MHSC – Monaco: “Finding words for the suffering of our families, our supporters, people who could lose their jobs”, Gasset’s plea

Jean-Louis Gasset attend un autre état d’esprit de ses joueurs. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

L’entraîneur de Montpellier ne lâchera pas jusqu’à la fin de saison car beaucoup de choses sont en jeu. Il veut que ses joueurs aient cela en tête avant d’aborder les matches.

Sunday night, you were a bit fatalistic Jean-Louis, saying “mission impossible”. What gave you back the idea of ​​having hope for this end of the season at the beginning of the week ?

I said “practically”. Mission impossible, because I was really shocked. Not only for the result, but for the way we approached this match. The first half that we played, in a match where we have to give everything, I felt that the boys were shy.

With what we had experienced the week before in Lyon, where I had a lot of hope. Even if the result had been the opposite, there was still, in the content, in the mentality, in the desire and especially in seeing the ball. We had played the match that could tell us “by playing like this, we will get there”.

By playing like we played in the first half, we can't hope for anything. It took a slightly tense half to relax, to play 20 minutes that held together, to equalize, but it seemed like this equalization was like an end in itself. When no, we were one on one, we had to go and get the ball from the back of the goal and put it on the center circle to say “this is only the first step”. We had just equalized. And then, the two red cards that hit the head hard. After the match, it's true that I was a little bit knocked out, but hey, you get back up from a lot of things in life. There are much bigger blows.

The next morning, I gave another speech because there is still half a championship to play and we don't have the right, when we are playing the future of a lot of people, we don't have the right to give up. I am the one who must lead this revolt. I try to find words for the suffering of our families, our supporters, many people around the club who could lose their jobs.

From now on, since our backs are against the wall, we have to play the matches at 100%, but we no longer calculate like we did at first in half-time, where we expect something when we should expect nothing. We have to get into it, play the match to the full and then, the result will be the result. Here is the speech.

How do you explain this double face exactly??

That's the way this group is. When you feel like you're holding something, the next week, you're not holding it anymore. I had the impression that Mosson, given the reactions against Brest, against Lille, against Nice, where we were always behind in the score and that we had this revolt, I said that we've got it. When you play the match away, like in Lyon, you say that you're moving forward. I had that impression. And then, bang, bang.

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There's no given. There's no given with this group. You always have to be in it and be the shepherd and the dog at the same time, because they need that.

Before Sunday's match against Angers, you had insisted a lot on the result, on the fact that we had to get a result. Does that mean that now, you want to place yourself on the content cursor ?

Content is one thing. In Lyon, I am happy with the content, we had the opportunity to lead to zero, but we lost in the last one on a winning goal. The content, as of today, is the points that will count, we are more than in an emergency of points. But as I told the players, if we had beaten Angers, we would have had to win one match out of three. There, now, since the gap has widened, we will have to win one match out of two.

But as long as there is life, as long as there is hope, in all the fights you make in life, if the candle is still lit, you have to go through with it. The day you blow out the candle, it's good, it's good. But I want there to be this revolt, but I want them to know that there is suffering around us. And it's hard all the time to think only about that, to have a knot in your stomach, but until the end, we will fight.

Do we also have to find a little serenity, calm, precisely, to remove this pressure from ourselves? We saw that Jordan Ferri cracked perhaps on Sunday, with precisely all this pressure that you are talking about. Maybe we should also calm everyone down a bit ?

This is the period. The period is vague. There is a player who said “we live day by day”. And it is the truth. A phone call can come every day that will tell you that when you work like this, it is hard to be able to go further. This period is very hard, I guarantee you because we have no certainty. We have no certainty about what can happen and that will be the case until February 3.

So now, we are going to make the best possible team with the best possible but concerned players. And give everything in each match. In a difficult context, it will take a lot of courage. But we need dignity. I want dignity. I want people at the end of the match to be dead and to have given everything. Gave everything, not like we did there. There we have this frustration, hence the disappointment.

Since you arrived, you have been quite comfortable against the big teams, could that be good news before playing Monaco ?

I don't know. I tell you that every time you have the feeling of holding something, it slips away from you again. You do one time yes, one time no. One time not bad. One time where you say that's it, it's good. And all of a sudden, bang. So we live day by day. I'm going to get into their mode. But on Friday, there are 3 points to take against a Champions League team. We're going to give it our all.

Since the beginning of the week, have you tried to meet with the executives to try to remobilize this team?

I'm talking to a group… It's very hard. I can assure you that it's very hard to live with. Because when you feel like all of a sudden the reel is unwinding, frankly, it's painful. But we're not going to give up. I'm warning you, we're not going to give up. There's too much at stake. There are too many things that are militating there, around this club. It's true that it's a blur, but we have a game to play, we have half a championship left, there are 51 points at stake, and we're going to give up ? No. That's not in the spirit of the house. We still have hope, and we're going to give it our all.