Jean-Louis Gasset: «A well deserved and positive point»
After finishing in a tie against a strong Marseille team, Jean-Louis Gasset declared himself satisfied. The Verts’ coach especially appreciated the state of mind of his players.
What’s your opinion of this tied game against OM?
This match was a little bit crazy. By the end of the match, both teams were playing with four or five attackers in order to increase the likelihood that they would win the match. We can regret having conceded a goal as quickly as we did but we can be happy that Stéphane Ruffier managed to stop the shot on net at the end of the match. For us, that’s a welll deserved and very positive point.
Does this performance confirm the fact that your team is improving ?
The progress that the team has made was especially visible during the second half. For the first period, I put together a solid, starting line-up because I knew that Marseille was going to come at us hard at the onset of the match. I would have preferred that we block Marseille’s first goal but they took the lead quickly. During the second period, we maintained control of the ball by keeping it on the field and not in the air, we were more confident and we created openings to score.
What did you appreciate tonight?
I loved the state of mind of my players. The day was marked by a series of events that could have destabilised us: to Rémy Cabella’s non-qualification was added Yann M’Vila’s flu and Thauvin’s opening of the score. But the team was confident and persevered. The subs were decisive as well. In 2018, we’re unbeaten in the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. With Monaco, ASSE is the only team to have tied against Marseille. The key to the match was to force Marseille to play a defensive game by keeping the ball on their half of the field in order to prevent players like Thauvin and Payet from taking shots on net.
