but it’s really positive to emerge victorious from a match like that. They’re still playing with 11 or 12 this evening, while we’re throwing kids. It’s very positive, with the exception of Soren’s shoulder injury who will probably miss the match in Nanterre. We had to get as close as possible to our usual rotations for intensity: we had protected ourselves too much in Bourg-en-Bresse. Even if we tightened up a little in the second half to manage the mistakes. Léopold (Levillain) is someone who is physically committed, he played rugby and the big guys opposite, that’s not his problem! I found the collective energy again. Everything wasn’t perfect, but we managed to win three quarters out of four. And we’re back at 25 assists, that’s good. If we had been told that we would be 10-2 on the 12th day… that’s great! But it’s complicated for everyone, we saw it again with Paris last weekend. »
READ ALSO. Relive the live match between Cholet and Dijon
Nathan De Sousa (leader of Cholet): “We have the ticket for the Leaders Cup, that’s good. Now it’s up to us to win the next matches to finish the first leg in the top four. We win tonight without two injured players (McNeace and Diawara). Obviously, we miss him, that’s for sure, but it’s up to us to adapt as we have done since the start of the year. The difference is that we didn’t manage to make a splash for “
Cholet Basket, the podcast: listen to the episode with Gérald Ayayi here??
Laurent Legname (Dijon coach): “Let’s not forget that we played against the championship leaders, who are having an excellent season. We knew they were going to react after their defeat against Bourg: they did it in the first quarter with an over-aggressiveness as they have done since the start of the season. In the first quarter, this over-aggressiveness was rather well dealt with. It is clear that this is less the case in the following three. Our faults, they are there, but on the other side when it is a fault, we have to whistle for a fault, for 40 minutes. That’s one of the reasons why we couldn’t take that match. But I am happy with the performance of the players, we could have given up several times during this match. We were dominated in the one-on-one duels, on the rebound once again. Although there was more engagement overall. But when Smith and Ayayi score on pure one-on-ones, it’s difficult. And then when we have a position 5 which is not up to standard, we have to say that too (Gavin Ware). I protected him from the beginning but after a while it was no longer possible, he wasn’t even able to run. He’s a great guy, I go on vacation with him every day, but at some point you have to be a professional. (On the altercation with Fabrice Lefrançois): I have nothing to say, I have too much respect for the role of coach. »
Axel Julien (Dijon leader): “We are not yet capable of being intense for 40 minutes and against teams who manage to maintain a rhythm throughout the match, it is complicated for us. It’s not a big deal, 2-3 errors. We’re not a team with confidence and we can’t do it, especially against a team like Cholet who plays really well. We must not lower our heads. »
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