Sunday, 26 August, 2018

 Olympique de Marseille  2-2  Stade Rennais FC 

Rudi Garcia (Olympique de Marseille coach): "We struggled to find our rhythm, but things got better in the second half. It could have been worse though; it's really time that we kick our season off in earnest but the players' levels of preparation are still all over the place. Florian Thauvin still isn't at 100 per cent, and neither is Adil Rami, while Lucas Ocampos hasn't fully recovered from injury. We'll need to make up for these dropped points away from home. We're struggling for points right now - that's the real dark spot on the evening."

Sabri Lamouchi (Stade Rennais coach): "My lads are extremely disappointed, but I explained to them that we're here playing away to OM - last season's Europa League finalists. Maybe we rushed things a bit, but I was very happy with how my team played. I would likely have signed for a 2-2 draw before the match. We played a good first half and it was over all a strong performance against an OM side who weren't as dangerous as they otherwise might have been."

 LOSC 3-0 EA Guingamp 

Christophe Galtier (Lille coach): "I must be positive and what pleased me was the way started the game. What pleased me less was the second part of the first period. We let Guingamp play and gave them hope again. When an opponent has one knee on the ground you need to force them to put the second knee on the ground. I got angry at the break and moved some players around and we were better in the second half as we harassed them more. Our victory was deserved and it was a positive afternoon."

Antoine Kombouaré (Guingamp coach): "The defeat was logical as we made a catastrophic start. Against Saint-Etienne and Paris there were some good things even though we lost, but today we started awfully and that's what cost us. 2-0 down after 10 minutes meant it was a match no longer. We've conceded eight goals in three games and when you do that it is impossible to win. You can't even hope to pick up points when you are so vulnerable defensively."

 Girondins de Bordeaux 2-1 AS Monaco 

Eric Bédouet (Bordeaux caretaker coach): "My spell as caretaker coach has finished in fine style. I've enjoyed being on the bench and the players have really given everything as playing every three days isn't that easy. We were up against a team that can be dangerous at any given time. I'm very proud of my players who played beyond themselves. I would have signed up for a draw and the win is greatly to the credit of the players."

Leonardo Jardim (Monaco coach): "Monaco played without intensity and desire in the first hour. We were very passive. The substitutions gave us a bit more aggression and we were more committed but we made a lot of mistakes as we lost our cool in a way that's not normal for a professional team like ours. Everyone knows that Monaco is a beautiful project but we need to win games. Our objectives are elevated and we need to do more in order to achieve them."

Saturday, 25 August, 2018

 Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Angers SCO 

Thomas Tuchel (Paris Saint-Germain coach): "We started the game very well with a goal and several chances. After that, we lost the ball too easily, which made it more difficult to defend. Angers deserved to score. Our second half was a lot better, notably in terms of intensity. We managed to find players between the lines, which allowed us to win the game. There's still a lot to improve, but I'm very happy with our start to the season with the win in the Trophée des Champions and the three league victories."

Stéphane Moulin (Angers coach): "What I liked about my team is that they put in a professional performance. We know the difference in quality in the two teams. Individually and collectively, the head-to-head comparison is so lop-sided that we did well to trouble them a bit, more than they could have imagined before the start of the game. It needed to last a bit longer, that wasn't the case, but that's more down to their quality than our failings. Even up against that armada, I thought we weren't ridiculous, far from it."

 Montpellier Hérault SC 0-0 AS Saint-Etienne 

Michel Der Zakarian (Montpellier coach): "It's a good result against a fine Saint-Etienne team…Saint-Etienne defended deep to try and catch us on the counter-attack. We tried to leave as little space as possible to a team that has quality players. We had one clear-cut chance, just like Saint-Etienne did with Diony. I'm happy with my team's attitude. We defended well as a team. If we keep going like that, we'll be tough to beat. We have to maintain that approach while being cleaner in our link-up play up front."

Jean-Louis Gasset (Saint-Etienne coach): "It was a keenly fought game against a team that doesn't open itself up much and last season had one of the top three defences in the league. We had to control the game to make sure we weren't caught on the counter-attack. What is a little worrying is that we didn't have more goalscoring opportunities. We dribbled the ball too much in the final third, and the attacking players took too long to get up in support of Diony."

Toulouse FC 1-0 Nîmes Olympique 

Alain Casanova (Toulouse coach): "In spite of things going against us, the team continued to keep faith…That's what we want to see all season long in terms of attitude. In terms of how we played, we couldn't have done any better. We want to put an idea in place but we still have work to do. We have a squad that wants to have lofty ambitions, but we need more precision and discipline."

