Pros Wednesday 28 Aug 2019 à 21h46

Ghislain Printant : "Lille was superior to us"

The Stéphanois coach did not look for excuses after his team’s defeat in the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, this Wednesday evening.

What is your analysis of this defeat against Lille OSC?

It was a logical loss. Lille was superior to us. Even if, in the first half, in regards of the content of the match and organization, we were in the process of realizing what we wanted to do, there was always a lack of success from our offensive line. The team was good at getting the ball back. But, during our favourable period, we didn’t know how to put pressure on our adversary. In those cases, especially with the quality of their attack, you suffer from offensives. This heavy loss hurts. We went there with other intentions.

What did your team lack?

We should have been much more on point, much more spot-on. We managed to find openings in their defensive line. But the second to last and last passes weren’t well done. We have an enormous amount of work to do for that.

The penalty kick accorded to Lille seems questionable.

I didn’t revise the images. I trust the people who said that Jonathan Bamba slid at the beginning of the situation. Without seeing the images, I cannot permit myself to comment. But, if there’s doubt, I do not understand why we use the VAR in one case and not another. This situation in the game has nothing to do with the end result.

Do you regret having conceded a third goal?

It is well evident that after Lille’s second goal, there was a break in our collective structure. We wanted to even the score, but lacked the lucidity necessary to put pressure on our adversary. Losing balls hurt us more and the distances became longer. We knew the quality of the opposition. The team played with more intensity but that was still insufficient. We still have to improve on an offensive and a physical level. That’s undeniable.

Can Yohan Cabaye quickly reinforce your midfield line?

We’ll see where Yohan is with that because he arrived the day before yesterday (Monday). We’ll then work on strategies, how to play better collectively. The important thing is to maintain a team equilibrium and that we show ourselves to be more on point.