Francesco Farioli answered questions from the press ahead of Le Gym's trip to Brittany (kick-off Sunday, 3pm), including the changes he made against Lille and his expectations for the showdown with Lorient. Gaëtan Laborde was also in attendance. Here is a selection of the topics discussed by the coach and the Aiglons striker.

THE CHANGES AGAINST LILLE

"As a general rule, I don't like to have too many yellow-carded players on the pitch," began the "Mister", before backing up his point with an analysis of the changes he made on Matchday 1. "If we look at the Lille match (1-1), we already had a weight to carry: the cards given in the first half to Youcef (Atal) and Gaëtan (Laborde), two players who play on the same wing, against a team that attacked a lot on that side. Khephren (Thuram) was also under threat. I didn't want to take the risk of being reduced to 10 men, when fouls were taking place and we could have been left exposed. The yellow cards are one of the reasons why I made these changes. But it wasn't the only one. There was also a desire to inject some new blood. It was the first match, so there was the emotion of a full stadium and the need to bring in fresh legs. I've got a large squad at my disposal: we need every substitute to be able to make a contribution. That's something I believe in. The longer the match goes on, the more you need to stay focused and in good physical condition. The subs are important. They have to be able to bring a high tempo and a mentality to carry the team through to the end."

"In hindsight, I might have delayed a change to keep a substitution in this match," finished the coach. "The last change was forced by the injury to Terem (Moffi), whom we replaced with Hicham (Boudaoui), while the next planned replacement was the exit of Morgan (Sanson)..."

The first goalscorer of the 2023-24 season, Gaëtan Laborde also spoke about his substitution on the hour mark: "I was disappointed because I thought I was having a good game. Obviously, when you score, you want to play the full match, but these are choices and every match is different. You have to respect them and look ahead to the next game."

THOUGHTS ON THE RED AND BLACK ATTACK

"Terem is someone I really like. We speak the same football. We can still improve, but it's going pretty well and you can see it in the stats." Gaëtan Laborde was happy to talk about his relationship with Terem Moffi, who delivered an assist for him last Friday.

Francesco Farioli also spoke about his number 9, who will be back at the Moustoir this Sunday. "I'd seen a lot of Terem's games, both at Lorient and Nice when he first arrived. What struck me were his obvious qualities, his physical strength, his speed, his ability to attack open spaces, but also his availability and his inquisitiveness. He tries to understand things, to understand what is asked of him and to add it to his skill set. He had 3 or 4 Romelu Lukaku-style moves, with his ability to protect the ball to help the team move up and breathe, before attacking in behind again. He's a player who makes progress every day, who knows how to make sacrifices. Terem has been mentioned, but I'd like to talk about all our forwards. They have one very encouraging trait: their generosity and dedication to their work. We have the example of Gaëtan and the volume of his game, of Jérémie, Sofiane and Evann when they came on, and Badredine who was incredible in the moments he played in the friendlies. We're also looking forward to the return of Billal, who had a slightly difficult start to pre-season, but is now available and will be really useful to us."

WHAT MATCH SHOULD WE EXPECT AGAINST LORIENT?

"I'm expecting a slightly different game to Lille because Lorient are a different team. They're a bit of a chameleon team, adaptable to their opponents and capable of playing several games in one. A team that presses 1-on-1 from the back, capable of defending in an organised low block like against PSG, who know how to defend and find the right moment to counter-attack. They also have the ability to play and find good solutions when they have possession," replied Francesco Farioli. "Our ambition is to have the ball as much as possible. We're going to go there to get a result and play a good game," concluded Laborde.
 

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