In his press conference, Patrick Vieira explained that he was disappointed for his side, who he felt deserved the equaliser for the fight they showed.

Patrick, we imagine that you would have dreamt of better debuts…

Yes. We would have liked to get a positive result, but unfortunately, that’s the way it is. To concede a goal at the start like that made things more difficult for us. We tried, but we didn’t have that success in front of goal.

The media have spoken a lot during pre-season about your lack of efficacy in front of goal…

What was important this evening was to create chances. That success in front of goal which wasn’t there, may well be there in the next game.  We had the chances. We lacked a bit of luck from 2 or 3 chances. We didn’t have enough players attacking the space. We lacked presence in the box too, we need to work on our shape. But it’s a shame because the players deserved at least a draw. We need to continue to work. The ideas, the structures were there. But then you need to be in the right place. We saw some very good things, but we still have work to do and we will get back to it on Monday. To reinforce to technical and tactical message that we have put in place since the start of pre-season. To believe what we do. My ideas are clear, I won’t change direction after this evening’s game. We have the players to play in this way.

As a coach picking your side, do you suffer from the lack of forwards in your squad?

In this evening’s game, we mainly lacked that bit of luck in front of goal.. You could also lack that with another forward. What’s important for me is to put in place what is required in order to create chances, then the quality or the luck of a striker can help to convert the chance. We succeeded in creating chances, especially in the second half. If we continue to work, things will shine on us one day or another.

We saw you make several changes to your attacking set-up. Were you looking for the right formula?

We looked for solutions to put Reims into difficulty. Allan changed sides, he came into the middle. Bassem also moved, Pierre tried to find space in the middle too.

“A bit too slow in our passing”

What did you make of the goal you conceded so early in the game?

I didn’t see the move properly, I need to see the video. Of course, conceding a goal that early on  is disappointing. Reims then had a very deep block and we struggled to find the spaces. We were a bit too slow in our passing to cause them problems.

You decided to go with Cardinale in goal rather than Benitez. For what reason?

I don’t want to explain my individual choices for the moment. I made choices today, I will make others next weekend. All of the players want to play: Walter, Malang and the others, but there are only 11 starters.

What was your thinking behind the Boscagli - Makengo change?

Reims only had one forward, the idea was to leave Dante and Hérelle with him and to have the rest of our players playing higher up. By trying to create width with Allan (Saint-Maximin) and Youcef (Atal).

On a personal level, how have you found your first game in Ligue 1 as a coach?

I was quite calm. I tried to communicate with the players. There was emotion. The stress and desire to do things well were also there. This defeat at home hurts because the players put in the effort and tried to score the goal. I am disappointed for them.

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