The deep yet soft voice, with a coffee in his hand, Dante spoke to give his appraisal of the first three weeks of pre-season. Calmly sat at the table on Tuesday lunchtime, the commander insisted on the value of work, looking forward but without thinking too far ahead.

Dante & the squad

The state of the troops

“The squad is doing well. I feel that we are in the process of improving. The players are concentrated on their work. That is what allows us to raise our level from day to day.

The fatigue
“There is some, and it is normal because we have accumulated a lot of hours in training. But this is a must in order to prepare for the long season that lies ahead.”

The recruits
“Pierre (Lees-Melou), JV (Makengo) and Adrien (Tameze) are 3 good players. They have a lot of quality and can help us to improve. They arrive with a lot of enthusiasm and bring us a lot of energy. It’s good for us.”

His message for his teammates

“Continue to work as you are and never lose sight of our objectives! We all need to be aware of them. We have a young squad. The most important thing is to stay on course.”

Dante & Dante

His fitness

“I feel good. I started preparing on my side of things during the holidays.”

His first pre-season with Nice

“Last year, I arrived in August. The squad had already been training for 2 months together; it’s not the same thing. It is important to attack it from the first day.”

His personal objectives

“To help my teammates as much as possible to get as many wins as we can. I hope to bring them my experience to help them to improve. Aside from that, I want to continue taking pleasure from each match, and each training session. I will remain very demanding with myself, so that I can play football as long as possible.”            

Dante and the trip

A common experience

“We are all together for a week. It allows us to get to know each other better. Everybody is talking. And on the pitch, we learn to push our limits together. It feels good.”

Roles to be assumed

“You can be a leader, even without the armband. Other players are important. Some have been at the club for a lot longer than me; they also need to express themselves because it is good for all the squad. You need to succeed in saying what you think. In a squad, it is important that the responsibilities are shared. In that way, when an experienced player is missing, the others can step up, and vice versa.”

The first tests

“The first friendly went well (4-0 victory over Nyon). From the get go, we needed to be concentrated. Even if you face a team from a lower division, you need to stand up and be counted. We need to keep the same attitude against Servette (2^nd friendly, Friday 7 July at 7pm in Divonne-les-Bains).

Dante & the Q3

A vital first match

“This 3^rd qualifying round of the Champions League is very important for the club, the players and our fans. We are working hard to win it and we are only thinking about that. A direct elimination game is, of course, very different.  We will need to be very precise, in our passing, duals; to keep focussed at all times…Every detail counts. However, we can’t be afraid to play. We need to have confidence and to keep our desire to develop our game. We can’t change because of what is at stake. That is forbidden!”

Dante & L1

The first game
“It is still far off (first game on 5 August against Saint-Étienne). We are focussed on the fixtures we have before then. The most important game is always the next one. We have 4 games to play ahead of that. It’s pointless to look too far ahead, otherwise you tire yourselves out. Let’s stay focussed on the first challenges.”

The competition

“The other sides invest, bring in big coaches and big players. It’s good for France and the French people. The league will be difficult. Therefore, we need to prepare well, but it will be an exciting season. From our side of things, we are going to work to finish as high as possible. The league seems to be very balanced, we will see as the season progresses where we sit.”

C.D., F.H. / Photos Y.F.

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