Here is Le Gym coach Francesco Farioli's press conference after the 0-1 win at Metz.

Francesco, you played a match "à la Niçoise", with your system looking increasingly well-oiled and solid. Are you satisfied?

Satisfied with the result, of course, because it wasn't an easy game today. We knew, for 1,000 reasons, that this Metz team could give us problems, because of the way they play, their quality and their organisation. I think we played a solid game, as you rightly said. We also had a good game with the ball at times, although we can definitely improve a lot in that area, because we're still lacking a bit of continuity in our ball management and our ability to find fluidity and combinations. We still have a lot to work on, but I think the team showed maturity. We played a good game.

Do you know how many times JC Todibo touched the ball?

188 (190 after updating the stat, editor's note).

That's a Ligue 1 record since analysis begun. What does that say about your game?

It's always been clear. We're a team that has always tried to control the game with the ball. The central defenders and full-backs touch the ball a lot. 188 touches is a significant number. I think JC is making a lot of progress in terms of his awareness of the game and his ability to make the right decisions. That's the path he needs to take to complete himself as a player and to prepare for what will be his next challenges.

Deschamps didn't call him up, are you surprised?

The French team has a lot of great players. France is a breeding ground for talent, so there's a lot of competition, both for JC and for Khephren. That has to be motivation for them to work harder and earn their place at the Euros.

Why did you take off Khephren Thuram?

As you saw, there was a moment in the game when, despite being shown a yellow card, he committed another foul that could have got him sent off. That was my main motivation. I talked about it in the pre-match press conference: when you have to stop a counter-attack, I ask the players to go into the duel and stop the move, even if it means committing a foul. Khephren picked up a yellow when he tried to win the ball back in the transition. Against a team like Metz, who have this strength and a lot of physicality when the game is open, we need 3 players without a card who can go into a tackle with conviction and without worrying about a card.

You decided to start Hicham Boudaoui in place of Morgan Sanson. Can you explain why and what you thought of his performance?

I'm lucky enough to have difficult choices to make every week. Hicham has just completed 2 weeks of high-quality work, and he's very fresh. He's had some great training sessions, so I thought it was only fair to give him an opportunity. I'll say it again: there are no starters and substitutes: there are players who make an important contribution to starting and finishing a match. Aside from his goal, Hicham played a solid, important match and was very much in the game. He's a valuable player for the club and the team. We need to use him in the best possible way.

Are you paying attention to the table?

No. You know what I think, what I believe. On this point, I always like to recall Dante's words from a few weeks ago: "Our objective is to pick up as many points as possible”. In all our training sessions, we try to go out on the pitch with a particular mentality. Looking at the table today after 8 games doesn't really have any value or meaning, but the points we've picked up are important points. Points that we've deserved given the hard work we've put in since the start of pre-season. Now we're going to take a few days off to recover our energy, both physically and mentally, because as you well know, the last 4 weeks, for 1,000 reasons, have been very heavy. After that, we'll be back on Thursday with the mental freshness we need to get back to work. We know that there are still a lot of things to improve and a lot of important matches to play.

You don't have the impression that you played with fire, because if Metz had been more clinical...

Everyone prepares for a match with a certain idea, by envisaging certain things. Metz made a clear choice. We were good at responding to their changes in pressing during the match. We can definitely be even more fluid and efficient in our build-up play. But obviously, when a team increases the pressure on us a little, we also have attacking solutions that become dangerous, because leaving players like Boga, Terem and Laborde with space, one on one, isn't easy. Then players can come on. These are choices that have to be made. Metz made a choice. We were good at playing within the limits of the match.

---