In his press conference, Lucien Favre was split in his opinion of his side’s draw, between the disappointment of having dropped two points and the satisfaction of coming back into the game to earn one.

Coach, do you have any regrets after this draw in Strasbourg ?

Given the way the game went, I am not sure if you can say that. The first half was difficult. We struggled athletically. Also with the second balls. They played in the air, we were struggling in the duels. We also struggled to keep the ball, to control the game. We were making “false” moves, in areas where we can’t receive the ball. So of course, we lost a lot and then you need to run to get it back. In the second half, it was better. We finally had some chances, more or less clear cut, but we had opportunities. We finally tried to take them apart, because in the first half, we didn’t do much, we were hit by the big impact of Strasbourg.

There was a lot of commitment in that match…

Yes, of course. But if you look at the Strasbourgeois, they are big athletically. It wasn’t a surprise for us. In the second half, we were able to find an answer to it. But if we want to win matches, you need to create more chances, whilst at the same time managing the recoveries from the opposition’s counters. You need to be quicker in the transition between defence and attack and vice versa.

You decided to take Marlon off at the break…

Yes, he was struggling, he had a yellow. If you want to play higher up the pitch, to take risks to get back into the game, it’s very tough to defend with a yellow.

You decided to go with Ihsan Sacko to replace Plea. What did you make of his game?

They are youngsters, you need to give them a chance, to see what they can do. Ihsan is more comfortable on the right wing. There is work to be done. The move where he gets injured, for me it seemed that there was a foul but I haven’t seen the replays yet. In any case, it was planned that he would come off even before he got injured, so that we could change the system with Le Bihan coming on. We were better in attack after that but Strasbourg were even more dangerous on the counter.

Sharing the points here, is that a bad deal for you?

I don’t know. We didn’t lose, but we don’t move forward much either. We came back in the second half, so that is positive. We needed to win, it’s easy to say, but to come here, it’s not simple. It comes down to very little. Some teams came here, some won and they still don’t know how… When you draw, your competitors benefit. But look at the last games, what it comes down to: a penalty, a post… However to go out and get Europe, you need more than that.

The race for Europe could go down to the final game of the season!

I hope so. We go to Marseille, to Lyon, we will need to pull something out of the bag. Everything is still open, everywhere, the podium, Europe, relegation.

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