Olivier Pantaloni appeared at a press conference shortly after Le Gym’s defeat away at Auxerre (1–0).

Coach, OGC Nice are still without a win after four games, is the situation already alarming?

We definitely came here with the intention of winning this match. You could sense that during the game. It’s tough for the players, I think they played the way we expected them to, and there were some very promising chances to open the scoring. We weren’t missing much, but something was still missing. When you’re in a difficult situation, it feels as though nothing is going your way, but we can’t give up and have to carry on working as we do every day. Despite the defeat, which is hard to take for the players and for us, the coaching staff, we felt there was an improvement in what we produced both in attack and in defence.

What are you lacking? Which areas of the pitch are the most problematic?

Tonight (Saturday), I think it’s mainly in attack. We had some very promising chances in the first half, where we perhaps lacked a bit of composure. It was the same in the second half, with a counter-attack where the opposition made a last-ditch tackle just a few centimetres from the line, moments where we hesitated, shots that went wide… I think that tonight, despite showing good intent in attack, we lacked precision and efficiency.

Could your system be called into question?

I don’t think so. When they came in at half-time, the players were very pleased with their performance. They felt very comfortable with the approach we’d adopted. It seems to me that, over the course of the game, we largely dominated this Auxerre side. Unfortunately, we lacked clinical finishing and conceded from one of AJA’s few chances.

Mentally speaking, have you noticed any echoes of last season? Do you feel that some players are a bit fragile?

There have been a lot of departures from the squad, and quite a few new arrivals. There may still be traces of what they went through last year in some of them. We’re working to ensure that we focus on our season and that we perhaps draw on their experiences to make sure we don’t go through the same thing again this year.

Do you think your team was 100 per cent ready, both technically and physically, to be competitive?

They might not be 100 per cent, but I’ve seen an improvement compared to the last match. I feel we’re making progress with what we’re putting together. We’re going to have to win our first game before the winter break, starting with the next game against Lille, which won’t be easy.

Defensively, certain mistakes cost you dearly…

Tonight (Saturday), it's mainly in the block that we need to do better to avoid conceding that goal. We're not going to single out any one player in particular, as a team, we still need to make progress both defensively and offensively.

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