Arriving back in Nice in the early hours of Friday morning, Lucien Favre attended the pre-match press conference ahead of Nice – Dijon on Friday afternoon. Apart from group questions, the Gym coach was also questioned on certain individuals in his squad. He answered with a large overview on his squad. Verbatim.

The forces present

The coach on Wesley Sneijder: “He picked up a knock (against Lazio) and he was hurting behind the knee. He needed to come off. We need to do some tests but we don’t know anymore than that, we will see.”

On the Balotelli – Plea duo: “The problem is that Balotelli played against Lazio in the first match and on the Sunday after, he couldn’t play. He wasn’t there. It’s a question of managing it, Ganago is injured again. If we play two up-front every time, it’s difficult. When you think that in November, we will have 10 matches in 31 days, it’s impossible to play them together each time. Impossible. We did it several times, but with the repetition, it’s very delicate.”

On Pierre Lees-Melou: “He has been playing since the beginning, since Ajax. In November, there will be matches every 3rd day, so we will need to rotate 4 or 5 players, like lots of other teams do. Something to work on? In training, he is hitting the target, because he has both feet.  In terms of shooting in matches, he isn’t doing what he does so well in training.”

On Rémi Walter: “Rémi started well (against Lazio). Found feet with his passes, it wasn’t bad.”

On Arnaud Lusamba: “We create battles in training, when we have the time. We need to give a chance to the youngsters so that they can try to take it.”

On Racine Coly: “We are going to work during the break in November, to put him under pressure to see him as a full-back, with 4 at the back and not in a 3-4-3, which is a bit different. He comes from the 2nd division in Italy, of course there is a difference in rhythm. Not “physical” rhythm, but with ball control, on the floor, defensive and offensive rhythm.”

The players to return

On Mika Seri: “He will begin running again, and that’s it for the moment, because we can’t allow him to get injured again. (About his return date). If things go as they should, it’s planned for after the international break, but when, I can’t tell you.”

On Wylan Cyprien: “He isn’t in pain. Wylan is on the right path, he is really good, free, takes the ball with his left foot, his right foot. He is doing everything. (In the future) I think he will play 2 or 3 matches with the N2, but for not yet. Now, he will be with us for 2 or 3 weeks, then, he will begin to play again and we will see, it depends on how things go. But with him, you can’t expect him to be back playing this year, like that. He wasn’t even expected to return this season after what he suffered, so now, after 7 months, it’s already fantastic where he is at. And then, you never know, we could have a nice surprise, he may play a lot sooner than expected… We need to stay calm and he will still need a bit of time.”

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