MHSC – Nice: “Above all, don't lower your head and tell yourself that you're doomed”, assures Jean-Louis Gasset after the draw against Nice (2-2)

Jean-Louis Gasset assures that his team will fight again. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

The MHSC coach is happy with the character shown by his team to come back to 2-2 but regretted the two goals conceded. 

Jean-Louis Gasset, are you satisfied with this point? ?

It's mixed because we had idealized taking three points for our last match at La Mosson in 2024. After the scenario of the match means that we are chasing the score again like against Lille and that it was an open match where there were many opportunities and many counter-attacks on both sides and that we had to be efficient.

It's a lesser evil because we came back again against a good team, against a European team, we have played three matches at home, Brest, Lille and Nice and when we saw the schedule we wondered when we were really bad how we were going to take points and in the end we took some, we had a victory and two draws.

Didn't you lack a little aggression defensive ?

When you see the two goals where we get crossed, the guys shoot from 20m calmly, of course it was a lack of aggressiveness, it's logical.

Was your decision to go to five to be more offensive ?

No, it wasn't five, it was three. When you put Tamari and Saint-Luce in the wings, they are still two attacking players, you had to play everything you could. We did it in matches, we don't know each other very well yet, we arrived seven weeks ago with the international break, so the players also have to adapt to us and know that when we are being mistreated we can take a gamble or go for broke.

A word about Saint-Luce, who hasn't played this season yet, who has had a lot of trouble.

That's exactly it, he has had some trouble, he had a knee operation, he is often worried because his operation is unusual, but he works very hard. He's there, he has a good left foot, he's a good player and in a match like that, we needed dynamite on the left side, he fulfilled his contract.

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His body has to get used to this new operation in order to chain together training sessions and matches. There will surely be a short period of time where his body will react and he, as soon as he feels a slightly illogical pain, is a little panicked, but he is a good little one.

Do you remember the character of your team that, despite everything, never gives up no matter the situation ?

That’s what I wanted from the start, for us to have character. I wanted La Mosson to become La Mosson again. The public also saw that we let loose at the end, we took risks. They took them with us, they encouraged us. And when you have a confident team, because between the first half and the second half, the difference is confidence.

We had counterattacks in the first half where we have to do better, do better.

We didn't see a team defensively that was playing for its survival…

When you have a team that concedes a lot of goals, you have to realize that Montpellier hasn't had a clean sheet for 21 or 22 games. So, it's complicated in the minds of some players, and I understand that. And so, we have to continue, we have to continue to work. We're going to spend Christmas three or four points from the place we want, but when we look at the return fixtures, we're only hosting teams like us. So, we mustn't, we mustn't lower our heads and think that we're doomed. Absolutely not. We'll have to beat the teams that play in our league, and we're proving that against more prestigious teams, and even Lens at home, that we're capable of doing something. So, it’s positive.

What do you remember overall since your arrival?

We took five points in seven games. It's not enough, but I tell myself that if we play like this and iron out the little mistakes, and if we're mentally better, I think we'll do it.

Franck Haise (Nice coach)

“The disappointment is not having held on, especially at that point in the match, when it finally got Montpellier going again for the last quarter of an hour. I had the feeling that their moment was rather behind. All the more so since it comes from a high free kick for an 80-metre transition that we can manage better. So there you have it, the feeling of frustration of not having held on to the 2-1 at that moment, because I think we were holding on to the right end. But there you have it, Montpellier also had chances, particularly again at the end of the match. So we have to accept taking this point, even if I would obviously have liked to avoid that moment. I thought we were going to hold on to this victory.”

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