Jean-Louis Gasset : "We have to believe it"

How is the training week going?

We had two in camera sessions, Tuesday and Wednesday, in order to make the team stronger, work hard and well. Today (Thursday), we cut things back a bit, by working our technical game with the youngest players. There must be a common understanding: with the injuries and the suspensions, we need everyone. So, we tried to work the team as a unit by involving all the players.

The end of the match against Lille (0-1), was particularly cruel…

It’s hard to lose three minutes before the end of the match when we don’t have much to reproach the players for in regards of their state of mind. Technically speaking, we didn’t know how to manage this match. When you try to win a match to redeem yourself for a previous performance, in this case the one against Marseille, letting in a goal made by a corner kick 40 metres away, it’s hard.

You regretted the frustration of your players last Sunday and the two expulsions, at the very end of the match.

And also mine because I had myself expelled as well. We all must regain our serenity, and me first and foremost. A boy like Mathieu (Debuchy) isn’t used to being nervous, but he was provoked. He could have only received a verbal warning. Forcing the issue by expelling him at the end like that…That’s frustrating, yes. The frustration of wanting a positive outcome and not getting it. From the moment when we let in the goal, we were no longer so coherent. Which explains the red card at the end of the match.

What is your opinion of the decisions made by the Disciplinary Committee?

Mine is logical. For wahbi, that’s normal also. He knows it and we just tell him. He’s going to penalize the team and, in addition, he will be suspended for a match. I hope that he won’t be given more warnings this season. At 28 years of age, he must think on this.

What do you make of the team’s current, collective difficulties?

We play less fluidly, we don’t take the ball out as well. Against Lille, we had a kick made by Robert Beric and very few openings to score. We have to make more passes and bring the ball as close to our opponent’s net as possible. We’re doing quite worse and the statistics indicate that. How do we explain this? It’s due to confidence, maybe, because too many players lose easy balls. Yann (M’Vila), even if there were extenuating circumstances Sunday, was an example of this. We were often countered and were often a bit scared. But, our lack of confidence is what undermined us.

What type of match are you expecting Saturday evening?

Since January, we’ve gone to Guingamp and Dijon. Caen is in the same situation as these two teams: it’s a club that is playing for its survival. In regards of state of mind, we know what to expect. We must manage to be technically superior. Every victory brings us closer to the 60-point mark that is the objective off the club. When you lose two times in a row in Saint-Étienne, you had better win the next match.