Jean-Louis Gasset: "Our team has heart"

What do you retain from the match against Toulouse?

Efficiency. We had scored two goals against Caen with five or six openings and, against Toulouse, we scored three with less openings. Cabella and Salibur scored their first goals, that’s a good thing too. We respected our opening tactic. Everyone noticed the errors made by Toulouse but we’re the ones that caused them to make those errors. Toulouse didn’t give us gifts like that by chance, we put the right amount of pressure on them and in the right places.

Has your team finished its break-in period?

No, but we’re making progress. We needed a bit of time because there are always setbacks. Cabella was absent in Paris, Khazri was suspended when we faced Toulouse, every week you have to adapt, propose a new attack but what’s interesting is the state of mind. Every player is happy even if they’re not starting the matches because they know that they’ll have their playing time. The youths did what they had to do in order to prove to us that they have the skill level to help us from time to time. In my opinion, no one on this team is useless, everyone will have their playing time. I told them so and when they saw that Saliba and Nordin were starting players, they believed me.

In that regard, are you satisfied with William Saliba’s and Arnaud Nordin’s performance against Toulouse as starting players?

I am 100%! And the pros like the youths on the team, I saw several of them go talk to them and tell them they they’re confident in them before the game against Monaco. They don’t see them as competitors. They know that they’re all in the same boat and that everyone will be happy if this boat sails smoothly. In Toulouse, William Saliba committed a few errors, but he made up for them. He showed that he has what it takes to play in Ligue 1, now he’ll have to show that he can play at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. Place and timing are important for starting young players. You have to put them in the best conditions possible so that they don’t feel any negative pressure. But they need to seize their opportunity as soon as we give it to them: Camara, Nordin and Saliba understood that.

This lets you tackle the championship with more ambition?

I feel that the team is mixing well, they’re on the up and up. Someone I’m close to said our team had heart and that touched me because we sometimes miss a shot or a pass but we always see things through. Seeing the players give it their all, that makes me happy. I like when my team shows solidarity and great spirit. We’re creating more and more openings, that comes with points and with confidence. When you look at the rankings, we see that they’re very tight and that we can find ourselves at the top or at the bottom in no time. That’s why what matters to me is the game. After Paris, we weren’t the worst team in Ligue 1 and after two victories, we’re not the best team either.

La mauvaise passe actuelle des Monégasques va-t-elle faciliter la tâche des Verts vendredi soir?
Monaco joue la Champions League. C'est une grande équipe qui doit être dans les quatre premiers du championnat. Après, quand on perd des joueurs majeurs comme Fabinho, Moutinho et Lemar, on perd obligatoirement de la technique et il faut reconstruire avec l'épine dorsale. Aujourd'hui, ils sont dans le dur. Espérons qu'ils reviendront bien, mais seulement après notre match car je ne suis pas amnésique. Je me rappelle que l'année dernière quand les deux équipes s'étaient affrontées, Monaco était dans une très bonne période et Saint-Étienne était beaucoup moins bien. Je n'ai pas non plus oublié que nous avons raté l'Europe sur penalty encaissé à Monaco mais c'est comme ça, le football est sans pitié.

Will Monaco’s current bad luck make things easier for the Verts Friday evening?

Monaco is playing in the Champions League. It’s a great team who has to be among the four best teams in the championship. After you lose major players like Fabinho, Moutinho and Lemar, you of course lose skill and you have to build from the ground up. Today, they’re in the rough. Let’s hope that they make a good come-back, but only after our match because I’m not amnesic. I remember that last year when the two teams came head to head, Monaco was in a good state and Saint-Étienne was in a much worse state. I haven’t forgotten that we missed out on the Europa League due to a penalty kick in Monaco but that’s the way it is, Football is without pity.