Here is Franck Haise's reaction in the post-match press conference after Nice’s defeat at Monaco (2-1).

Coach, was this a fair result?

Very fair, it couldn’t be more so. We were beaten in almost every area. We were lucky to be leading at half-time, but overall, there was no contest.

What was missing for you to do better?

A bit of technical precision. We know Monaco put a lot of pressure on you. So when you struggle to hold onto the ball and get it out from the back cleanly... We also struggled physically against the power of this team. Those are already two very important factors.

Why did you choose to start with Hicham Boudaoui on the bench?

He had just played two full games during the international break, with the last one being on Tuesday at 10pm. The flight, Ramadan... there was a risk for him, for his health. He is capable of handling pressure, and we missed him. But I think even if he had been there, the gap was too large for his mere presence to be enough.

Do you feel like you missed an opportunity after Marseille’s defeat?

Not at the end of the match. During the match, we were too far away. Of course, before it started, when you are level with Monaco, Marseille had lost, and you are leading 1-0, you might think about it. But you don’t need to watch the game again to realise we were beaten by a team much better than us tonight (Saturday). I think Monaco played at their level, but we were far below what we are capable of doing. Moving forward, we need to be at our level. We weren’t tonight.

How do you explain this gap in level?

The team was good, determined and quite calm. But very quickly, we felt that we were under pressure. We had great difficulty for 20 minutes in getting out of that pressure. Luckily, Marcin made the save from the penalty, and we handled several situations well. We still managed to relieve some of the pressure during the first half and were ruthless with our only real chance. We needed to raise our level and for them to lower theirs, but that didn’t happen.

Among the positives, we can think about Jérémie Boga's goal and Terem Moffi coming on from the bench...

Yes, there aren’t many tonight. Jérémie’s performance was interesting, and the fact that he scored too. Terem made a dynamic impact. It will be important for the rest of our season. We will need to show something different from what we showed tonight. Monaco was superior to us, and there is first the quality of the opponent, but we were so far from the mark that I just expect us to show our true face again against Nantes next Friday.

What’s important now is to lift your heads?

It’s football. When you take a deserved blow, you have to lift your head to show something else. I don’t think we showed the qualities of this team, even though we might have still been beaten, but I would have liked us to show a bit more in this match.

The podium is not an explicitly stated goal for your team, but you won’t lower your arms?

We just need to be realistic. If we continue to perform like this, or if we play better but lack efficiency, it means something is missing. In tonight’s match, we were missing far too much to have any ambitions. There are seven games left, and we are in the fight. We are coming out of a difficult moment, but it’s neither the first nor the last. We need to go through it together, restart and keep working. We need to regain momentum, energy and put in a big performance next Friday to win and stay in the fight until the end.

Your team has often reacted well after difficult moments this season...

Exactly. It’s up to all of us to react and show something different in front of our home crowd on Friday, to get back on track.

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