Adrian Ursea spoke in the post-match press conference after the Gym’s defeat to Lille (2-0).

Adrian, was it a poor performance?

No, I don’t think so. I saw a game that we wanted to play in. But our opponents fought hard and are trying to win the title. We had a plan in place. We knew that they were going to press us because they kept talking about starting games poorly. We prepared to start well knowing that they would press us, that’s one of their weapons. We wanted to beat their press to take advantage of the spaces. The few times in which we did so we couldn’t get forward to put them under pressure. But I don’t think it was a poor performance.

For you was it not as bad as against Dijon?

It’s two different situations. Against us we had opponents capable of putting us under immense pressure. Once more I’ll repeat it, we wanted to beat their press, that’s why we focused on playing out and our attacking play. We couldn’t do it it’s as simple as that, for many reasons.

Which ones?

Not all the players had the same intentions at the same time: focusing play down one side and then switching and then maybe again. Against that press you need to play one or two touch. We lacked that. From then on, we suffered that press and didn’t find the solutions. But I’m, not questioning the state of mind like we suffered from in Dijon. I saw players fighting and not giving up even with 10 men. Yes, we were dominated and that’s normal, but I don’t remember Lille having many chances when we were down to 10. I’d say that there were two different games within the match up until the sending off. That’s my regret.

The Gym didn’t have a shot all game…

We were ineffective tonight because we couldn’t get forward. They’re really well organised, we know that if we focus on our attack, we expose ourselves to their counter attacks and their transitions. They’re a really good team on that front. The few times we managed to break the press were when we needed to be quicker and get forward. We weren’t able to do so but I’m not questioning the team’s state of mind. We did everything to prepare for the game and we wanted to put in a good performance. But our opponents were really good and put us under a lot of pressure.

Do you think that Lille will finish as league champions?

It’s in their hands. It only depends on their results. I honestly think that they are a team with all the qualities to finish as champions.

How did you prepare your defenders to stop Burak Yilmaz?

He’s a very complete striker and varies his game well. He can play with his back to goal and get in behind when the space Is there, and he can adapt. Our defenders were aware. We do like everyone else does, they have videos. We spoke about Yilmaz’s qualities. But the best players can always make a difference no matter the information you have on them. That’s what happened tonight.

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