The series ends in Dunkirk. After five consecutive successes, AS Saint-Étienne conceded its first defeat since the start of its good momentum, this Saturday evening (2-1). A setback which prevents the Greens from achieving the pass of six, but which does not upset their situation in the standings. ASSE retains the lead in Ligue 2, three steps ahead of Reims and four ahead of Montpellier.
After this setback, Ian Cathro especially did not want to dramatize. The Scottish technician already prefers to turn to the analysis of this meeting and identify the points to be corrected. “It’s a strange match in which we will have a lot to improve. We will see it again, review it, analyze it calmly. You might not make the same remark to me if we had won, about the connection between the players. Did we play with the ideal rhythm? Were the connections the smoothest? Did we have the right automation? No, I don’t think so.”he admitted in comments reported by In Green And Against All.
The Saint-Etienne coach’s speech remains faithful to the one he has been giving for several weeks. For him, a defeat should not change the method put in place by the group. And this requirement must remain intact until the end of the season, even if ASSE were to return to Ligue 1. “It happened sometimes during the meeting. We will have to stay calm and focused. Because our job remains the same after a defeat as after a victory, it is to improve, our objective is truly long term. It won’t stop at the end of May.”he recalled.
“I don’t want to get carried away by this feeling”
Ian Cathro also refuses to look for an explanation only in the last gesture. Despite the positive results recorded in recent weeks, the coach believes that his players must above all learn from this failed outing. “I don’t really want to talk about efficiency, because in previous matches, we scored goals, we did a lot of good things. What is important is to manage this situation and move forward. The result is not what we would have liked to have had. It could have been better. I don’t want to get carried away by this feeling, it would be unfair to the players. »
The Scottish technician also does not consider that ASSE was simply dominated on a technical level. “No, I won’t place it on the technical part. If we look at the match as a whole, if we look at the statistics, we will see which team really dominated the match. Was this domination enough? Probably not. That wasn’t the case for the entire match.”he analyzed. Before recognizing the performance of the Dunkerquois: “We must also pay tribute to Dunkirk which did very good things. We did not deliver the usual performance. We weren’t precise enough, we lacked efficiency in some of our actions. We will have to review this meeting, understand it more to be able to identify the sectors where we lacked precision. »
The Greens will now have to quickly turn the page. A new trip awaits them next Saturday, this time on the pitch in Metz, from 8 p.m.
