RC Lens Coach Toppmöller's Half-Time Rant After Poor First Half at Le Mans
RC Lens coach Dino Toppmöller was highly critical of his players' opening play at Le Mans on Sunday in Ligue 1 (2-2). The German manager voiced his displeasure in the locker room at halftime. The team found themselves down 2-0 in the Sarthe region before managing to equalize in the second half.
Despite a second-half comeback to secure a point against Le Mans (2-2) on Sunday in Ligue 1's fourth round, coach Dino Toppmöller emphasized that his team "cannot start a match like this." "I was really angry at halftime, and I say that because we cannot play a match like this, we cannot start a match like this," the German technician stated post-match.
The Lens locker room must have been tense. When asked by reporters about his half-time speech, he responded, "Today, it's better if I don't say what I said at halftime." He offered no excuses for his players, not even the significant effort expended just three days prior to win 3-2 against Slavia Prague in the Champions League, having been down 1-0 and then 2-1.
'We Showed a Top Reaction'
"We saw that in the second half, we had the game to play at full intensity again. And if we do that from the start of the match, we are the winners in the end," he asserted. "It was the intensity in the second half that changed our performance. We were much more aggressive, much more intense in challenges, and better in pressing. You can set up any system you want, but without intensity, you are lost..." he elaborated.
On a more conciliatory note, he added, "The only positive thing is that we once again showed top character, we showed a top reaction."
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