Sébastien Joseph's reaction in the mixed zone after the Coupe de France match (1/16) won 5-0 against RC Saint-Denis.


It is a bowl of oxygen this Cup. It's a good thing this victory?

Sébastien Joseph - Our priority remains the championship. We must finish the best possible, we have big deadlines to come with the trip to Fleury and the reception of Marseille. It is true that the Cup is a competition that is important to us, we hope to go as far as possible because it allows us to be on both competitions. In this period of 2nd phase where the calendar of the championship is rather ventilated between the international competitions and the Coupe de France. We have to stay in the running to keep this competitive spirit.


Did you have any concerns before coming here?

S.J.- We are always careful on a Cup match. We were warned about the quality of this team, there were many players who had known the D1 and D2 too. The results speak for themselves for this team which is undefeated since the beginning of the season so necessarily, it prompted caution. But after we knew that if we could score at least two goals in the first period [having put the third right before], it allows us to approach things much more serenely. After, we can not see how they could put us 4 goals in the second period. We were expecting a tough game with some impact and that's what we got today. It is true that the weather in Paris these last days made that the ground was fat and deteriorated rather quickly so inevitably, one feared the risk of injuries on this match there. An impact, a duel a little poorly controlled, a twist on a bad reception, it's always something that we fear the most.


Football Hearts - And how is it explained that the match was also "rough" at the beginning of the first period in particular?
S.J. - I think we can pay tribute to this team [from Saint-Denis]. They did not stay quiet. They were present in the duels, they came to pick us up. It is true that there were many duels, impact and inevitably, it creates a game a little rough at times.


CDF - The first goal came in the 30th minute. The startup was a bit long?
S.J. - We expected that. Frankly, I did not expect to score in the 15th second of play. It's the same in these types of cup matches. The opponent puts a lot of solidarity when one is a team of inferior division and that it is necessary to defend. The more time passes, the more they hold and the more they create solidarity, fighting spirit and it keeps them in the game. It was important to score in the first half. Whether you score in the first or the 45th, the important thing is to make the difference to manage the game and make changes quickly because there are upcoming deadlines that are important. You have to know how to manage the playing time of the frames.

On the opponent of the day playing in regional 1
S.J. - I think it's a great team we played, do not downplay the opponent. We win 5-0 against a team that has taken only one goal since the beginning of the season. I do not know the results but it could well be in D2 and I'm not sure that all the teams of D1 would have put 5 goals to clubs of lower levels. What is pleasant is that despite everything, on the offensive side, we scored goals with Danielle [Tolmais] who puts 3 today so for a girl who has just arrived at the club, it's a good thing. We still missed face to face, easy balloons, a corner that puts on the bar that could have decanted things. When you have a lot of chances, do not expect them to be all the way down, but hey, we put 8 in the first cup game, 5 today.


CDF - Are you satisfied with your team's play today?
S.J. - In the game, there are many things to complain about. Afterwards, we made our staff rotate, we were able to give playing time to a girl like Leonie Fleury or Élise Courel who did not have a lot of playing time since the beginning of the season. It was played Clementine Canon U19 must be hardened to that level. We also had rotation in the workforce, we continue to work on the 3-5-2 we put in place since the beginning of the year and it's always the same. Overall, it is satisfactory. If we make the 3 games [counting the championship], we put 14 goals, we took 1. But there are times when we have to play faster and it is often the difficulty in football. To be able to not put oneself at the rhythm of the adversary. It is imposing our style of play and I think that Lyon does it wonderfully. Even a big club like Paris hurts sometimes. We saw them in the first round, even if it was Lille but it remains a team of D1. They had a hard time making a difference.


CDF - How do you see the rest of the season? You are 6th, we can be afraid of being jostled at the risk of playing the maintenance?
S.J. - We are going to have 2 matches that are important in this respect. We go to Fleury before receiving Marseille. At the end of these 2 matches, we will be able to say if we will have a season more complicated than envisaged or if we will reach the objective of the beginning of season, namely the middle of table. Now our goal is always to be between 5th and 7th place. We are 6th and it remains unchanged although we often have the opportunity to take points to make the difference and we let them pass quite often. Better watch in front than behind and for the moment, we still look ahead.


On the recovery of Siga Tandia

Siga resumed this week. Her check-up ultrasound was done Monday and she can fully resume training. She is with us since Tuesday, she touches the ball so we hope that she is in the group quickly.


On the health situation of Jerome Dauba, who was uneasy during the match against La Roche on Saturday

In fact, I tried to take her news through some players that I had last year as Solene Barbance and Chloe Bornes who gave me reassuring news. I sent a message to Jerome and he answered me this morning. It's nice that someone for whom I have a lot of friendship, it's always unfortunate and it also places the sports plan on a secondary plan in this kind of situation. I wish him all the best a good recovery, to return as quickly as possible to what he likes to do, ie on the ground. The whole club joins me to wish him the best possible recovery.