Yann M'Vila: "We need the three points"

How did you experience Sunday’s strange match in front of the tv?

We all saw what happened. It’s frustrating especially since it’s not the first time. Everyone has the position of the VAR in mind. We’ve suffered the most! (*) That’s great proof. Now, it’s in the past. We have to move on and taste victory again very quickly.

How can you as a player remain calm in the face of unjust decisions?

We also put ourselves in the place of the referees. It’s difficult. In training alone, the coaches have difficulty because they have to deal with a lot of protest! But, there’s an invention, the VAR, and we don’t always understand the manner in which it is used. We can speak to the referees, but certain referees are not open to dialogue. I’ve played elsewhere, notably in England, where that always went well with the referees. I could speak for a long time about this subject but that wouldn’t change much. We have to accept the situation.

Sunday’s score is hard to bear in light of the performance delivered by your teammates…

When you don’t watch a match, you just see the score. But there was Loïs Diony’s shot that hit the goalpost, Neven Subotic’s clear opening, two forgotten penalties against Romain Hamouma… The score could have been different. Those are some things that happened.

How are you tackling this busy week, with two matches in five days?

In our situation, the most important match is the one against Strasbourg. We feel that we need points and that the rankings are close. We’re not thinking at all about Sunday, Strasbourg is a very good team. We’re playing on our home turf and we need to once again taste victory. We need the three points. We’re talking a lot. We’re conscious of the situation. We absolutely want to win, start a streak. Playing on our home turf is always pleasing but, unfortunately, the kops will be closed. We know what we have to do on the field to make them proud, even if they’ll be in front of their televisions.

Youssef Aït Bennasser, your partner in crime in the midfield, played his first few minutes as one of the Verts. How do you feel about his performance?

We haven’t yet played together but I saw him play in Monaco and I see him now every training day. I think that all will be well. He was good in Rennes. He’ll contribute much in games. I think that we can work well together. In Rennes, he played with Kévin (Monnet-Paquet) in the midfield and that worked well. He can play with many players.

(*) According to the newspaper L’Equipe, ASSE is the club in Ligue 1 Conforama that has suffered from the most adverse decisions.