Satisfied with his players' team spirit, Lucien Favre appreciated the fact that, even though they couldn't find a second goal to kill off the match, his side hunkered down and defend their 1-0 lead

Lucien, that was a very tough match for the Aiglons!

We were expecting it. It's difficult to take points here. Every match plays out on the slightest detail, and Guingamp are dangerous at home. They have athletic players, they're good one-on-one and, on the flanks especially, they're very difficult to contain. If you don't defend well, it can get very dangerous.

You started the match perfectly by scoring early…

Yes. We could have made it 2-0 right after that, but we didn't and that's regrettable. But it's part of football: when you can't make it 2-0, you need to hold onto your 1-0 lead, and that's what we did.
​After that, we held out well but we could have played better in terms of how much we lost possession and how we played out of defence. They piled on the pressure towards the end - they're very athletic - and things got pretty hairy. Luckily for us Privat wasn't there, as he's very good in the air. That helped us hold out. Still, we had some chances in the second half that we should have put away, but we were just missing that bit of good fortune for them to go in.

Were you surprised by the quality of play that Guingamp produced?

No, because I've watched a lot of their matches and we knew it would be extremely difficult. It's their first defeat here this season. They won in Lyon, and they have played very well here - evenly balanced matches that they often win 1-0. Tonight we came out on top, but it was very close and everything could have changed quickly had they scored to make it 1-1. It was a good match, a hard-fought encounter. We still have work to do on our rhythm. Rhythm isn't just about running. It's your first touch, making the right run, reading the game… we have work to do before we can turn a good performance in to a top-level performance.

A word on Younes Belhanda, who scored the only goal tonight?

He scored a magnificent goal. He's much more comfortable against a side who play four at the back. When there are five defenders, it's tougher - for every team. I've seen in foreign leagues that there are quite a few teams playing with five at the back and it's tough for everyone, especially wingers.

You're still clear in top spot... the adventure continues…

We got the three points tonight and that's great. We're playing again in four days. The most important thing is to recover well. In terms of training, we won't do anything big - the priority is recuperating, mentally as much as physically. We'll only have forty-minute training sessions right through to Sunday.

Sunday's match?

Toulouse are not a side who are easy to play. Along with Monaco, they're the only side to have beaten PSG this season, and that says a lot. I think they will bounce back against us. It's going to be a huge match!

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