Lucien Favre (Nice): “We defended well, we had to be focused and united, and we did it well”

Lucien Favre (Nice coach, 2-1 winner at Lille): “We defended well, we had to be well concentrated, united and we did it well, even if there were a lot of crosses from Lille. In the first half, we reacted well after Lille’s goal, even if we scored on two penalties. In second, we have to move the ball better, we lose it too quickly. We suffered too much, there must be more deep calls and we were in a hurry. The three-man defense is a decision that was made because we saw that it was better. But that may change in the next game. Players should get used to playing in all systems. We got off to a bad start but I prefer to finish better, the important thing is in June. The objective is to build a team which in two years will play regularly for the first three places and there is a lot of work there! »

Paulo Fonseca (Lille coach): “We shouldn’t have lost that game. It is an unfair result. The opponent won without creating a chance. We should have been more aggressive in the first half, but we corrected that at half-time. It is the most cruel scenario in football. We ended up a goal behind after the two penalties and Nice defended well in front of their goal. But that’s football, we have to keep working to progress. We controlled the match but we made two mistakes on penalties and we gave Nice the two goals. But otherwise we recovered the ball quickly after losing it. We have to be more efficient, especially in the first half. We didn’t have many chances but it’s not easy to create them against a team that defends in front of its surface.