Here is Franck Haise’s reaction at a press conference after the Gym’s defeat at Lille (2-1), this Friday on the 18th day of Ligue 1.
Coach, is this defeat frustrating or not so illogical? You had opportunities to kill the match…
At first it is frustrating and disappointing. It’s certain that in the first half, we could certainly have scored a second goal during our strong moment which still lasted, during which we created a lot of chances. However, that should not prevent us from having a second period worthy of a team that wants to be ambitious.
How do you explain these two faces?
This is like a lot of matches in our season. This lack of regularity is not completely new. If we all have the ambition to be at the top, at least it’s mine, we have to be extremely regular during the season, but also in the same match. You cannot have a first half where you are in control, with a lot of clear chances, and have a second half with not much. We knew that Lille was going to raise the level, they were not going to stay like they were in the first half, they were inevitably going to raise the level at home. But we must not lower it so much.
Despite everything, the match changed to a twist of fate, with this ball bouncing off the thigh of Jonathan Clauss on the second goal…
I don’t really believe in the twists of fate. We had been missing too many things for a quarter of an hour. At the start of the second half, we are no longer in control, we are no longer on target, we lack intensity on the defensive level, we fall back too much… It depends on us, even if I agree on the fact that the second goal is unfortunate. But if it happens, it is not trivial.
Do you put this down to complacency? Has there been a slight relaxation in attitudes?
If that’s it, then we haven’t understood much. I hope that’s not it. What is certain is that to have consistency and very good results at the highest level, it is a question of concentration, demands, attitude over the duration of matches. We cannot do it only over one period, however good it may be. We must maintain this requirement and even sometimes reinforce it, because we only led 1-0, not 3-0. Tonight, we weren’t able to do it.
What do you think changed the match?
When Lille reached half-time knowing that they had come close to being more than 1-0 down, having a lot of difficulty technically and to counter us in situations in the corridor, to manage us in transition. .. We knew they were going to increase the slider, because there is a lot of experience, character, good players. Nobody, on our side, could expect Lille to repeat the same half. But that depended on Lille. On the other hand, what depended on us was that with their increase, we must not decrease. Lille did what it had to do in the second half. Not us.
Why did you wait until the 70th minute to do your big coaching?
I wanted to make a strong change, change four players to reverse the dynamic, which almost happened on an action. By making so many changes too soon, the risk is too great. So I delayed my first changes a little.
Why did you position Evann Guessand on the left side? We felt him more comfortable on the right…
I agree that Evann is more comfortable on the right, even if he also had good matches on the left, notably the one against Saint-Etienne. I don’t think it’s a problem for him, and we have a lot of offensive players who like the right side. Evann has the ability to play on both sides, in different positions. It’s not wrong to say that when he is on the right, he finds himself on his strong foot for his long breakthroughs. He is certainly more comfortable there.
Beyond this unfortunate gesture on the second goal, how do you judge Jonathan Clauss’ season?
Jo’ is gaining strength. He makes this unfortunate gesture on goal. On the first goal, he goes on target but it’s not up to him to do it, it’s Youssouf who must do it. When no one came out, he did it. As the season progressed, he regained good sensations, I found him in good shape and very involved.
Do you have any news from Pablo Rosario?
He has calf pain. He felt pain. It’s a muscular problem but I don’t know more. I also think that it is an element of balance that we lacked.
