Girard focused on winning games

Montpellier manager Rene Girard was not getting carried away after his side moved to the top of Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Montpellier jumped to the summit with a 1-0 win over Nice in Saturday’s late kick-off, after Brest dropped from first to fifth when they lost 2-1 to Stade Rennes.

Despite Montpellier filling top spot, they remain just 10 points from the relegation places and the 56-year-old manager said winning games was all that was important at the moment.

“It’s a great result, and I am delighted with their performance and the mentality of the players. We are not concerned about where we are in the table right now,” Girard said.

“We need to remain realistic and not get carried away. We keep waiting for the big boys to take over at the top, but Brest had their moment and now we have ours. Let’s just savour it.”

Brest manager Alex Dupont said his side showed a lack of fitness in their loss on Saturday, adding that consistent results would be hard to come by for his side this season.

“We were aware of the quality of the opposition (Stade Rennes). We were poor in the first-half – it was as though we were scared – and we paid the price for that,” Dupont said.

“With them pressing so high, we found it hard to get up the park. However, we were much, much better in the second half, and we could have got back on level terms.”

“We know that it’s not easy to remain in peak physical condition for an entire season and I think tonight we lacked a little bit of freshness.”

Paris Saint-Germain temporarily moved top of the table on Saturday prior to Montpellier’s victory, but PSG manager Antoine Kombouare was also modest when reflecting on his side’s position – second place.

“Our league position will only matter at the end of the season. Right now, we are flying high, but the table is so tight, and there is still an awfully long way to go. I don’t care about where we are in the league just now. I am only interested in ensuring that we are in a good position come March or April,” Kombouare said.