What was your first reaction at the time of the draw?
Nicolas Seguin: I was happy because it was a great showcase for the club and, on the other hand, I said to myself: « Damn, he’s still a big player in Ligue 1. » Obviously, on paper, we are not favorites. Well, it’s better to lose against OL by going out the front door than to fall to Espaly or against another team in our group, in a quagmire match. On paper, it’s more interesting to be taken out by a big guy.
Sofiane Article: I said to myself: « Damn, again? » I have already played twice against OL. But I was super happy, before the draw, I wanted a Ligue 1, and preferably a good Ligue 1. Lyon, Marseille, Paris, it’s a dream and it attracts people, all the places were quickly sold.
NS : We’re not going to lie, our priority objective is not the Cup. We have an important match in Espaly in the championship (1-1, interview was conducted Wednesday January 8). I’m the killjoy…
What does OL mean to you?
NS : It’s my training club and it’s the first time I’ll have the chance to face it, apart from the reserve. I spent ten or eleven seasons there, I knew the group which released seven titles. I was able to see Juninho, Cris, (Gregory) Coupet, it’s a chance to be able to meet them and discover this world. I played with Anthony Lopes, Mathieu Gorgelin, Saïd Mehamha, from the 1990 generation, and with the younger ones like Alexandre Lacazette, Corentin Tolisso, Clément Grenier, Yannis Tafer… My training at OL does a lot of what I am today, I was formatted as a player, but also as a man, and it was beneficial.
AT : I was never approached by the club, but I often played against them. First at the start of his career with La Duchère (defeat 1-3)in 2012, against Lisandro López, Bafé Gomis, they were players we watched on TV every weekend and in the Champions League. In 2020, I will take them again, also in the Coupe de France, with Bourg-en-Bresse (defeat 0-7). I meet them at three different ages, and this time, it is particularly close to my heart because it is with Bourgoin, my club, where it all began for me. I am still a little more serene. I warned the young people, the first time, you can’t sleep at night, you think about how you’re going to play, what celebration to do if you score. (Laughs.) In the end, you’re mostly shaking.
You will also meet Pierre Sage, whom you met at La Duchère, when he was assistant coach to Karim Mokeddem…
AT : Pierre of course, but also Jamal Alioui (Sage’s deputy)who I know very well and with whom I played a little at La Duchère, Cédric Uras (physical trainer)with whom I also played at Saint-Priest. There will be a little emotion on my side, these are people I really like. Besides, before knowing that we were going to play OL, I was already talking with Pierre. I met him while shopping in Lyon not so long ago, it was always a pleasure to chat with him.
He is ahead of everyone. To be crude, he’s someone who stinks of football.
How did your year under his command go?
AT : In one year, he is someone whose personality has had the most impact on me. He’s a guy who has the ability to pass on his football knowledge to everyone, even to players with less than developed football IQs, in a very fair, very simple way, without ever shouting.
NS : In fact, Karim had chosen Pierre Sage because he was going for diploma training for one week a month and he wanted an assistant capable of managing in his absence. When the cat isn’t there, the mice dance, and the first training session without Karim was shit.
AT : It’s true, it was a fair.
NS : The next day, Pierre was very calm. He said: « It’s simple, if you do the same thing as yesterday, I’ll stop training and you all go home. » He said all this so calmly, with so much persuasion, that no one flinched. That day, he gained everyone’s respect, from then on, we could all die for him. He doesn’t need to raise his voice, it’s something he gives off naturally.
Did you know him before his arrival?
NS : We all knew Pierre Sage by name, he had been in Bourg-en-Bresse for a long time. I didn’t necessarily have a face in mind, but his name was known in the region for his good work.
AT : We quickly saw that he played the same football as Karim, very offensive, very playful. He has such football knowledge, you tell yourself straight away that he’s not a loser.
NS : Now he is better known, he has really become a football scientist.
AT : I, Pierre Sage, call him the philosopher!
NS : He is ahead of everyone. To be crude, he’s someone who stinks of football.
How does it look in training?
