Coach, what feeling predominates after this result?

This draw does not satisfy us. We hadn’t won since the start of the season. We were counting on doing so tonight, in a context we know, with the commemoration of the attack. We all wanted to win this match to give the supporters a victory and truly get our season underway.We put ourselves in difficulty quite quickly with the loss of possession and the goal we conceded. I think there are still lingering effects from last season in the players’ minds. We had to regain our composure, and the second part of the first half was much better. We managed to cause them problems and equalised just before half-time. We wanted to start the second half on the same footing.

You managed to do that…

Yes, the first 15 minutes were interesting. It was perhaps one of our strongest periods. But we couldn’t take the lead. After that, we exposed ourselves quite frequently through losses of possession and their attacking transitions, with players who are very fast. A point is not enough, we would have liked to take two more. We may also have managed to hold on to the draw because Le Mans had chances that could have changed the course of the match.

Despite the mistakes, there was also the first goal in a competitive match this season. After a game like this, do you focus on the positives or the negatives?

I’m going to try to remain positive. Of the players who started tonight, only two played a full season last campaign. Today, the central defensive partnership of Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Mohamed Abdelmonem and Junior Mandza was somewhat unfamiliar, because the first two have hardly played, and Junior hasn’t either. There is an understanding between them to develop. We work on that every day, and the players are committed. There’s no problem in that respect, the team has a great mentality.

It takes a little time to establish connections between us. I hope that happens quickly.

There are also physical disparities among a number of players who did not have a proper pre-season with their clubs. We had to juggle things tonight just to finish the match with 11 players. There are many factors that mean we need to progress quickly with our football and with the physical side of the team, so that we can use players who are fully fit and able to perform at their best.

One of tonight’s positives was seeing Elye Wahi score his first goal of the season already. During the week, you said he only had an hour in his legs, but he ended up playing the whole match…

We took a risk by having him play until the end. At half-time, I asked him how much fuel he had left in the tank so that we wouldn’t take an unnecessary risk. I asked him again shortly after the hour mark, and he told me he had another five minutes. x1xThen a number of players started struggling to continue: Jonathan Clauss, Djibril Coulibaly, Nathan Ngoumou, and we knew Nils Nkounkou didn’t have 90 minutes in his legs. We had to make a choice.

We wanted to take Elye off and bring Mohammed Amoura on as the striker. But Jonathan could no longer keep going, so Mendy had to come on. As a result, Elye had to play until the end.

Are you satisfied with Mohammed Amoura’s introduction?

It’s always difficult in a first match. He arrived at the beginning of the week and has had very little training with us. I think we’ll need to give him a little time because he isn’t yet at full fitness, but we know that he too will bring a huge amount to the team. His introduction was generous in terms of effort. With the ball, he was perhaps a little untidy. But that’s not a problem. We know he has the qualities to give us more.