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At his press conference, Patrick Vieira was satisfied with his side’s reaction, which according to the Coach of Les Aiglons, provides them with their just reward following their efforts in recent weeks.

Patrick, it was a great win for your side after the game had begun to look like a bit of an ambush at the start…

The situation was complicated. To concede that first goal added that bit of doubt. We were a bit timid when we needed to push on. But despite the goal that we conceded, we continued to try to play. Psychologically, it was tough, that’s why I am proud of this squad and the team in terms of its ability to react. It was a deserved win. 

Your decisions paid off: Myziane and Lusamba returned to the starting eleven and made a big impact. 

It’s a team victory. In terms of what they showed me during the week, these decisions were easy for me. Myziane trained well and did well when he came on in the last two games, there was no reason not to start him. He was rewarded for his efforts, because he was very good in his defensive work. Arnaud (Lusamba) has always been positive, today he played and was good. My job is not to make them happy, but to make choices for the best of the team. The players who started the match deserved it.

What did you say to your players at the break when the score was at 1-1?

To continue to look for width and depth in our play. Angers are well organised, they keep things tight. We needed to add more rhythm, to take our free-kicks more quickly, in order to get in behind.

Three goals, but more specifically, three excellent moves…

Yes that’s a real positive. Against Lyon, we already showed certain interesting moves, although we lacked that little something and weren’t good enough with our final ball. This evening, we moved well, we scored goals that were beautiful to watch. Physically, we are better and that’s when the players’ quality can come through. We always forget that some players arrived very late, and were behind physically or had injuries. Impatience means that we have been criticised a lot, but this evening, the players are rewarded for their efforts over the last three weeks.

Can we hope that this match might be a turning point?

We were still lacking some things. There are lots of things to improve. We have come a long way, we had injuries, suspensions, difficulty playing consistently and an awful lot of criticism from the outside world. We know where we need to go, we can still do better, but over the last two matches, even though we didn’t get a result against Lyon, we can see that the squad is progressing.

“Believe in what we are putting in place”

Was the victory a response to the criticism that you mentioned?

No, not at all. Our job is to do all that we can on the pitch. Sometimes there is a difference in the way that people see matches, but that’s part of the game. As I said to you, what’s important is to know where we want to go and to give ourselves the means to get there.

What do you say to your players after a convincing victory like the one this evening?

We are always careful. There is no euphoria to be had, it’s a good match and a good result. When we had bad results, we tried to be fair in our analysis and to use it to progress. We still gave the ball away too much in our half. We need to cut this out because we put ourselves in trouble all on our own.

How can you be more consistent?

We need to believe in what we are putting in place. Believe in the philosophy that we want to develop. Remain positive while being honest about the mistakes we are making. Confidence will come after a series of good results.

Dolberg doesn’t have many touches of the ball, but something happens every time…

Of course. That’s the objective, as it is for Adam (Ounas), to find them more often. They are both players with lots of talent, we need to find them more regularly and more quickly. But it’s not a one-way street, they need to be available more often for the man on the ball. There is still room for greater understanding, they have only played a few matches together. They will need time.

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