Interview

Favre: "We need to do more"

During the press conference, the Aiglons coach Lucien Favre admitted he regrets not having that extra something to go and get the victory against Bastia.

Lucien, do you think it is two points lost tonight ?
Given that we were 11 against 10, we could have got the 2-1 win. We didn’t do it. We needed to break them down more. We dominated with a lot of possession, from the beginning of the second-half and even more so after the sending off. We need to get into their box more, to have more movement.

Amongst all of the absentees, it seems that Belhanda and Seri were the most harmful.
We gave the ball away because they pressed us well. I think they had guessed our system in a 3-5-2 and came up with a 3-4-2-1, like a Christmas tree. It was difficult to get out and we made a lot of mistakes. Oniangue caused us problems. But, in attack, we lacked movement on the whole.

Amongst all of the absentees, it seems that Belhanda and Seri were the most harmful.
Yes, but as I have already said, even without these players, we had what was needed to win 2-1. There is no point in talking about those absentees. We played for half an hour with 11 against 10 and we didn’t have the cutting edge, put them under pressure from free kicks etc. Dalbert  on his wing didn’t have the support he needed. These are things that we need to improve and we will work on them.

The start of the year is complicated… 
We have a lot of players missing and we know it. As I just said, in spite of those missing, despite the pressure from Bastia at the start of the game, we had what was needed to win the game. Don’t forget that we drew 1-1 in the game against them at home too. We are struggling a little bit at the moment, it’s true. But I think that we are over concentrating on “we need to win”. In fact, above all we need to think about playing.

Is that due to pressure?
No, I don’t think so. But we need to do more. It isn’t a criticism to say that. We tried, but we were missing something.

Having a numerical advantage at the end of the game, did you consider changing the system?
Yes, but at the moment, it is difficult. With the players that I had on the bench, if we were going to play a 4-3-3, it was difficult to organise the front line. We have two or three systems prepared in training, but at 11 against 10, even staying with a 3-5-2, we had what we needed, by increasing the tempo, in playing further up the pitch.

The Gym now have three draws in a row in the League, so three points from nine, are you slowing down?
I understand why you see it that way. But I remember at Bordeaux, being already hit by absentees, we earned a good draw, against an agressive side. Against Metz, we had just one and a half chances, we could hardly expect any better than a draw. We had already struggled against them in the first game. Against Bastia as well. We know that there are reasons to explain why we aren’t at 100% at the moment. We are missing players, some players are feeling a bit leggy, these things happen over the course of a season.