Lucien Favre underlined the excellent defensive work of the whole of his side, which allowed the Gym to take home another win with a clean sheet to boot.

Coach, a third consecutive 1-0 victory at home!

We won, that’s what is good. It wasn’t undeserved on the balance of the game because we played on our terms in the first half. In the second, we struggled a bit more, it’s true, there was an element of fatigue. At the breakdown there weren’t enough runs in front. We also needed to be ready to counter on every ball because if not, the opponent isn’t worried and can set-up in your half. At the start of the match, we moved them around well, we destabilised them. We have work to do, because you can’t forget that we started with a very young side today.

In this regard, your inexperience defence stood up well to the challenge.

They held up well, supported by the midfielders. The Stéphanois had very few chances, even though they had some success on the wings. Everybody participated defensively, it was important.

Wylan Cyprien got the victory with a superb free-kick.

It’s magnificent when you think about all of the effort he has put in. You can’t forget to congratulate our physios who have worked with him during this period. There is a huge amount of work which goes on behind the scenes, Wylan has worked incredibly hard. Now, he needs to recover, that is two full matches in 5 days for him. We will need to be careful in how we manage it. The most important thing is that he hasn’t lost it. Like last year against St Etienne, he earns us the victory. It’s tough to say where he is in terms of percentage. He has had two very good games. At 6, he has the game in front of him, it’s his favourite position. Last year, he often played at 8, on the wings towards the end of the games because that’s what the team needed.

So your Seri - Cyprien duo metamorphose your midfield!

In terms of play, it was good. At times, dangerous because we risked losing the ball in dangerous areas. We need to play more accurately, maybe even more quickly but it’s already a lot better.

Can you tell us more about Plea, forced to drop out at the last minute and Saint-Maximin who was forced off during the game?

Plea had been feeling his back since yesterday. We told him that we were going to try but it didn’t work out unfortunately. For Saint-Maximin, it’s a dead leg from the information that I have, it shouldn’t be very serious.

With all of the injuries, your squad is getting rather thin…

It’s true that our bench with Perraud, Ganago, Marcel, Makengo, Pelmard, it was very young. It doesn’t bother me too much when they are youngsters with potential. But it’s true that it leaves us a bit short, but we can’t change these things, that’s the way it is. We had a build-up of little knocks in November, once again, it’s the case.

What is the ambition going forward?

We look beneath us, because we know where we have come from, and a little bit above us. We need to be realistic. We will try to progress in every match. Try to be more dangerous going forward. We need more of a cutting edge, final passes and more efficient movement.

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