Bernard Blaquart (Nîmes coach): "We suffered against a good Toulouse team. When you give away two penalties in a game, it's difficult to get a result. We weren't forceful enough going forward. We gave the ball away far too many times. Toulouse didn't steal their win, but it's a shame we didn't dare play, we settled for just defending. We were too mediocre to hope for better. We know the season will be tough."

 Amiens SC 4-1 Stade de Reims 

Christophe Pelissier (Amiens coach): "We started really well, put pressure on Reims and opened the scoring. There was the red card after that, but we were clinical. The difference between the first two matches is that we were clinical. I think we deserved the win even if the scoreline doesn't reflect the difference between the two teams. We had prepared well to be able to trouble Reims. It wasn't a gamble to start Ghoddos, who has just arrived. By doing that, I wanted to give the team a bit of dynamism. He had a tough game and sometimes struggled to find his bearings, but he scored a lovely goal."

David Guion (Reims coach): "It was very difficult to play 10 against 11 for an houragainst such an athletic team. We weren't solid enough. We were too far away from our opponents and we let them play. It's a game we need to forget quickly. In L1, it's impossible for a team, especially a newly promoted one, to win a game playing for 60 minutes with a man less. We have to keep a cool head and keep 11 men on the pitch. We weren't there in the challenges and didn't defend by going forward as we usually do. It's a problem of determination. We gave our opponents too much space."

 FC Nantes 1-1 SM Caen 

Miguel Cardoso (Nantes coach): "It's not enough if we think about what we did, especially in the second half. We created a lot, we controlled the game, we changed a lot of things in the system, we put in a lot of energy right to the end to get the best result possible because that was everyone's goal. It was important to see that character, the right things, the intensity, and I'm happy because I saw that on the pitch, even in the first half, even if we didn't play all that much going forward. We had done enough to be able to score and that would certainly have changed the match. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that before Caen."

Fabien Marcedal (Caen coach): "You can be disappointed all the time in life. You can also look on the bright side. It's true that it's the second time we have been pegged back this season, but that's twice that we have opened the scoring too. We managed, in the first half, to counter Nantes' plans by applying what we had worked on. That's very promising. We lacked control in the second half, everyone could see that. We tried to hold out against a team like Nantes that brought on a lot of attacking players and which can afford to have a guy like Sala on the bench."

 OGC Nice 0-4 Dijon FCO 

Patrick Vieira (Nice coach): "It's catastrophic for us. It's difficult to accept to lose 4-0 at home. We created a lot of clear-cut chances without scoring. We lacked aggression going forward and at the back. The message to the players at the end of the game was, 'Playing well isn't enough'. We need more. We didn't get that this evening. We have a lot of lessons to take away from this game…The defeat is also due to our lack of aggressiveness and a lack of efficiency. The tactical side of things is secondary to that. If you look at the content of the game, we had the chance to score a couple of goals this evening…Of course. We are in a tough period, after just three matches. It’s the reality. We need to continue to work. I believe in this squad, I believe in my players. The content during the week in training is good. There are also good things in what we see in the matches. The season is long, we will turn the situation around."

Olivier Dall'Oglio (Dijon coach): "It's an exceptional result. It's great to score four goals against a Nice team that I think is good. We need to enjoy that. Football is sometimes cruel. Nice created chances and didn't put them away. We were clinical. We were also a bit lucky. You can't forget the first 30 minutes. We gave them chances they didn't put away…What I liked was the attitude. We're starting to be disciplined, which is different to the previous seasons. These three wins allow us to build confidence. We'll take a picture of the league table. We should enjoy it. When we're disciplined, we know we're competitive."

Friday, 24 August, 2018

 Olympique Lyonnais 2-0 RC Strasbourg Alsace 

Bruno Génésio (Lyon coach): "I'm satisfied with the reaction after losing in Reims. We took the three points even though in the first half there were a few uncomfortable moments when we looked easy to unbalance, especially when we lost the ball. We still have to do better but there was some good attacking intent which had been missing recently. Scoring before half-time did us a lot of good, psychologically and the second goal calmed the game down."

Thierry Laurey (Strasbourg coach): "We started the game well, we defended well by being compact and we created good chances but we couldn't convert them and hurt Lyon. Even though they had more of the ball we weren't in much danger. The goal just before half-time hurt us cos we thought we'd played a good first half. Still, we have four points from three games. We're already in a fight. We knew we had a difficult start and now we look ahead to playing Nantes to confirm our encouraging start."