MHSC: “We're not going to put a knife to each other's throats”, Michel Der Zakarian does not want to panic after the setback against Saint-Etienne

Michel Der Zakarian est revenu sur la rencontre. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

L'équipe de Michel Der Zakarian s'est inclinée mercredi à Lunel pour le troisième match amical face à Saint-Etienne, de retour en Ligue 1.

Michel Der Zakarian's team lost their third friendly match in Lunel on Wednesday against Saint-Etienne, back in Ligue 1.

Montpellier did not reassure on the occasion of the defeat conceded (2-1) in Lunel against Saint-Etienne, back in Ligue 1, for their third friendly match.

Montpellier coach Michel Der Zakarian does not want to give in to panic, even if he recognizes that his team did not achieve much against a future opponent in Ligue 1.

Also read: MHSC: in friendly against Saint-Etienne, Montpellier relapses despite a goal from Khazri

Michel Der Zakarian (Montpellier coach):  "We had good content for a quarter of an hour, until the first goal, then we were messy.

We tried to unbalance Saint-Etienne, who were waiting for us, but the pitch wasn't very good. Then, we gave away gifts. We gave away two goals on individual errors. We lacked impact. We didn't find a gap, we didn't create any chances. We never hurt this team. Only once did we get the ball out well, we made a good gap to get a penalty. Overall, we weren't good technically.

We can't say it's a physical problem; we've worked as we should have up until then. Of course, it was hot, but it was hot for Saint-Etienne too. It was a first test against a team that will be with us in Ligue 1. We'll see what we do against them when we meet them again in the championship. We're not going to put the knife to each other's throats. We're going to try to work, get some injured players back.

The youngsters fought well at the end of the match. We'll see if we call on them. If we ever lose two or three players, I hope we'll get a few back.

We started off pretty well, but we never managed to put them out of reach, or get enough rhythm. We lack a link in our offensive game, we lack technical accuracy, but also physical impact."

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Olivier Dall'Oglio (Saint-Etienne coach): "I am generally satisfied with the team's performance because we have many absentees and we called on five young players from the training center. The result is random in my opinion given the number of changes. We are rather good in terms of our state of mind, but also in our positioning. We are moving in the right direction. We are starting to have interesting phases of play, we are maintaining defensive solidity. It is thanks to the discipline of the players, whether they are young or old. This allows us to move forward.

Read also: MHSC: facing Saint-Etienne, in a friendly, a first test for the Pailladins

However, we lack things in the finishing, because some players hesitated a little in front of the opposing goal.

We needed a boy with experience in defense. Yunis (Abdelhamid) has this ability to advise, unite and reassure players who do not necessarily have knowledge of Ligue 1… However, we will need one or two more experienced players."