In front of the microphones, the OGC Nice coach keeps the same smile and does not deviate from his speech. On the match against Tel Aviv, a week after saying after the defeat of the first leg “we will do it“, Lucien Favre repeated his optimism on Wednesday. “Yes still very confident, that has not changed. It’s my hunch. There we had a good first half with a lot of chances. We were better at home and we will have to repeat this performance. We really want to pass.“
“You have to react as a team.”
A cleaver match that could already shape a large part of the red and black season. “Of course we play very big, we want to qualify, it’s normal it’s the Europa Conference League. We want to play it. We will try to score quickly yes, but I can’t tell you how we will play.” Still deprived of victory after two weeks of competition, the Gym is still in the running-in phase and even seems to be regressing. “It takes real awareness. We all need to do more together. I did not bang my fist on the table but we must have some thought. You have to react as a team.“
“Very hard to sign good players.”
Without raising his voice, as in the transfer window, which is always slow to bring the Swiss the elements he expects. “I’m not annoyed at all. The transfer window I know is very difficult. It lasts until the end of August. I don’t have a problem with that. We are expecting several players. But it’s not easy. What is hard is to take good players. When they have the choice they don’t come to us.” An end to the transfer window which may also depend on whether or not they qualify for the Europa Conference League. To overthrow Maccabi the Gym will still be deprived of two players. Hicham Boudaoui who still suffers from his back and Kasper Dolberg who is treating his shoulder. “I can’t tell you when they’ll be back. It’s long. Everyone works on their own.“