Having worked for PSG as a player and coach, the Nantes coach looks back on the nasty trick he played on his ex-club.
The perfect plan : “That's a big word… But in any case, we worked all week, putting up with a lot, defending a lot, creating frustration among the players, including on refereeing decisions that could be contrary. Moreover, compared to the aligned team against Toulouse (3-0) it was the typical team in defense, we thought he was going to rotate but he put together a big team. Maybe that shows the respect he has for us… We expected to suffer a lot and it was a complicated match, the players ended up with cramps, it's the first time I've seen my players are competing like never before. It’s a great PSG team. We also caused success, we did what was necessary. Playing like that and just defending, you can get lost.”
PSG's shortcomings : “Efficiency, realism. They came into our area a lot, they had a lot of situations. Afterwards, we also caused success, for example a slight foul when Warren Zaire-Emery entered the area, blocked shots, a post… We also had a little success. But PSG lacked realism. For the rest, it's a team which has the ball, which recovers it very quickly when it is lost, they have exerted enormous pressure, they tire you out, they wear you out. He (Luis Enrique) always said “I don’t want a 50-goal scorer”, he wants several scorers. Today, that’s where the problem lies. There is no… Ramos is making his comeback, we have to give him some time. But they lacked being more killer in the penalty area. As far as we are concerned, we had to defend well, fight hard for each ball, tell ourselves that these are not players who score a lot of goals, whether it is Dembélé, Barcola, Lee who can score… We have to do whatever it takes to stop them from scoring. They create a lot of chances. I remember the match against Atlético Madrid (defeat 1-2 ). They also had chances… How many times had Hakimi found himself facing the goalkeeper? Like tonight, he’s the one who scores.”
The change in the cages : “A strong choice? When you have a string of bad results, you have to make decisions at some point. This is not a sanction against Alban (Lafont). He needed to recover, his performances are not the best, but with what he is suffering from the supporters, he needs to be a little aside because it's a little complicated for him at the moment , that's what I did. I also wanted to see what our Viking was worth (smile). Patrick (Carlgren) is back, he is successful, he provokes success, he attracts the balls. It was necessary to cause a sort of electric shock in the group and the defense. And this even if the start of the match is catastrophic… We did better than against Le Havre last weekend, when we conceded a goal after 2 minutes 30. This evening, at 1'50… . But what’s good is that we revolted, we took a point.”
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This is the point of courage, of revolt and above all, of hope.
Antoine Kombouare
Surprise : “We worked for that. I didn't see my team capable of opening the score here and keeping it over time. It was a superb test, with the energy, the strength, the resilience and the self-sacrifice, it was very interesting. This is the point of courage, of revolt and above all, of hope.”
A point that means a lot: “Yes but that’s just one point, it’s not huge from an accounting point of view. But it's an important point because it breaks this losing streak. We take this point at the Parc des Princes against a PSG who are crushing the L1. And this is a point which will give us confidence in the game. And we will show something else, I hope, next Sunday against Rennes in the derby.
Working on transitions : “After Le Havre, from Tuesday and the first training, we only worked on that. All week. Accept never having the ball, only defending, moving back. And then, work on the transition phases, take advantage of the spaces we would have, the first restarts were important, the races, the pistons, the attackers. We also had to vary the calls to disrupt the opposing defense and get to the end of our situations, which we did once. It paid off.”
The derby against Rennes : “It’s an important point because our heads were underwater. Above all, it's important because it will give confidence and I hope that we will play much better against Rennes. We only defended in Paris. We are capable of much better. The players have other qualities than those, but we had to play this match here. Crush Rennes 1-0 next Sunday, I’ll sign straight away (smile).”
If he had the feeling of playing his place : “It’s been a long time since I asked myself this kind of question. When a match is over, I only think about one thing, finding solutions so that my players regain confidence, so that they can be better. Knowing if I'm going to stay or not… These are questions that you have to ask the managers, but not me, because I've been in football for too long and I've already experienced that. I have always said that I am lucky, privileged. I work, I'm happy. I don’t work, we move on to something else, I look ahead, I get up.”
Mustafa Mohamed missing from the scoresheet : “He was sick.”
Comments collected at a press conference
