Even though he was delighted with the 5-2 win, during the press conference, the Aiglons’ coach chose to insist on the progress that his side needs to make in order to be more consistent over 90 minutes.

Coach, how do you analyse this large victory?

It’s a large victory when you look at the score, yes. It was laborious at times. We flapped athletically at the start of the match, we couldn’t deal with the rhythm imposed on the game. They were getting lots of second balls, they were very good in receiving the ball and flicking on. They had quite a bit of possession because of that and we struggled to resist. They used Thuram, we needed to bring back the block, because it was difficult physically. We conceded a penalty which we shouldn’t, there is no need to give away a foul there. It’s not possible to give them a penalty like that after a couple of minutes. Then to score on the counter, that changes things. The goal for 2-1 came at the right moment and the match changed direction from then on. But at 3-1, we dropped too deep. For ten minutes, we found ourselves dominated, we didn’t press high enough when we needed to, we gave them too many opportunities. Luckily, we scored just after their goal to avoid a difficult ending. It’s in that area that we had a considerable amount of work to do, I have been saying this for a while now, but I get the feeling that nobody wants to hear it. It’s improving slowly as the Swiss would say (smiles).

Your analysis could seem surprising given the score, you seem to focus a lot on the negatives?

Not at all, I am extremely happy, believe me. I focus on the things to be corrected, not on the negatives. It’s different. We can’t move forward by being negative. There are positives, of course. Alassane scored 4 goals, it’s something that is very rare in French or European matches. We know that Alassane is more of a centre forward than a winger, to play at the tip today helped him, but he was also very comfortable in front of goal, it’s good for him.

We have often criticised Plea for a lack of efficiency, this evening he scored four from four shots on target…

4 goals in one match, it’s a rare moment in a career, whatever team you play for. For us, it’s very good because it allows us to win away from home. Recently, Plea has been playing out on the left. It’s always a bit delicate for him but he does it well. His efficiency? He needs to work on his coordination. He knows he has work still to be done in this area, when he is on his left foot, when the ball is not on the floor etc.

What did you say at half-time to provoke that reaction in the second half?

First of all, that we couldn’t start in the same way as in the first. We corrected certain details. At the start of the match we were bullied, they put long balls down our right which caused us problems. We needed a midfield with height to drop to win the ball. Above all, we scored at the right time with the second and the third.

It had been a while since you last scored on the counter...

Yes, it’s true, you have to say that we had space. For the first goal it was wide open. That helped us because we started to get annoyed because we couldn’t get out. Sometimes, you need to accept it. The others make a choice, today for example a huge press from the get go. When that is the case, you need to know how to play differently. To be able to open it up. We got beaten at that for 20 minutes.

This result places you back amongst the challengers for Europe…

We take it match by match… we play against PSG next weekend before an international break. The important thing is to play very well against PSG. We know that in order for us to get a result, we will need to play very well. It was important to do something today, of course. There are 27 points still up for grabs, we have a tough run-in with Paris, the trips to Marseille and Lyon. We will continue with the same philosophy. We are one of 5 or 6 challengers. What I didn’t like much today was our attitude at 3-1. What happens if we don’t score straight after their goal to make it 3-2? We need to better manage the match when we have a two goal lead. We lacked things in this area.

We will finally stop harping on about the fact that you don’t win games without Mario Balotelli.

Last year, we won lots of matches away from home without Mario, it’s a fact. We lose games with him to. There is no simplistic rule. Above Mario’s situation, which is positive, I am also getting injured players back and so we have competition that can play in attack and defence. We have lots of youngsters who are beginning to show themselves. They still have areas to improve on but they are 19-20 years old and it is becoming interesting for the future of OGC Nice.

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