Lyon boss Rémi Garde couldn't explain the 1-0 to Reims; Carlo Ancelotti said the title was "closer" after PSG's 2-0 win over Rennes; and Elie Baup hailed second-placed OM's unity in the win over Bordeaux.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
LOSC Lille 5 - 0 FC Lorient
Rudi Garcia (Lille coach): "We wanted to show enthsuiasm and rigour and that's what there was out there tonight. We had a little bit of luck as well, just look at the fourth goal, but we got the win against a side that's always difficult to move around when you host them. It's a beautiful win as we kept a clean sheet and scored five. We need to build on what we showed this evening and we have a huge game next Sunday against Marseille. This evening we claimed back fifth place in the table and closed up on third place. There are still seven games and 21 points to go for. We want to be involved in the sprint finish and qualify for Europe. If the season finished tonight then we would not be qualified for anything and the road is still long."
Christian Gourcuff (Lorient coach): "It's very difficult to analyse and tonight we weren't competing in the same division as them. There were two divisions between us and they did whatever they wanted to do. They accelerated when they wanted to and controlled it when they wanted to. Defensively, we made mistakes and that meant we were 2-0 down inside 10 minutes. We were completely absent in this game. We tried to construct in the second half but without creating anything. The match had already been decided by then and the third goal for them settled the debate."
Stade de Reims 1 - 0 Olympique Lyonnais
Rémi Garde (Lyon coach): "There's something broken in our team and I'm starting to get worried. I can see that there's a lot less momentum and enthusiasm in the team and that when effort is being made, it's more individual than collective. I have no explanation, but I'm not trying to exclude myself from this downwards spiral. I'm trying to find the words as well as the right balance out on the pitch. But right now it's definitely not working. And it's urgent. We need to roll up our sleeves, rediscover our humility and get down to work. My team were very apathetic at the beginning of the match and I think that dragged us down throughout the match, but again I have no explanation. We started slowly and conceded a lot of corners. We never hit our stride. We ran after the ball the whole first half; we couldn't adapt to the way the match played out. We almost made it work by playing a lot of long balls, but we were too spread out for it to work."
Hubert Fournier (Reims coach): "Lyon is a club that is dear to me, but we're very happy to have won the three points, especially as they're the result of a quality performance. We took the upper hand fairly quickly thanks to a strong start. I was a bit worried at the end of the first half that we had missed our chance to score when we were on top. We managed to be very consistent but after the send-off, I would have liked us to have a bit more control. The state of the pitch led to fair bit if sloppiness for both sides. We're very happy but we're not going to let it go to our heads."
AS Saint-Etienne 1 - 0 Evian TG FC
Loïc Perrin (Saint-Etienne defender and captain): "Difficult wins like this one are the best kind. We were patient and we had chances to score in both halves. In the end, it's great to get the three points that had been just beyond our grasp of late. The main thing is that we manage to stay among the top places as long as possible. We'll see what happens, but we're not in any doubt as to our capacities. It has been a bit tough recently, but there are always tough periods in a season and you just have to figure out how to get through them. The win tonight makes our recent run of draws look a lot more respectable and it was great to keep a clean sheet after conceding six in our last three matches. We need to keep up the good work when we travel to Valenciennes [on April 12]. We know it will be tough, like all our matches at the moment."
Pascal Dupraz (Evian coach): "The result is a fair one and Saint-Etienne deserved their win. Just before conceding - and the goal was a goal, and congratulations must go to the assistant referee - we should have taken the lead. We had a golden chance when Cédric Barbosa played Yannick Sagbo in, but there was a slip and we missed our chance. But still, my players played the match I expected of them, and they need to keep doing that right to the end of the season. It would have been nice to get even one point tonight, as the longer the scores stayed at 0-0, the better I thought our chances of pinching a result were. But we'll keep fighting. We've been in a tough spot since the first week, and given the spirit the lads have shown, we'll fight to the bitter end even if our results aren't consistent."
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Stade Rennais FC 0 - 2 Paris Saint-Germain
Frédéric Antonetti (Rennes coach): "We matched them. But you have to score first. PSG have more experience, they commit fouls at the right time. I regret not having played this game with six points more, because we would have had more confidence. We did not make a mess of the game, we messed up the month of March. There's still the Coupe de la Ligue final and seven league games to play. We'll draw our conclusions after that."
Carlo Ancelotti (PSG coach): "It's true the title's closer than before with a seven-point lead, even if the title race isn't over. It was an important win as Marseille had won. We worked well, but didn't have the energy required to be able to control it. We had a lot of problems in the last 20 minutes as Rennes pushed, particularly on the flanks. But it's important that we avoided what looked like a potential banana skin."
