The Nice coach praised his players’ commitment, as they went toe to toe with a solid Rangers side in their fourth friendly of the summer (0-2).

Coach, what will you take away from this friendly?
We played with a lot of youngsters in the first half. It was interesting. Some of them showed quality. It was maybe a level that was still a little high for them, but in terms of their commitment, their seriousness and the efforts they put in, there were some interesting things. There was maybe a little less rhythm than in the match against Celtic, which can be explained by the age of the squad. We came up against a team that brought more intensity. We were expecting that against more athletic players. But we were brave and showed quality with our backs to goal. Alexis (Trouillet) was very tidy. It was more difficult for little Alexandre (Parsemain) but he put in the effort that I was expecting and brought enthusiasm. It’s a good thing.

More generally, what lessons will you take away from this Trophée Veolia, which saw you play two matches in 48 hours?
There are lots, especially on the physical aspects. There is still work to be done. But we are feeling better and better. Despite all of these changes and the presence of the youngsters, we saw that they are starting to build some link-up play. Alexis (Claude-Maurice)’s arrival was interesting. Myziane and Morgan (Schneiderlin) will soon be back. Despite these absences, we are starting to put interesting things in place in attack. On the other side of things, in defence, we need to find that rigour and agression. We can’t concede goals like the second goal. These errors need to be used to help us improve.

Amine Gouiri looked dangerous once again coming on off the bench. What have you made of his start to his career in Red and Black?
Our project is to help him to grow, giving him game time because he needs to develop. In these last two matches, he has been very positive. He has incredible talent and needs to be able to express this in a team. He can play out wide and cut inside, between the lines. He can also play behind Kasper (Dolberg) at number 10. He is a very creative player and he will be good for us.

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