Patrick Vieira spoke at his press conference after his side’s defeat in Monaco (3-1).

Coach, what didn’t work this evening?
The lack of control that we had in the second half. Physically, we dropped off, we began to lose the ball, we put ourselves in danger. We struggled to get back in our defensive transitions. And then losing Adam to a knee injury also hurt us.

For you, was that the turning point in this match?
No but after he went off, we struggled to play. This physical drop in the second half hurt us, we left them a bit more space and they controlled the midfield better technically and tactically. Maybe I could have done slightly better as a coach in terms of my changes, because we suffered, I could have reinforced the midfield. We will need to analyse the game and try to improve for next time, but it’s a shame after our first half, because we showed lots of good things and showed control and coherent style for 20 or 25 minutes. But during these 25 minutes, we put in a lot of energy closing them down high up the pitch, and slowly, our rhythm dropped off and we struggled to run and they succeeded in finding spaces.
 

“We will continue to work and to improve”

Despite the good start to the season, do you think that this defeat will weigh heavy on your players’ heads?
No. It’s a derby, we lost it, we are disappointed, because we would have liked to win the game. We came up against a side that wanted to show that it was a very good side, with big players. This kind of match will help us to grow. The players have learned a lot this evening and in these kind of defeats, there is always something to take away.

Defensively, Le Gym lacked serenity. 
That’s what we need to continue to work on. Defensively, we are very young, we lack experience. Some players arrived that might not have been at the same level physically as the others. But it’s more in the collective areas that we need to work on. That’s what we are going to do.

Do you think that this could bring your positive start to an end?
Even though there is disappointment, the start of our season remains a good one. We will continue to work and to improve. Some players will come back from injury. This team still has a lot of margin for progression, it isn’t yet at its maximum. We will come back, we will be even better and we will win matches.

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