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Patrick Vieira was very pleased with the overall performance of his side, victorious over Nîmes on Saturday evening (2-0).

Patrick, it’s a great victory!

Yes, a great victory. We were very good in terms of our spirit and discipline. We came up against a very organised side and we suffered, but it was a pretty complete performance from the team.

You could even have won it by a greater margin…

We could have scored a few more. We still lack some agression when we are in the opposition’s box. The interesting thing is that the squad is progressing. We need to continue to work and we will see how far we can go.

We get the feeling that the team puzzle is getting into place at the moment, across every area of the pitch...

On the whole we were solid defensively once again, even though we were slightly fragile at the start of the match.

The players are really enjoying playing together, something is being created here. We need to demand even more of them because the squad can still improve.

Your injured players are coming back slowly but surely…

It’s important to have players coming back from injury. Myziane will bring something to the team, we saw that in his few minutes this evening. Rémi (Walter) and Pierre (Lees-Melou), the other players who came on this evening, added something too. We have an interesting squad, and it’s the commitment of all of the players that will allow us to improve.

Your young players were also on show: Sylvestre, Ganago…

It reassures me and I am happy for them. They work well every day in training. Our trio up-front are 19 and 19 and even Allan (Saint-Maximin) is only 21 years old. They make lots of sacrifices for the team, that’s what makes me happy.

Are you relieved by the departure of Mario Balotelli?

No, Mario never caused any issues in the squad. He decided to leave, we respect that. He had two extraordinary years in Nice. It was the time for him to leave for a new challenge, things started well for him individually yesterday.

“We need to improve our agression in attack”

What can your team do better?

At times we lack a bit of rigour defensively. In the first half, we were too slow in moving the ball. Then, we could have tried to kill the game off sooner. For me, the lack of agression in attack is our main priority area that we need to improve, because we create quite a few chances and we often make the wrong choices.

You were solid once again, returning to a back four…

Our defence is one of our strengths this season. Walter (Benitez) is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. We are equally solid defensively because in front of the back four, we are working well to protect them. Sarr? He gets forward less than Atal because he has different characteristics from Youcef. He can bring something in attack by cutting inside. Tactically, it’s one of his best matches. 

Danilo is getting up to speed…

He is getting better and better, even though physically he struggled. It’s his best match with us. I could also speak about the performances of Ganago, Allan etc… it was a serious effort from everybody.

Do you think that you will need to be careful that this dosen’t go to your players’ heads?

I want my players to savour this. They work well, they don’t complain. I want them to take pleasure from evenings like tonight. My responsibility is to speak to them about the positive and the negative on Monday afternoon when we return to training, so that we can improve. We have two tough matches to come, at Lille and then against Lyon. They will be interesting challenges to face. 

When Allan Saint-Maximin showboats, do you like that?

Honestly, these aren’t things that I like to see. I think we need to remain simple. If he takes a hit after that, he will have to deal with that. I prefer that we focus on simplicity.

You scored two goals in the same match, something that hasn’t happened to you much this season…

I am happy because we had one of the worst attacks in Ligue 1, if not the worst. We have players like Myziane and Pierre Lees-Melou who are coming back from injury and give me new options. We will need to continue to work to find the right formula to score more goals.

How do you manage the current situation?

It can seem complicated from the outside, but amongst the team, inside the club, we are united with the employees, the players, the fans. We are all supporting each other in this slightly difficult period, and we focus on the pitch.

A word on the sacking of Thierry Henry?

I am very disappointed and sad for him, especially in the manner in which it happened. But he will react and I hope he will coach again soon. Good or bad, every experience has to be taken.

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