Experienced member of the locker room, Aïssa Mandi had difficulty digesting the draw in Montpellier (2-2), several tens of minutes after the final whistle.
Preferred over Thomas Meunier, Aïssa Mandi fulfilled her role perfectly by muzzling Arnaud Nordin on the side. The Montpellier player was invisible, except during a mix-up in the area at the end of the match. The latter resulted in a new equalization (2-2) in stoppage time. This outcome had the gift of annoying the Algerian international: “It’s a mixture of disappointment and frustration, as you can imagine. In addition, it is the second time away (after Nice, 2-2). This is something we need to improve on.he begins, refusing to give up.
Above all, you must not give in to it, above all, do not resign yourself to it. We have many areas for progress, including this one. This has happened to us quite a few times (to get caught, editor’s note). We must be optimistic, look at what has gone wrong, talk to each other and work. We must move forward so that this does not happen again.”he insists in the mixed zone, at our microphone.
“I don’t think we fell into their traphe judged, despite the battle fought and the multiple scuffles having slowed down the progress of the debates. We tried to play our game. There may have been a bit of misunderstanding because 13 minutes of added time is still a lot. But even if there are 20 more minutes, we have to do better, to hold on, not to concede any goals. It's largely our fault and we're not going to hide behind excuses.retorted Aïssa Mandi. We controlled the match five minutes from the end, so we can still do it in the next five. There, there was quite a bit of success on goal with favorable counterattacks, but when it happens several times, it means that we have things to improve. »
This type of scenario has actually been repeated for many months and, in most cases, LOSC found itself in a favorable position before kick-off, capable of getting onto the podium (or almost) in the event of a good result. Once again, his men missed this march. However, a newcomer to the North, Aïssa Mandi did not have the feeling that this fact was lingering in the minds of his teammates: “I don't think it could have played a role in people's minds, especially since at that point most of the time had passed. We had done things well so far. There were only five minutes left. We could also have killed the match, that’s the other possibility to avoid this kind of scenario”he concludes before leaving. He was caught by the patrol, being the last Lille player still present in the locker room and then in the corridors of the Stade de la Mosson.
