Sunday, September 22, 2019

 Olympique Lyonnais 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain 

Sylvinho (Lyon coach): "I wanted to let them attack in order to counter Paris Saint-Germain's tactics. Playing five defenders was in order to make us more solid defensively and to better exploit the potential of our two attackers Moussa Dembélé and Memphis Depay by using them down the middle; they're our top scorers this season. That's what we tried to do but then there was the frustration of conceding a goal right at the end of the game."

Thomas Tuchel (Paris Saint-Germain coach): "We can't control the result but we can control our performance. I think we controlled the game very well in their half. It was vey hard because we were up against a 5-3-2 against a Lyon side that are in the Champions League this season, so they're a top-level side. I'm happy that we won, we played really well and the result was great too thanks to Neymar's goal."

 Angers SCO 4-1 AS Saint-Étienne 

Stéphane Moulin (Angers coach): "It was historic, because we hadn't beaten Saint-Étienne in Ligue 1 for 43 years. It's very nice, and we should enjoy it. We put things in their place at half-time and the response was deafening. Sometimes you get a reaction, but here we dominated Saint-Étienne, and the second half was something like we have looked capable of doing since the start of the season. I think we have the ability…To win this game, we needed to have a good Angers side with the ingredients that we all know, and we did that in the second half. Casimir [Ninga] made a great entrance. I congratulate him, because he has worked a lot since he arrived at the club."

Ghislain Printant (Saint-Etienne coach): "I really feel ashamed. I had warned my players at the break that they shouldn't rest on their laurels. I can't explain how we can fall into such a state in the second half after the equaliser. We gave the ball away too much and allowed Angers to be more aggressive. After the first half, I was relatively satisfied. After the second, I'm struggling to explain what happened. We lost the thread of the game. I had said to the players this week that they were fortunate to do a great job. I got half an answer in the first half. This result hurts. We have to look ahead to the Metz match, and stop talking and begin doing it on the pitch. I'm worried about AS Saint-Étienne, not my personal situation."

 Stade Rennais FC 1-1 LOSC Lille 

Julien Stéphan (Rennes coach): "We got this draw through courage but not only that, there was also some quality. In the first half, Lille played better than us. We gave them the ball back too quickly. We paid too dearly for the mistakes we made. Little by little, we got the upper hand against this really good team, who have some promising players, who play in the Champions League, and who had had two days' more recovery time. They're really a great team. We were closer to winning it, but a draw is fair because each team had a half."

Christophe Galtier (Lille coach): "I think we deserved to win it. It's a shame, but of our three away games, it's our best performance, also because we didn't have anyone sent off. In the first half, we had some very promising situations against a good goalkeeper. We needed to be more adroit, more precise technically with our final ball, our shots, and to score a second goal to make the end of the game easier. We know that games here are often frantic and it was the case. We lacked a little luck, and the goalkeeper made some key saves."

Saturday, September 21, 2019

 Olympique de Marseille 1-1 Montpellier Hérault SC 

André Villas-Boas (Marseille coach): "It's a pity because we played a good match. When you concede to Montpellier it's difficult after that. We were a bit lacking in the final pass and our finishing but Rulli played a great game. Montpellier defended well. The end of the match was incredible. It's a pity to finish like that; we can't finish like that. We could have won in the final minutes."

Michel Der Zakarian: (Montpellier coach): "We're happy with the result and it was a good result against a team that mived us about and were very good with the ball. We were courageous defensively, even if we could have defended a bit higher up the pitch and in a more aggressive fashion. We had two goals disallowed by VAR. For me, the first wasn't offside and the second was. Fortunately we have a great goalkeeper who made two top-level saves low down and pushed another two shots over the bar."

 Stade de Reims 0-0 AS Monaco 

David Guion (Reims coach): "I'm proud of my players as they created clear chances, especially in the first half, but Benjamin Lecomte in their goal was inspired. As the match went on, given the energy we'd put in and their technical quality, we started running after the ball. In our strong spell we should have scored one or two goals. It's the sort of game you mustn't lose and I won't forget that we didn't concede."

