Not entirely convinced by the overall performance of his team, Les Aiglons’ coach Patrick Vieira was still happy with a win that has allowed his side to remain in contact with the European places.

Coach, three precious points for Le Gym against Dijon…

Yes, that has done a lot of good. Our recent results away from home have been rather poor so it’s good to get back to winning ways. This afternoon was a very complicated match, we didn’t see a good Nice side. In these conditions, taking the three points is a very good thing.

How would you explain your difficulties in this match?

The fact that we were playing against a side who is battling to stay in Ligue 1. We wanted to do things well but the team up against us caused us problems. We scored at the right time but then in the management, the control of the game, we were very bad. Even at 11 against 10, we lost our organisation, the simplicity of our game and we weren’t very good with the ball.

With such a decimated attack, were you not expecting this?

I am happy with the games that my three forwards had. For Ihsan (Sacko) and Bassem (Srarfi), they both hadn’t played for a long time and I knew that they would lack rhythm. JV (Makengo) played at number 9, we all know that this isn’t his position. But in their spirit, in the way that they respected the tactics that we put in place, I couldn’t ask more of them than they did. They worked very well for the team and that’s why we were strong defensively, they sacrificed themselves for the team. After the break, I put Ihsan through the middle because we needed more depth. Making runs is one of his strengths. 

Danilo seems to be getting up to his level...

He has been held back by injuries this season. But he works a lot and I think that he will get better and better at the end of this season. He still has a lot of room for improvement, I am very happy with him. Today, he had a very good game.

You sent on Assil Jaziri who proved rather audacious. 

Yes, we needed to score that second goal and to be more dangerous. He was interesting, he is one of these young players who can be very important from here until the end of the season. It’s important to give the youngsters the chance and to see what they are capable of. It’s down to them to take the chance. It can also give us ideas for next season. These are youngsters who have come through the academy, and we need to give them their chance.

Can we begin to talk about Europe again?

What is important for us is to be in a position that allows us to dream. Our current position allows us to do so. There are eight matches to go, anything is still possible.

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