Sébastien Pocognoli: “It’s satisfying to get another clean sheet” | OneFootball

The AS Monaco coach spoke to the media after earning his first victory in charge — a 1–0 win over Toulouse.

The AS Monaco coach spoke to the media after earning his first victory in charge — a 1–0 win over Toulouse.

Mission accomplished! Thanks to an early goal from Mohammed Salisu, AS Monaco claimed their first win under Sébastien Pocognoli, beating Toulouse 1–0 on Matchday 9 of Ligue 1. The Belgian coach faced the press afterward, relieved but aware that there’s still work to do. 🎙️

Good evening, coach. How do you feel after this first win?

Beyond the three points — which are, in the end, very important to wrap up this first ten-day block — I think the victory is deserved given all the work that’s been done since I arrived. The performance itself was a bit laboured, but in terms of attitude, we defended well as a team and were rewarded with a second clean sheet in three days, our first in the league.

We created chances and should have killed the game off at 2–0, which would have spared us some late pressure. We didn’t manage the match very well towards the end, but I know fatigue played a part. The training intensity over the last ten days has been different to before, and so are the playing style and demands. Taking all that into account, I’m very pleased with the three points.

“It makes me very proud. I’m happy with this win because it brings this first ten-day spell to a close — and now the players and staff can rest. It’s a reward for everyone.”

Sébastien Pocognolion Monaco’s victory over Toulouse

It’s your first win as AS Monaco coach — what emotions are you feeling?

I’m happy, even if it doesn’t show much because I’m also exhausted! Bringing the squad and staff together in such a short time is always a challenge for a young coach, and we’ve managed it very well, which fills me with pride.

This victory ends our first ten days together, and now we can finally rest. It’s fully deserved for both the staff and the players. I’m also pleased to have been able to see so many different players over the last three games — almost everyone has played at least five minutes. That helps us make the most of this initial period.

Yes, I hope so. I really liked the attitude of my three centre-backs today, and of Christian in particular — the plan wasn’t for him to play 90 minutes, but he did very well. Our two wing-backs, Krépin and Kassoum, also worked extremely hard. Because of the number of turnovers, they often had to sprint the full length of the pitch to recover, and they did that brilliantly. For Philipp (Köhn), too, another clean sheet is satisfying.

Beyond the technical imperfections, there’s a lot of positive energy in the effort levels. It’s true there were technical errors due to fatigue — three days ago we didn’t have as many. And this new system changes a lot of things; we can’t expect all the connections between players to be perfect right away. The substitutes made good contributions, and overall there’s plenty of positive to take from this game.

Is your playing style beginning to take shape?

Yes. At Angers, I saw a lot of good intentions — the players wanted to impress their new coach, since I’d just arrived. Then we played an excellent match in all aspects against Tottenham, even if we lacked finishing in front of goal. But in terms of content, it was very satisfying.

And today, we were more efficient — even if it could have been 2–0. We scored from a set piece and kept a clean sheet, so now the next goal is to combine that level of defensive organisation with the attacking patterns we implemented against Tottenham, and start turning that into goals.