Patrick, what are your feelings after this clear defeat?
We knew that this team was very physical and that we would have to be impeccable in reception but we did not succeed. Oddly, it's not necessarily on the most difficult services where we fished. It starts from there because we then had a lot of difficulty setting up our offensive game. It must also be said that we came across a team which was having an exceptional day and which even in difficulty managed to take stock. They got their hands on the match.
None of your players seemed capable of pulling the others up. Is this also your feeling?
We were dominated in all areas of play: receiving, attacking, blocking. And when we did something good, they did even better. We were never able to develop our game. This point in the second set also made us lose control (an arbitration dispute at 16-16, Editor's note). It's frustrating, infuriating. We came out of the match a bit after that and it was our fault.
Have you tried changing your team but without success either?
Everyone was struggling so we tried to change things with Julien (Winkelmuller, the sharp one, Editor's note) to play a little faster then a youngster in the center (Axel Michel, Editor's note) to try to create different things but it didn't work.
Did you expect such a gap between the two teams?
We would have had to be much better at reception to worry them a little more. We have to admit that they put a lot of pressure on us throughout the match. When a team is less good it suffers and faced with an armada like Tourcoing which on paper is already stronger than us, and who will play for the title, we should have been at the top and we were not. The gap is big today but I don't think that reflects the difference between the two teams. We could have done better, if we had negotiated the first set better for example.
The next challenge also promises to be met with a trip to Poitiers. Not an obvious place to bounce back?
No, that’s the least we can say (he smiles)…
