After the meeting and the victory of Saint-Étienne against Niort (2-0), the two coaches delivered their first analysis at the microphone of beIN Sports.
Bernard Simondi (Coach of Niort) :“Frustration because… In possession, of course, we didn’t come there to get the ball and to thwart Saint-Etienne’s efforts in this type of compartment. We wanted to play the counterattacks, we wanted to play the quick transition. I think that in this register we were a little bit risky in our choices. We lost balls in front of our 20m, which cost us very dear. Besides the 1st goal is at the origin of a loss of ball. We made bad transition choices, which forced us to retreat even further and to suffer the assaults of the Stéphanois a little more frequently than it would have been appropriate to do.
“We saw after Olaitan’s entry, two or three passes which could have led to something else, which were poorly adjusted, but we cannot blame him in this context. However, if we had shown a little more attention in the transmission of the ball after the recovery at the level of our 30m, we could perhaps have found other situations and put them more in danger. We had a few chances, situations in the 1st half -times that could have been done better. But overall, Saint-Étienne won that game, we can’t absolutely dispute that. I think we could have done a little better in that context and brought more maturity in our attacking game.”
“It was very important for us to continue our series”
Laurent Batlles (ASSE coach) : “It was very important for us to continue our series, especially at home. It was also important to validate the 3 draws in March with a victory. We knew it was going to be long anyway because this team of Niort never gives up like all these teams in L2. It is true that at half-time we settled certain things defensively, in particular in relation to everything we had said at the start of the match on counterattacks. or two occasions we could have been put in much more difficulty. Despite everything, we also knew that this Niort team conceded a lot of goals, especially in the 1st quarter of an hour of the 2nd half, so we had to quickly get into the 2nd. half time and that’s what we did. And I’m very happy for the players.”
On Ibra Wadji: “I had asked him above all to fix the defense of Niort. He brought us what he knows how to do well, in particular all his calls. These are breaking calls and for us it is important to have this style of player “He could even have scored one or two more. But still it’s very important for the team today that he is performing.”
“It is true that in the 1st half, playing with JP Krasso a little higher, we ask him to be in the box too, but he tends from time to time to drop a little more. With Ibra it is a player with a little more surface area, depth. When you have the capacity and the possibility of having 3 players who can be dangerous… We only play 2 of them and from time to time, also depending on what we saw on the opposing team, we choose between the 3. We knew that at some point, like in Le Havre, Ibra would be very important for the team.
On the mood: “They also come to try to see our team win and score goals, and take risks. They are supporters who are very important to us, and the atmosphere is great. So from the moment we go in the direction that they also want, it allows us to see good afternoons and good atmospheres.”
On Niort occasions: “It’s assumed, we take risks. There are times, even in Troyes, where we had 1 against 1 with the goalkeeper. Of course there are things to improve, especially on certain ball losses. We still have to try to be a little safer, especially with our sentinel. Now the fact of bringing people, of bringing presence, of races, that creates imbalance in spite of everything and we have to manage it in the reverse.”
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