The Chamois Niortais remain on a series of 6 games without defeat, in all competitions. And Rui Almeida’s men intend to continue this series of invincibility against Saint-Étienne on Monday evening. The Portuguese coach appeared at a press conference this Sunday with the aim of continuing to take points against the Greens to continue their rise in the standings.
Sainté, an adversary apart
“The most important thing is to be competitive for the game on Monday against an opponent whose objective at the start of the season was clear. Now of course they are a bit far from that. But of course it’s a team with a special history in French football. Saint-Étienne is a big team. Here everyone wants to play the match against Saint-Étienne. If I don’t show it is the 2nd team in French football with the most titles I remember when I was young, I watched Saint-Étienne win the title in France. »
“We have all respect for the opponent. We want to do our job, and our job is to earn the 3 points. »
On a tenfold motivation to face Sainté: “That we can’t avoid, we can’t hide from this question. We have to attack the matches in the same way but we know that the teams are different. A lot of Saint-Étienne players come or have played in L1 so we can’t hide from that. But the most important thing really is that I am focused with my team. »
“Even though they fell to a lower division, they had a different moment. On the club, the start of the championship was not dreamed up for the club. But we have to think about now. We must always think of the now, of today. And today, for the last 2 weeks, the club took 4 players. There is a small disadvantage for us now: we don’t really know Saint-Étienne. Who is it in Saint-Étienne now (with the new recruits)? We only know the individualities of the opponent, the coach too and his assistant who was also mine in Troyes. »
Niortais to be focused on their game!
“Their objective (to the Greens) is clear, to return to the rankings as quickly as possible. What we don’t just want is that in the next match they succeed in this objective. It’s up to us to be very focused, committed to individual and collective missions, to be focused on the difficulties we’re going to have during the match. But what is really important is: what are we going to do in the match, to win it. Of course, we have a strategy, as with all games. But this one in particular, because Saint-Étienne is always a different match. »
“You have to be focused for 90 minutes, hurt the opponent, defend well when you lose the ball. But when we have the ball, try to disrupt the opponent, hurt the opponent. We have capacities to do something. But you have to have humility. And keep our current momentum and continue to earn points. »
Almeida counts on the public to help his team
On a good crowd: ” I really like. It is important for us to have the public at home, that our supporters are present. I know the stadium will be full. There will also be a lot of Saint-Étienne supporters, that’s normal. The atmosphere in the stadium is really important for us and it made the difference in the last matches. I know that the supporters will be present, we are counting on them to help us win this match. »
Obligatory victory? “Of course we want to win the match. We have big ambitions to win the match. We know that if we win the match, we keep a distance of 5 points on Saint-Étienne, that’s clear. If we draw, we win a point against the teams closest to us Rodez and Pau. We know that. But we don’t play with the ranking. We know that if we win the match, we will reduce the distance between us and the opponents above, Saint-Étienne behind that is not important for us, they are below. Of course we never want to lose the match. »
The state of the lawn: an advantage for the people of Niort?
On the state of the pitch for the game: “I hope he is well (smiles). The chance is that the field is the same for both teams, we will have the same problem. I think the pitch is going to be okay, really. It’s not the best of Ligue 2 I think, but that’s not for me to say. I even think that we are among the last. But that’s not going to change anything. We are adapted. I think if there is a difference, it’s that we are more suited to it than the opponent. We know the state of the field, the opponent does not know it. »
