On Thursday, at the end of the morning training session, Lucien Favre held his first press conference of the year. After having addressed his wishes to the Gym’s following, the Nice coach got straight back down to business, with two days to go before the trip to Toulouse, which will get a busy month of January underway.

Coach, how has the return to work been?

We took six days off because we got back from Lille on Thursday in the middle of the night. It does some good for everyone, it was necessary because the first half of the season was intense. We got back to work on Friday 29 December, with a session in the afternoon, two on the Saturday and then the Sunday. After a break of 36 hours to celebrate the New Year, we got back together as a group on Tuesday afternoon. It went well, there were no problems. That was just training: we will soon be back with the real work, and that will be something else.

“These could be two very very intensive months, but that is what I want”

Can Nice play across 4 competitions?

We hope so. We have the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue in 3 days, and then there is the league with Amiens, then Monaco again. It gets going very very quickly. We will play in all of them. These could be two very very intensive months, but that is what I want. We are happy to play all of these matches. For the moment, we have Toulouse in mind, in the Coupe de France, even though as a coach, you always have to anticipate what else is coming. We will put out the best team possible on both occasions.

Which players are already ruled out of the match in Toulouse?

The “old injuries”: Le Bihan, Ganago, Jallet, Lusamba, Sneijder. As for Cyprien, he will be back with the squad soon but he had to stop for 15 days after Lille in the  Coupe de la Ligue (adducteurs strain, Editor’s note).

“Marlon and Dante have worked well”

Marlon and Dante, are they ready to be back out there on Saturday?

We will see. There is also Sarr who is here. Marlon and Dante have worked hard at home, they had a very specific programme. They came back on Tuesday with a long journey but didn’t suffer from it. We saw in training that they had worked well.

With PSG, Nice are the only club to be involved in 4 competitions.

It’s good, I would like it to continue, even though we haven’t had the easiest of draws, in both the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue.

Would you prefer to face a L1 side rather than an amateur club?

I can’t say that. Even if you draw a team from the 2nd or 3rd division, it can be very very very tough. I experienced that in Germany. These are tough matches. No match can be taken easily. For now, we are prepared to face Toulouse.

With at stake, a place in the Round of 32 of the Coupe de France for the first time since 2014...

We hope to get through. We will face a side that we beat 2-1 a month ago. Since then, they have played well. Their last games at home were good. They beat Caen (2-0) and against Strasbourg, they should never have lost (2-1 defeat). And they could have beaten Lyon (1-2 defeat), with 4-5 clear cut chances at 1-0 for Lyon. So it’s not easy, we are well-placed to know that.

“To create more chances for ourselves”

The win that you secured at the Stadium, can that help you?

At the end, we got more possession of the ball. We will need to create more chances for ourselves, and to continue to remain stable defensively.

Which goalkeeper do you think you will start?

I can’t tell you who will play two days before a match.

---