Leonardo Jardim (Monaco coach): "It was important not to concede. We're disappointed to have only taken one point but I'm happy with the attitude of my players as they respected the game plan. I think the draw was deserved. When you've only got three points from six matches, the players naturally enough lack confidence. I don't hide and I take my share of the responsibility. We're reconstructing and it's difficult to go from a negative cycle to a positive cycle."

 FC Metz 1-2 Amiens SC 

Vincent Hognon (Metz coach): "We were too uptight in the first half and the problem this season is that we've conceded risible goals; well tonight's were risible in any case, from two set-pieces. If we don't correct that we'll be in trouble. We did everything we could to get back on terms and if we manage to stop conceding laughable goals then we'll do some very, very good things."

Luka Elsner (Amiens coach): "I was happy with the performance, at least until we conceded a goal. I was very pleased we held on and with the way we played. We scored from two set-pieces and my players made the difference. There were a lot of positives to take out of the game, even if I was less calm after the goal we conceded. Doing what we did away from home is something. We thought this Metz game could be a turning point."

 OGC Nice 2-1 Dijon FCO 

Patrick Vieira (Nice coach): "I'm pleased with the win, although it was difficult from a defensive standpoint as there was a lot of work to do. At certain points in the game you could tell we lacked experience and maturity. We wanted to have possession and cause problems for our opponents and we did that. Yet the turning points of the game were Walter Benitez's saves. It's good Kasper Dolberg scored as it will do him a lot of good."

Stéphane Jobard (Dijon coach): "The first goal came after a great Nice move and you have to take your hats off to them for that, but we made a big mistake for the second goal and that bothers me. We created a lot of chances. We played OK but there's a lot of frustration there as we need to score points if we want to exist in Ligue 1. We neeed to find a match we'll be able to refer back to that will kick things off for us."

 Girondins de Bordeaux 2-2 Stade Brestois 29 

Olivier Dall'Oglio (Brest coach): "I'm satisfied with the result because coming to Bordeaux and getting a draw is good. There's a bit of frustration though because of the difference in the way we played between the first and second halves. I was really pleased with the first half apart from the naïve concession of the goal. It remains a very positive result and there were chances for both sides. We hit a post and if we'd gone 3-1 up 15 minutes from the end then the win would practically have been ours."

Paulo Sousa (Bordeaux coach): "It's a process. The players need to adapt to a vey powerful, very physical league. I'd like to underline the attitude of the players as it's not easy when you're losing and you're no longer in control of the match. I know the quality of my squad and the difficulties we'll have in collecting points. Coming back to equalise showed the character of the players."

 Nîmes Olympique 1-0 Toulouse FC 

Bernard Blaquart (Nîmes coach): "We were solid and we were forced to hang in there. We lacked control in the last 15 minutes and above all we weren't clinical enough and lacked luck in our finishing. I think we had at least 10 chances. It's not something new for us and we made the match  difficult for ourselves. That said, I'm happy to have eight points on the board. It's the fourth consecutive game unbeaten for us."

Alain Casanova (Toulouse coach): "I knew it would be difficult and the regret is that we weren't able to respond to the Nîmes pressure. Nîmes, with their direct style, forced us to bring the ball out and we weren't able to do it. At the end of the game after Bafodé Diakité was sent off we tried everything. We had chances to equalise but weren't able too."

Friday, September 20, 2019

 RC Strasbourg Alsace 2-1 FC Nantes 

Thierry Laurey (Strasbourg coach): "The first half was difficult because we didn't manage to do what we wanted to do. Nantes won the ball back a lot. We changed the system in order to play further up the pitch. The equaliser allowed us to keep pushing. It's the return of an RCS that gives up on nothing, that battled throughout the second half in order to not lose. We're rediscovering the DNA of of our club little by little. I am very proud of the players."

Christian Gourcuff (Nantes coach): "Strasbourg needed to react after the break. We didn't manage to pass the ball out cleanly, hold onto it or score the second goal. Again we lacked tactical maturity, just like in the previous matches. That's even more apparent when there's intensity in the match like this one. We started well and scored the first goal. Our problem is our inability to play when our opponents puts us under a lot of pressure."