Nice – Lyon
Franck Haise and Charles Vanhoutte get the ball rolling
Franck Haise and Charles Vanhoutte appeared before the media ahead of the match between Le Gym and Lyon (Saturday at 17:00). Excerpts.
Update on the squad
The Nice coach announced that, in addition to Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Mohamed Abdelmonem and Moïse Bombito – "whose operation went well and who will be unavailable for four to five months" – Terem Moffi will also be missing on Saturday.
"He injured his calf this morning," explained Haise. "It was his first training session [since his return from international duty]. It was a very light session, as we were two days away from the match. He felt pain in his calf when he put weight on it."
However, the coach had some reassuring news about Dante: "He trained with us this week. We will have one last session [on Friday] to assess his situation and see if, at the very least, he can be part of the squad."
What about Tanguy Ndombele, who played for an hour with the elite squad last week?
"He's been playing consistently for several weeks now," said Haise. "But there's a lot of competition in midfield. He needs to prove himself more than those who have been there from the start. We're not there yet, in my opinion, but what is certain is that he's making progress."
His thoughts ahead of Lyon
"I have my principles and convictions, but I'm not dogmatic," continued the Nice coach. "What's certain is that confidence will return when we start to feel solid. Lyon lost their last home game late in the piece [2-1 against Toulouse], but you can sense that they are solid, they don't open up indiscriminately and they make the right choices. In fact, they have always scored their goals at the end of games. They are a team that relies on this, that knows how to strike when they can. This is another good example of what we need to achieve."
Vanhoutte : "I hope we can improve"
Charles Vanhoutte, named by supporters as Aiglon of the Month for September, also spoke to the press, focusing in particular on his place in the dressing room.
"The role of leader? My teammates didn't give it to me. They didn't tell me I was the leader. I just do my thing," said the Belgian international. "I try to help everyone. There are also others who help me. That's what a team is all about. There are always people who talk more than others. It depends a bit on everyone's personality. I try to do my job, help as much as possible and speak up when I think the team needs it. There are a lot of matches coming up. I hope we can continue to improve as a team and get good results."
