Stade Brestois lost for the second time this season at home to Nice (0-1). Once again, the pre-Champions League match syndrome has struck this Brest team which has still not managed to win the week before the European Cup. The explanation, however, undoubtedly lies elsewhere, because in the second half, Brest showed its true colors without managing to equalize. Here is Eric Roy's reaction.
We didn't recognize your team in the first half?
Apart from the first 5 or 10 minutes, where we started the match well, we were below what we are capable of doing, particularly in the intensity, in the aggressiveness, in the ability to get on the opponent, that's everything we didn't do well, often being between two. There was quality in the opponent, at the same time, they did not propose anything that we had not studied. We knew their ability with their dribbling players, speed players capable of being in the interlines, the intervals, in the spaces.
We let their central defenders play too much, who were capable of finding crossbars. We had to clear things up at half-time, unfortunately, it wasn't enough. One half each, but at the finish, it was Nice who left with their three points.
We will say that they were better in their highlights. We really dominated but we weren't able to come back, even though I think we would have deserved it. We had a goal, some big situations, but we lacked that little extra soul.
What was your halftime speech?
We had to confront the players with their responsibility, make them understand that if we lose this intensity which characterizes us, our values, we become an average team again. We proved it in the 2nd half, where we dominated but afterwards we have to be able to make it happen, which we were unable to do.
Once again, is it a defeat before a week of the Champions League?
That doesn't explain this first half. We really have a gap in this first period, we are not in the tempo, not in the rhythm. We are capable of reacting. This is the only good news from this match, having fallen very low in the first half, we are capable of being again in high performance in the 2nd. This means that the team still has resources and is capable of reacting. Afterwards I would have preferred that she acted in this first, that she imposed things.
So your second half leaves you with regrets?
The regrets we can have are that we can largely do better in both situations, especially in terms of the goal we concede; Even if we are out of position, we must not give in. There are matches, we cannot have linearity, we cannot be very good for 90 minutes, but when we are in a period where we are floating, we must be able to be more hermetic, more solid . We're going to have to do that, because in the next matches, we're going to be shaken in Prague in a terrible atmosphere. We will have to be ready and do better.
Today we didn't know how to do it, we're going to clarify all that tomorrow and then we're going to plan for the future. We have things we need to do better in emergency situations
I am very satisfied with the reaction and the second half, which is very full, all the stats are in our favor: 60% possession, more shots, more shots on target. If we play 90 minutes like that, we will win a lot of matches.
