Jean-Louis Gasset : "Remobilize everyone"

The afternoon was hard…

Yes, it was the defeat that was especially hard. What displeases me the most? We knew that Lille was a very strong team that’s quick to counter. We needed to have technical mastery when the ball was in play and in the middle to force them to defend. 

We could have conceded a goal in the first half. In the end, we lost the match while trying to win it. We were caught off guard by a counter in the last three minutes of regulation time. The two red cards were detrimental but are linked to the team’s frustration. We really wanted to redeem ourselves.

How do you explain the end of the match?

There was the urge to bounce back after the match against Marseille when we were outmanoeuvred and failed to keep our state of mind. Today we fought even if we became more nervous after the goal.

Does this defeat call into question your desire to qualify for the European Cup?

Not at all! We lost on our home turf against Lyon, Paris and Lille, the three teams that are giving it their all to be in the Champions League. We lost against teams that were stronger than us. During the first phase of the championship, these three confrontations produced similar results that didn’t prevent us from being in the Top 5 at the break. We’re going to bandage our wounds, remobilize everyone because we did good things. Since the beginning of January, we’ve been playing a lot worse. Our performances are no longer as fluid and we’re letting in goals from counter attacks.

Is this more of a mental or technical problem?

I’m going to tell you a secret, without looking for an excuse. Yann M’Vila learned at noon that he had lost his grandfather. While crying, he told me: "I want to play". I took him to my office at half time after his first difficult period. When your star player suffers a hard blow from life, he can lose five out of ten balls, which takes away others’ confidence.