Sunday, February 07, 2010

  Olympique de Marseille / Valenciennes FC : 5 - 1

Didier Deschamps (Marseille coach): "Wednesday’s qualification for the final of the League Cup did us the world of good and gave us a lot of confidence, as did our supporters tonight. Sometimes you have nights like this one. I’m very pleased with what I saw tonight as well as happy with the support our fans gave us. I won’t say that we’re back in the title race even though there is some fantastic energy here in Marseille now. We need to stay clear-headed and take a maximum of points in February and March before the home stretch in April. That’s when we’ll see whether we can push for the title or not. If Hatem [Ben Arfa] keeps producing performances like he did tonight, he’ll definitely have more game time. "

Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille forward): "I really enjoyed myself tonight. Things are going better and better, the team is building in confidence. Qualifying for the Stade de France [in the final of the League Cup] was very important, and we backed it up tonight. I really felt that the team was in tune, there was some real chemistry out there. It was certainly one of our most accomplished performances. I’m not about scoring at all costs, I just want to take the best option every time."

Philippe Montanier (Valenciennes coach): "We just weren’t up to their level tonight. In fact we were way below our own usual standard. After 20 minutes, we lost the thread of the match. The full difference in quality between the two sides was in full evidence. It was one of our worst matches of the season. I hope we can learn a lesson from it and that we can bounce back with pride and character in the coming matches. But we’re in a different league from Marseille."

  Toulouse FC / Olympique Lyonnais : 0 - 0

Claude Puel (Lyon coach): "Given the circumstances it’s a point won even though it’s always irritating to finish with only ten men [Jean II Makoun was sent off]. We lacked a bit of depth and Toulouse’s pressing caused us problems. But we don’t have our eyes on Bordeaux; our objective is to first of all get back into the top three, which we could have done tonight had we won. But we’ll get there; the championship is a long haul and we need to construct our matches in the second half of the season, which is what we’re doing. Even though everything wasn’t perfect, the team spirit is there and we need to keep it up."

Alain Casanova (Toulouse coach): "It’s really unjust to put in such an effort and not be rewarded for it. It’s cruel but that’s how sport is, and football in particular. We dropped two points tonight. Given the quality of our play and the chances we created, we definitely won on points but we have to be more clinical in our finishing. We lacked precision and it’s a real shame because we dominated the match."

  AS Saint-Etienne / AS Monaco FC : 3 - 0

Christophe Galtier (Saint-Etienne coach): "The three points are fantastic for us as our nearest rivals failed to win on Saturday. We scored three goals at the Geoffroy-Guichard, something that hasn’t happened in six league matches.  I’m happy for the players and the fans. It was a great performance because we beat an excellent team who were undefeated in nine matches [in all competitions, seven in Ligue 1]. It’s great for our confidence."

Guy Lacombe (Monaco coach): "We were too timid in the first 15 minutes against a Saint-Etienne side who gave it everything. We knew they would and we spoke about it before the match. There is a lot of talk, that Saint-Etienne are seriously under-performing, that with their injured players back they are on par with the top six or seven sides in L1. But it’s hard to fully believe it because the league table doesn’t lie. My players knew we could go into the top three with a win, but to be there you have to start matches much better than we did; we weren’t even in it at the beginning. You have to take your chances when they arrive, but we lacked concentration. There are things this squad needs to learn, and I hope they learn them quickly."

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