Julien Stéphan : « The good thing is the mentality »

« I'll remember the major difficulties we had for an hour and the final positive third of the game, you have to remember everything to analyse it properly. The first hour was difficult, we got caught out in the first half with the two best chances for them, we had some good team movement but it wasn't enough in the sequence.

We had to change a few things and we decided to coach quickly and freshly by trying to put pressure on their defensive line. It was much better, with control, combined movement and support too. This is a group of players who are hanging in there, who want to get something going, and I hope that this first away point will be one of them.

Our level of commitment wasn't bad at the start of the games, but our level of control wasn't enough to make an impact. A match is also built up, and I think the penalty was very harsh, even if it's not illogical that they should be 1-0 up. We thought they were going to put on a lot of pressure and we wanted to counter that with some collective control, which we didn't manage to do. The positive thing is the mentality, the will to hang in there, and I also hope that we'll be able to have everyone at 100% and make the choices we want from Le Havre onwards.

Ludo‘ was repositioned, Albert came in under the striker, Kali’ was supported and Glen also came into the middle. Jota brought his technical ability and it was he who scored the equaliser. I also wanted us to rely on the speed of Andrés, and that's what we were aiming for. All those who came on contributed something overall.

We need to make the most of this point. It's not easy to turn things around in a difficult situation, in a derby, and we need to make the most of this point. I think this team needs to share some powerful experiences together, they don't have any, they need scenarios like this, they need to have a reference point. This match could be a benchmark in that respect.

Should we start with Jota? He played almost 40 minutes, including stoppage time, so we're getting closer to being able to use him from the start. »