AS Saint-Etienne coach Pascal Dupraz saw Friday's 0-0 draw with LOSC as proof positive that his side have an odds-on chance of fulfilling the mission that he was brought to the cub to achieve: beating the drop.
A scoreless draw may not be the most celebrated of results in the footballing world, but for Pascal Dupraz the point picked up away to reigning Ligue 1 Uber Eats champions LOSC on Friday night was as symbolic as it was crucial.
'Alive and kicking!'
"This game was our Champions League! After losing 1-3 in Paris while showing some real positives, we got a result in our second game against a team of Champions League level. It's a point won," said the straight-talking Dupraz. "It's encouraging: we're racking up the points and we're showing that we're still alive and kicking! The players have done the hard work of catching up to the bunch of low-ranked sides - even though everyone said we were dead and buried - and now our fate is in our hands. We're progressing, and we're doing it consistently, with fourteen points from our last seven matches."
Indeed, the result took Saint-Etienne to provisional 16th place, and while they could drop as low as 18th by the end of the weekend, Dupraz felt that the manner in which they had achieved this result held plenty of promise - even if they struggled to keep it up for the full 90 minutes.
'We dominated LOSC'
"When I look at my side's first half, I am satisfied because we picked up another point, even though we could have taken more. We were on top; we dominated LOSC in the first half," said the former Toulouse boss. "We just lacked that little offensive spark, that killer instinct. It was more difficult in the second half and the more the game progressed, the less we were at ease technically. We got pretty wasteful. But AS Saint-Etienne isn't playing a like a side who are dead and buried...
Les Verts now find themselves on a positive dynamic headed into Round 28's relegation six-pointer against Troyes, and Dupraz knows he can count on his players to give their all - and maybe even play a bit of attractive football - as they come into the home stretch of the season.
'I also have some ideas about football...'
"What is remarkable about this squad is that they never give up. They didn't give up under Claude Puel and they don't give up with me. The staff trusts the players and the players trust us," Dupraz declared. "I am not only a so-called leader of men, I also have ideas about football. I don't go into them all that much in front of you [the media] because they're only of interest to insiders!"
