Interview

Favre: "We remained patient"

In his press conference, the Aiglons coach, Lucien Favre paid tribute to the quality of the goal scored by his side, and their ability to remain patient to take home their 18th victory of the season in Ligue 1. 

Coach, the Gym have taken home a victory once again by a one goal margin…
That’s the way it is at the moment. It’s good to take. We remained patient, because we knew that Dijon were dangerous. It has been difficult for all teams here, for Marseille, Monaco, Lyon etc. The difficulty of this match wasn’t a surprise for me. We were almost 1-0 down, they were always dangerous. Dijon played the game I have seen them play against a number of sides, and they managed to cause them problems. A well organised 4-4-2, disciplined, a bit sit back and wait-and-see, but with a strong press. To be more dangerous, we needed to play more quickly or to get the ball into feet. We needed to stay calm because that is the best way for you to be hit on the break. It was very difficult, but it will continue to be like that. Our ambition stays the same, to win, to score one goal more than the opponent.

Wylan Cyprien scored another very important goal!
Yes, that’s important it’s true. The build-up was attractive, a nice switch from Eysseric. Then what is brilliant is the control from Cyprien. If he hadn’t done that perfectly, there wouldn’t have been a goal.

The goal came a couple of minutes after you made a tactical change, with Cyprien pushed up a bit on the right of a 4-2-3-1. What a bit of coaching  !
(Embarrassed) I am not sure that has anything to do with it. Cyprien is able to score from all positions, he has shown that this season. The tactical changes, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. What I take home is really the beauty of that goal, the quality of the ball, the control on the move, the skill of the player to put it into the back of the net.

With ten matches to go, you are now level on points with Monaco and Paris…
(He interrupts) We have 62 points. That’s the most important thing.

You now have a 15 point lead on Lyon, can we say that a place on the podium is confirmed for you…
I don’t look at that. I look at our form, how we work. We are only focussed on the next matches. We play again in six days against Caen, a team that has just lost at home, even though it was on the back of two good wins, including one against St Etienne. I am already concentrating on this match, the rest, I don’t think about.

18 wins in 28 matches, including 12 with a one goal margin. How does that make you feel?
That the matches are long when you only have a one goal lead (smiles). We would like to score the second… I have already said it and I repeat it, we lack that cutting edge when we recover the ball. These are small but important details, but we are pleased with our form.