Sébastien Pocognoli: "We weren't able to finish the chances as we should have."
It was a disappointing result considering the number of chances created. Dominant and tireless in their effort, the Rouge et Blanc came up short against a Marseille side that was clinical at the end of the match, ultimately losing in the big match of Matchday 16 in Ligue 1 (1-0). It was therefore with disappointment that Sébastien Pocognoli spoke at a press conference following the match at the Vélodrome. 🎙️
Good evening, coach. What are your feelings after this match?
My overriding feeling is disappointment. I felt the same way after the match in Rennes and the one against Paris FC, where we really needed to take a good look at ourselves and engage in some serious self-criticism. But today, I’m disappointed because I think my players and the club in general deserved much better! So it’s a disappointment, and now the question is, how are we going to deal with it?
Are we going to use this as motivation to bounce back and continue delivering strong performances like today? Or are we going to try to find excuses and ignore these positive aspects? In any case, in terms of attitude and how they approached the match, I’m very proud of my players!
Have you reviewed the chances for the disallowed goals?
I haven’t seen them, and I’m not going to discuss them, because every week we’re discussing whether decisions are for or against us. I don’t have time to focus on that, because I have a team to develop. I told my players before the match that we had to try to control everything we could control on the pitch. Our approach, our game plan, we executed it very well, apart from failing to convert our chances. What you’re talking about is something I have no control over. So, apart from wasting energy and criticizing colleagues—because the referees are still colleagues—it won’t achieve anything! Today, things didn’t go our way, that’s just how it is.
"Essayer d'aller de l'avant"
Les mots de Lamine Camara après #OMASM 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/eJCfmjzFHz
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) December 14, 2025
How do you explain your team’s lack of finishing tonight?
Many chances were created through good pressing, and pressing is something you can choose to do or not do. It’s a decision you have to make, especially against Marseille, who, along with Paris Saint-Germain, are the team with the most possession and the highest passing accuracy. You can either press them or wait for them, but if you choose to press, you have to make it count because it requires a lot of energy.
Tonight, I’m mainly frustrated about this, because the team’s hard work allowed us to get into scoring positions, but we weren’t able to finish the chances properly. We’ll continue to work on this aspect and remain positive despite everything! Because creating chances is good, but Marseille only needed one or two in the second half to win the match.
The game plan was a little different from other matches…
It’s simply that Olympique de Marseille has a different way of building up play compared to other teams. So yes, it was a bit different from other matches because it was the first time we played with this formation against a team with three central defenders. We adapted, and we approached the game with a lot of ambition, taking into account the opponent and the flow of the match.
La réaction pleine d'élégance de Sébastien Pocognoli qui ne veut pas s'attarder sur l'arbitrage 👏#OMASM pic.twitter.com/WVmB4ZMkON
— L1+ (@ligue1plus) December 14, 2025
Was Folarin Balogun disappointed tonight?
Naturally, a striker wants to score, so there’s perhaps a feeling of an unfinished match. But again, considering how the game unfolded, he was very important for the team. The three players up front, Taki’ (Minamino), (Aleksandr) Golovin and Maghnes (Akliouche) also put in a tremendous amount of effort in their off-the-ball play, and obviously, I would like them to be rewarded for that by being decisive, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case today.
