Franck Haise spoke at the press conference after OGC Nice’s defeat at the Parc des Princes against PSG on Matchday 11 of Ligue 1 (1-0).

Can you give us any information about Sofiane Diop's condition?

When a player has a muscle problem, even if he doesn't want to come off, my job is to take him off. Sofiane had a hamstring problem. From the moment he tells me he has an injury, I'm not going to ask him to try for another ten minutes and risk that injury becoming worse. I hope it's only minor. He started on the bench because he was ill.

Is this the cruellest scenario imaginable?

We know that these things happen, sport involves moments of great joy and moments of cruelty. We defended well for most of the game and conceding that goal with five seconds to go is definitely a bit hard to swallow.

What can you tell us about Yéhvann Diouf, who had a good game and is in good form?

Yéhvann is consistent, just like the team when it defends. He is consistent in what he does, with a lot of calm and a lot of quality.

We are 50 days away from AFCON, how do you plan to deal with the absence of Yéhvann Diouf and Antoine Mendy?

I will have other players as well. But for me, and for a coach in general, 50 days is a long way off, a very long way off. I have a second goalkeeper, a third goalkeeper... If Yéhvann leaves for AFCON, Maxime Dupé, who has already played at a very high level, will be the one to play.

Your team defended very well until the last five seconds, but are there any regrets about not being a little more offensive?

First of all, I regret not being more precise on our breaks and transitions, especially in the first half, where there were two or three clear situations where all we needed was one more pass to open things up. We did a little better when Sofiane was on the pitch, because the aim was to have that extra player inside. We managed to show a bit more. Of course I would like us to have more control, more goal-scoring opportunities, but we have to take it step by step. We've recently faced a lot of opponents who were much stronger than us, and I'm not looking to compete for the number of chances. But having a bit more precision to hurt Paris more regularly would have been better.

Despite this defeat, what lessons can you take for the rest of the season?

A squad has been built, and it's developing differently from the expectations I might have had. You need to have ideas, but you can't just do anything with those ideas, you also need to have the possibilities to carry them out. So, we've adapted certain things. I think that what the players have been giving over the last few weeks is a step in that direction. There are obviously other steps to take, and I hope we will take them, in terms of controlling the ball, coming out of defence and precision. I hope that these will also be future steps in our progress. We can't lose what is our strong point today: our ability to work hard and be well organised. We can't make any mistakes in that respect. We need to improve in certain areas, but we can't forget what has brought us back into the game.

How did Gabin Bernardeau manage the U20 World Cup in Chile?

He played very little, starting only one match. The problem is that he also trained very little. He came back with very little training under his belt over the last three weeks. We are gradually bringing him back up to speed. In any case, he's happy to be back. The goal is to get him back into training sessions, even if, with matches very often, our sessions are a little different from a typical week, but that doesn't stop him from working hard. I'll let you interview him so he can explain what he took away from the World Cup.

You were on a good run with three wins in a row. Do you view this match as an anomaly, or do you remain confident based on your performance in previous matches?

I'm trying to analyse the match apart from the goal we conceded five seconds before the end. In terms of what we wanted to do, particularly in defence, we were pretty much in line with what we had decided to do with a 4-5-1, sometimes a 5-4-1, sometimes a 6-4-1, because you have to protect the middle a lot against Paris, but you also have to protect the wings. I would have liked us to have been more precise, there were a few balls we could have released better in each half. It's still disappointing because we had just won three times, and we hadn't lost in the previous two matches. I would have liked us to continue our unbeaten run, and we weren't far off.

When interviewed in the mixed zone, Gonçalo Ramos expressed his frustration at facing very defensive teams, unlike in the Champions League. Do you think this is a fair comparison, or is he failing to take into account that the budgets and levels are not the same?

I can understand, because he would prefer to score four or five goals. We make do with what we have, with our strengths. If we come to Paris and I say ‘everyone go forward’ and we put a block on 60 metres, after fifteen minutes, the match is over. Of course I've played matches here with a little more potential, but every year, every moment of the season, every squad, a manager's goal is to try to optimise and get results. We didn't come here for a weekend break. We came to try to cause Paris problems, with our strengths, certainly with our weaknesses, but we'll keep working on that.

How do you explain PSG's contrasting performances in Ligue 1 and the Champions League this season?

The reality is that they face very deep, very compact defences in Ligue 1, because Ligue 1 teams are so used to losing against Paris that they try to be more solid and not open up. In the Champions League, most of their opponents are very strong and play in different ways. Then there are the intrinsic motivations of each team. It may be more difficult to stay highly motivated, even if they played a good game. We tried to cause them problems and you can't say that Paris played badly. They were very technically accurate, perhaps not in the final third. They won, there's no scandal there. It's just the cruelty of those last few seconds. The Champions League is something else, with different opponents. We're already struggling in the Europa League. We're not opponents at that level, even if we're capable of taking points off Paris.

Has Ligue 1 adapted to what Paris is doing?

There have been adaptations, for sure. What we did tonight, for example, I had never done against Paris before. There are also adaptations in terms of our capabilities and strengths, but the countermeasure is still strong. Other adaptations will be needed in Ligue 1 to counter Paris. Strasbourg did some great things, they have a very good team. Every Ligue 1 match is difficult, even very difficult for Paris, unless they open the scoring very quickly, because then it's a different game and it's not usually favourable for the team that's behind. When we manage to prevent them from scoring quickly, it strengthens our position.

Do you expect to have any players back against Freiburg?

In terms of injuries, we'll see how Mohamed-Ali Cho can help us out during the week. Today, out of the injured players, I think he's the only one I can expect to have back before the international break.

What about Jonathan Clauss?

Jo' is different. The context, in just a few days, was not ideal, partly because he wasn't 100% physically and partly because he wasn't 100% emotionally, in my opinion. I preferred to give him some time and not include him in the squad. As he is suspended from the Europa League, he will be able to have a good full week of training. And then we'll have a discussion at some point, which isn't the kind he can have with the directors, but just between a manager and a player who, in this case, was the vice-captain. We'll have that discussion in due course. We've had a run of matches. I prioritised those who were going to be part of the squad and who were going to play.

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