Idriss Saadi’s secret target

Ahead of the match against Guingamp on Sunday, Racing striker Idriss Saadi opens up about his new life in Alsace, his first few steps this season, the Algerian national team and the fight to stay up.
IDRISS AND STRASBOURG
“I’m discovering the city bit by bit. It’s lovely, and I hope to show it to my wife and kids soon who are still in Saint-Étienne at the moment. It’s a bit difficult because, in the meantime, I’m living at the training academy. I’m delighted to know that we’ll all be able to move in together from September. Everyone at the club has given me a warm welcome. I didn’t know anyone in the dressing room besides Benjamin Corgnet, who I’d sort of crossed paths with at Saint-Étienne. It’s always a new experience. It’s important to arrive quite early in the season to get your bearings.
“I’D KIND OF FORGOTTEN ABOUT FRENCH FOOTBALL”
“I’ve already experienced very different styles of play. Maybe I’m better off for it. With Cardiff City, I was confronted with the roughness and attacking play of English football. In Belgium, it was kind of a mix tactically of French football and English box-to-box play. I don’t regret having those different experiences, quite the opposite, in fact. I’d kind of forgotten about French football, so I’m rediscovering it in a way.”
“THE LILLE GAME? IT DIDN’T BOTHER ME”
“In the 3–0 win against Lille, I missed some chances. It could’ve gone differently, though. If Nuno (Da Costa) hadn’t intercepted the ball in front of me, I’d have scored the opening goal. He didn’t see me, that’s all there is to it. But then, with a bit of confidence, maybe I would have won my 1-on-1 with De Préville. That’s how it is. I know that strikers are judged on their statistics but statistics don’t tell you everything. I feel like I was more active then than at Montpellier, where I scored. I was a bit frustrated about the Lille game but it didn’t really bother me. We won, didn’t we? We got three points, and in our mission to stay up, that’s the main thing.”
“AT MONTPELLIER, IT WAS JUST ONE GOAL IN A SEASON”
“People have spoken to me a lot about the goal at Montpellier, my first in Ligue 1. Is it the start of something? I’ve no idea. In any case, it’s not the end of something. For me, it’s just one goal among others in a season. It got us a point, that’s what we should remember.”
“I HAVE A SECRET TARGET”
“Scoring? Of course, it’s an obsession, just like for every striker. We’re judged on it, like a goalkeeper is for his saves. But if I have to pass it instead, then I pass it. Anyway, yeah, I’ve set myself a target. It’s a secret one. Dimitri Payet encouraged me to set a number of goals to reach without announcing it. Otherwise, you have to carry that number all season long.”
“PLAYING FOR ALGERIA IS SOMETHING I’M PROUD OF”
“After the Guingamp match, I’ll immediately join up with the Algerian national team. We’re playing Zambia twice (2nd and 5th September) in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. We need two wins because, with one point from two games, we’re five points off Nigeria and only one team qualifies from the group. Playing for Algeria is something I’m proud of, even though it wasn’t a priority at the start of my career. I appeared for the first time in a friendly match against Guinea (2–1, on 6th June), coming on for Islam Slimani with eleven minutes to go, and I was on the bench against Togo (1–0) in CAN 2019 qualifying. A new era has started, with a complete shake-up at the Federation and a new Spanish manager, Lucas Alcaraz. I’m looking forward to taking part in the project.”
“WE’LL TAKE POINTS WHEREVER WE CAN”
“What counts first though is the match at Guingamp. We’re going there with the idea, one that will be with us all season, of trying to take points wherever we can. After Lyon, there was a sort of eureka moment. We felt like we’d paid too much respect to the opponent and to Ligue 1 in general. I know that there’s a different league above us, but I feel like saying that even when it doesn’t look like there are any points on offer, we’ll try to get some anyway.”
[Translated from: http://www.rcstrasbourgalsace.fr/actualites/lobjectif-secret-didriss-saadi]
