Frédéric Antonetti, FC Metz coach : “We entered this match very timidly, we were tense. When we are tense, we let the opponent gain confidence because we do not know whether to surrender. And on the offensive side, we don’t give too much help to the carrier. Still, I think the draw is fair. Saint-Étienne sometimes dominated us in the passing game but we were able to respond. We had a lot of situations spoiled by poor control, a bad cross, a lack of presence in front of the goal. The two big saves, it is the goalkeeper of Saint-Étienne who makes them, on the head of Kiki Kouyaté and the strike of Opa Nguette. Afterwards, we have to improve in the game. I think we play a lot more liberated outside. In defense, the presence of Kiki Kouyaté did a lot of good, which meant that we were a little more solid. Khazri’s goal? A goalkeeper must be there to anticipate the balls in depth. He made a classy gesture, well done. I know from Bastia that he is a great player. The absence of Udol? He had four stitches in his shin after colliding with Centonze in training. It will resume next week. “
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Claude Puel, Saint-Étienne coach : “We conceded again the opening of the scoring. We could have managed the direct game better but we corrected that in the second half, with a better positioning against these long balls. Fortunately, Wahbi (Khazri) got us back in the right direction very quickly with a superb goal. From there, we were able to come back to simple things, with lags. In the second half, we concede two, three situations. Fortunately we did not take a cap goal but we had a clean and interesting second period in terms of the game. I consider that we finished better than the opponent. We have the feeling that we could have made a difference at any time to win this match. It is a point, a point outside but in our situation, it is neither sufficient for them, nor for us. We remain in the state of mind that we saw against Angers (2-2) with a great debauchery of energy against a team that is difficult to play because it rejects the game well. “
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