AT : He quickly told me: « I’m pro-Barça, you’ll never see me telling you to throw the ball. » He wants to play ball all the time, start from behind. I quickly told myself that we were going to get along well. He’s a Guardiola fan too, he often spoke about him.
NS : Pierre is an encyclopedia. He knows what he wants, he knows how to achieve his objective, he always has a plan A, a plan B, a plan C, a plan D… He arrived in a very particular context at OL, but he immediately united his group, first on simple things, then by implementing what he wanted, and off we went.
AT : When he joined OL, I immediately said: « Oh guys, you’ll see the change in mentality that’s going to happen in the team. » It didn’t fail, it was incredible. One thing that stood out to me was the games he played in training. By watching his sessions, you understood what he wanted us to do on the weekend: build, unbalance through passing, through movement. These are things that the big teams did and we managed it in National.
NS : We had a team to play good football. Pierre brought his touch to the movement, to the technical quality, his external eye allowed him to be very picky about details. When he said something, we listened to it, it was always relevant.
Karim put the stick on us, and Pierre came with his quiet strength. Today, at OL, he forms the same duo with Jamal Alioui.
You finished fifth in the championship, the club’s best result, it had something to do with being “ only » adjoint ?
AT : Yes of course. He was very much into dialogue, into teaching. When things weren’t going well technically, he explained certain things to us, it was positive support, always in the form of advice.
NS : He was in his role as assistant and always found the right balance by being close to the players. He also did video, he was very particular about that. Already, this is the first deputy that Karim has let happen. Without denigrating the others, he’s the only one who had 100% control, and God knows it’s hard, Karim likes to control his team. (Laughs.)
AT : The pair worked very well. The Pierre Sage Karim Mokeddem duo, I don’t think we can do better in National.
NS : When things weren’t going well, Karim was able to pull the plug, to say names of birds, because he has a very strong character. Pierre was quite the opposite. When he was angry, you could see it because he was a little colder, but the way he spoke was the same. At the group level, we must have noticed him and said to ourselves that this calm was impressive, it earned him our respect.
AT : It’s true, Karim put the stick on us, and Pierre came with his quiet strength. Today, at OL, he forms the same duo with Jamal Alioui, who is also a big mouth, who gets into it. If there are guys to be reframed, Jamal takes care of them, and behind, there is Pierre who gets his message across. I also find that Pierre has similarities with Freddy (Morel, coach of Bourgoin)there will be a match within the match.
We can sometimes hear that a good coach must have been a professional player, what does he have more than the others to reach this level without relying on his past?
NS : Today, there is no longer any truth to that, I think, we can see it with Will Still too. Pierre has never played football, yes, but there should be no confusion: an excellent player is not necessarily a good coach, why couldn’t someone become a good coach without having been a player?
AT : The slider is based on credibility. You can be less credible when you haven’t been a player and you correct us on the quality of the control, but someone like Pierre Sage knows so much that what he says is true, that he manages to prove it and to make us understand that this is the right thing. For every problem, he has an answer. Once, twice, three times, in the end, it’s you who realize that he knows everything and that you have to trust him.
NS : And he’s a very humble person in relation to that, it’s a strength.
Do you remember his departure, at the end of the season, for the OL training center?
NS : It was an opportunity. Especially since I think he saw himself more as a trainer. It’s also a role he’s excellent at. OL cannot be refused. In addition, Karim left La Duch the same summer.
What face will his OL have against Bourgoin?
AT : I’m eager to know what he’s going to put in place. I am convinced that he will put together a big team, very, very competitive.
NS : Above all, he knows us, he knows So’, Jimmy (Nirlo)me, and I’m sure he knows all the players because he worked the game. He analyzed the team, he has a plan A, a plan B, a plan C to give us problems. He’s already made the match in his head, that’s for sure.
AT : His speech will be: « The guys opposite, I know them, I trained them, they are not painters, we are going to go there to win. »
NS : In a way, it’s good, it’s that we are respected.
AT : They have a big sequence, with the European Cup coming back. There are players waiting to leave. We won’t be the priority.
NS : Fortunately, there are rugby players who play at Rajon before us, it can level things up! (Laughs.)
The scathing response from the president of the DNCG to John Textor
