Toulouse. Philippe Montanier: “The future? We are confident”
The Toulouse coach regrets the last thirty minutes of the match, less successful. But believes in his team.
How do you feel after this meeting?
When you are leading 1-0 at home fifteen minutes from the end and you are overtaken, you cannot be completely satisfied. Afterwards, we have to be honest: if we did sixty good first minutes, we had trouble in the last half hour. It is somewhat logically that Nice came back to score. The goal now is to do ninety full minutes.
How do you explain these difficult last 30 minutes?
The Nice bench put us in difficulty. We are not used to this kind of confrontation either: we must not forget that most of our players were new to Ligue 1. At this level, the smallest detail counts.
Your team has evolved in the same way as last season. Are you going to keep these same game principles?
We are in continuity. Whether in L2 or L1, the areas are the same. The players have been cultivating this since last season and have mastered it quite well. We should have had more control, but our perpetual desire to move forward sometimes caused us to lose a few balls. It’s not always easy to meet the enthusiasm of young players.
Does what your team has shown reassure you for the rest of the season?
We weren’t very worried. The future ? We suspect it will be difficult but we are confident. It is up to us to continue to progress. And the advantage with young people is precisely that they have a lot of room for improvement.
A word on the first steps among the professionals of the young Fares Chaibi environment?
He was a little below what he showed during the preparation but the opposition was not the same either. He is a player who has the ball. He was generous but he can still do much better.
Thijs Dallinga scored a goal in his first match at the Stadium. Satisfied with your offensive rookie?
He is a player who has only played in Dutch D2 so far and we can see that the rhythm of L1 is different. He was decisive and valuable and it’s a good start for his first steps in L1.
How did you experience this return to L1 at the Stadium?
We found the fervor of the end of last season with the rise and the title. What is appreciable for our supporters is to also see great teams in front. The enthusiasm at the Stadium is an asset for us. It is a great joy.