First pre-season training for HAC players this Monday, June 27, in reduced numbers. The Le Havre club has announced several departures lately, but only one arrival, that of Djamal Moussadek. To take stock, the new Sky and Marine coach, Luka Elsner, was the guest of France Bleu Normandie on Monday.
Luka Elsner, you arrived at the HAC a week ago, at the same time as a completely renewed staff. What prompted you to say yes to the Le Havre project?
The team that arrives, the new management team and the new team that will take care of the athlete, is made up of people who are dear to me and who, I think, are very competent. The energy was good. The second major argument is the quality of the clubits history is the potential of this club and this city.
What club have you discovered since your arrival?
A true family spirit, people very united in the projectwith a overwhelming desire to succeed. With a desire also to structure itself on the sporting side, to evolve a little in the way of working, to see different things. Now it’s up to us to recompose a workforce and put things on the ground, in practice.
Regarding the workforce, for the moment, there have been departures and only one arrival. Do you have any players in sight, names to give us?
I have no names to give you but, on the other hand, I can guarantee you that files are progressing very very well. And I’m hopeful to announce the first signings by Wednesday. We are obliged to strengthen many positions and time is running out. Now, we have to do things correctly and the profiles that arrive must be the profiles that will really strengthen us.
How many players do you plan to recruit?
I think we will have to assess the contribution that the training center will give to certain profiles. Boys who haven’t been with the pros until now. But I think we will definitely be beyond the five, six recruits.
At what position?
We search a little on all profiles. Now, we must strengthen our positions as full-backs. We need to strengthen our ability to be unpredictable in attack, whether on the front of the attack or on the sides. And then, we need one or two profiles in the middle of the field, also on the guard post where there were departures. So there is lots of things to do.
Last season, the HAC finished 8th in the championship. For this year, what goal have you been set? The climb ?
Look, we’re all hammering on that goal here, and I think we’ve been for a few years. My current idea is to give yourself the means to be able to talk about it. We arrived very late and there is a renewal of staff to be made. So I think that before talking about it in a very concrete way, set shorter term goals, composition of the workforce. And once everything is settled and in place, then I think we can discuss the objectives in a clear way.
Will there be a lot of work to create cohesion?
Indeed, we will have to create cohesion, but also a team dynamic, a game dynamic. With some perhaps new ideas. Players who will have to learn a different system, so ba lot of work in a period that will ultimately be quite short. But we hope for a good chemistry and above all a recruitment that will allow us to go very quickly in learning and in the organization of the team.
How do you intend to “repair” the link with the supporters? Many have been very disappointed with the game offered in recent years.
The fans are football connoisseurs. We are going to try to set up a game that will be interesting, that will stimulate intellectually. And it is by winning matches that we will regain enthusiasm. We would like find a certain level of intensity in our game. That’s really a key word. There is an offensive drive. Now, it’s easy to talk about it, it’s more complicated to put it in place and especially to see it over the entire season and in all the matches. Especially at home, where we see that there is a statistic, which I think must be repaired.