Before Nice - Nîmes, Adrian Ursea had a strong message in the press conference. With a stated objective: not fall into the trap of listening "to praise" in order to push his squad into a run of performances.

The month that has just finished left its mark in the mind of the Aiglons coach, who doesn't make a habit of speaking without weighing up his words. In the corridors of Louis-II, to the Vélodrome, taking in the Parc des Princes, the former Servette coach found himself frustrated in February, at the head of a team that was beaten without always playing poorly. He was forced to cut down thoughts of an "encouraging defeat" and made to remind everybody that the only thing that matters in football "are results"

"The truth is that today, we still haven't shown very much"

Monaco, Paris, Marseille: every time the Gym reacted, every time the side developed their plat, and every time the match was lost, seeing the side slide into the bottom quarter of the table. "Everybody was praising us after one good half here, another there," began the Aiglons coach. "Such praise isn't useful when it comes to bettering oneself and I have the impression that we were caught napping, and were softened up by the praise. Unfortunately the good halves we put in didn't lead to anything at all and I don't want to hear that we're a 'good team'. If we were a good team then we'd be higher up in the table. The only place that we can show where we're good is on the pitch. The players need to show that and prove me wrong."

What impact did his message have on his men? "I don't know but I hope it vexed them," he carried on. "And beyond vexing them, there's a reality. Despite the supposed qualities that people attribute to us, we haven't yet shown much. We've been 16th, 14th, 13th, 12th, and we're not out of the woods yet. The players need to be conscious of the situation. We are still in trouble. I know that we have quality but we need to show it! Once agin, praise serves no purpose, unless there is something at the end of it. The win against Rennes will only take on value if we back it up with 3 more points because the hardest thing in football is to back it up in the next game. I'm waiting to see the reaction from my squad and while waiting for that, I'm wary, as Nîmes will be an entirely different context."

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