“We’re still looking for points to climb back up the table as quickly as possible. That means we need a series of consecutive wins. We simply have to win against Nice. We’ve lost too many points already, even if we’ve often played quite well. At the end of the day, all that counts is the ladder. We did the job against Sochaux and we need to do it again against Nice.” Can the match against Sochaux be considered like a new dawn?
“I don’t know. It’s always good to score four goals away from home. But we’re coming off two consecutive home draws against Lyon and Nancy. We need to win this weekend to make our fans happy.” The team played a new formation against Sochaux. How did the team feel playing 4-5-1?
“Good. Steph (Sessegnon) had said he wanted to play in the middle. He showed his full potential in that position. Peguy (Luyindula), even if that’s not his true position, is a great player and scored. Then there’s our little beast (Erding) who works tirelessly up front! It didn’t upset the balance of the team because everyone worked hard defensively.”
Is it hard to play a Nice side coming off two wins against Lyon (4-1) and Le Mans (1-0)?
“Each match is different. Sochaux were coming off three wins in a row and Nice two. The OGCN are a tough team to play. It’s never easy. They have very quick attackers and very experienced midfielders, but they did lose some important players over the summer. The loss of Fred Antonetti was a real blow and there were also a few little backroom squabbles surrounding the president as well which doesn’t help. All that means that Nice have been a little inconsistent so far this season.” What do you think about your partnership with Mamadou Sakho in the centre of the defence?
“We get along well. Just like with Armand, Ceara and the rest. As defenders, it’s pretty annoying to concede a goal every game. The whole team has defend together, but we are the defenders, after all.”