SC Bastia 4 - 0 Stade Brestois 29
Frédéric Hantz (Bastia coach): "We've made history by scoring four goals for a third successive match. The players are really proud to have scored four and not conceded. Despite the scoreline, it wasn't a great display, but we knew just how important the game was. We managed to handle our emotions during the game well. We also have talented players like Khazri and Thauvin, which helped. I was satisfied with the team's defensive work. We were compact and patient at the back. Brest were solid, and it wasn't an easy win, but one achieved with patience, talent and work. At Valenciennes, we took a step towards staying up. Tonight, it's a giant step. We're not safe yet, but we have the ambition of going still higher between now and the end of the season."
Corentin Martins (Brest coach): "We played well in the first half. We weren't lucky, even if you can't really talk about luck when you lose 4-0. If we'd have opened the scoring, the game would have been different. At 2-0 it became tough, that was the key moment. We continued playing and struck a post. We missed chances. That's the difference between a confident team and one whose luck is out. We knew Bastia's speed, they're a team which deserved their success. It's not a consequence of what happened during the week, but you can't rule out that it didn't play a part."
Montpellier Hérault SC 3 - 1 Valenciennes FC
René Girard (Montpellier coach): "We had a little trouble in the first half. After the break, we took the game by the scruff of the neck and got a deserved win. We were expecting a tough game against a Valenciennes side with three defensive midfielders. It was the case in the first half. In the end, we played well in a game we had to win."
Daniel Sanchez (Valenciennes coach): "It was better in terms of our play and spirit. The three goals could have been avoided. We made a huge mistake in our marking at a set-piece. The other two we conceded in unlikely scenarios. It's rather annoying. In our situation we cannot afford errors. We need more discipline, but we mustn't be downbeat even if we're disappointed. With the spirit we showed in this game, we should be able to go and get points. We're having a spell in which nothing goes right. We musn't doubt or slacken off."
AS Nancy Lorraine 1 - 0 ESTAC Troyes
Patrick Gabriel (Nancy coach): "We've got a 2 per cent chance of staying up. We're still in the bottom three, and the hardest part is only just starting. We're back in touch. We've won six games, including three in-a-row, but we'll need others. We have to continue like this. We have to have nerves of steel. It's a deserved victory, we had the better chances overall. I'm happy for the players, the fans and the club. It's important to pick up points, and getting a third straight win is a relief. We're going forward."
Jean-Marc Furlan (Troyes coach): "We weren't ambitious enough going forward, and didn't trouble Nancy enough. Normally, we're more ruthless, but we were much too light. That's the only criticism I can have of my players. In the first half, we deliberately let them have the ball. In the second, less deliberately. We wanted to take charge of the game, but the few chances we got, we wasted. It's extremely difficult for us to stay up, almost mission impossible."
Toulouse FC 3 - 4 OGC Nice
Alain Casanova (Toulouse coach): "The overriding feeling is one of frustration, naturally. Even if Nice did everything to get the points, I think we deserved better than defeat. Even at 3-3, given the way the game went and the many chances we created before the hour mark, we deserved more than that. The players showed great spirit, a lot of good intentions, but there were too many errors both individually and collectively at the back. We caused ourselves problems with four goals we've all but gifted our opponents."
Claude Puel (Nice coach): "We looked good going forward, but there are things that need putting right at the back. The first two goals are due to defensive mistakes. There are all sorts of feelings: anger, frustration and finally joy. Our position in the table isn't important. It was important to take the three points. We mostly look at our performance, not our position."
Friday, April 5, 2013
Olympique de Marseille 1 - 0 Girondins de Bordeaux
Elie Baup (Marseille coach): "We're going to start by trying to stay on the podium. The team has solidarity for each other, the desire to make an effort for each other, and the idea not to give anything away. Bordeaux's pressing troubled us, but we managed to hold on to our advantage. In the last five games, we've conceded one goal, and none in the last four. When we go 1-0 up, we know our opponent is going to open up, and we manage to keep our goal intact from the goalkeeper right up to the forward. It's the last five, six matches which will count."
Francis Gillot (Bordeaux coach): "We're really being penalised by our lack of a cutting edge. Even though we made a mistake at the back, there was certainly the opportunity to come back into it, but we score so few goals that it's better not to concede any. The Europa League has sunk us in the league. If we want to get through in the French Cup, we'll have to score a goal or go for penalties. We've had the same problem for the last six months, it's really tiresome. Today I finished with two attacking midfielders and four forwards, which just goes to show it's not the number of strikers that counts."
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