Reims - Emmanuel Agbadou: "We're hoping to nick a European place"

You're one of the most used players at Stade de Reims this season. How do you explain this new status?

Emmanuel Agbadou: It's the reward for the work I've put in since I arrived. My first season was a bit difficult, with quite a few suspensions and situations that later helped me gain experience. I tried to improve certain aspects of my game, such as concentration, for example. And I think that's what explains why the coach is using me a lot more today. Compared with last season, I'm more available (laughs). All the mistakes of last season are helping me be a much more available player for the team this season.

The time you needed to adapt, is it proof that, whatever people may say, Ligue 1 is a tough league?

Emmanuel Agbadou: Ligue 1 is really tough. Before coming to Reims, I had the same opinion as many people about the level of the league compared with others. But once you're in it and playing match after match, you realise it's nothing like what people say. Once you've come through Ligue 1, believe me, you can then play in any league. As a defender, Ligue 1 has helped me improve in loads of areas. For example, cards, because here, after 3 yellow cards in 10 matches, you're automatically suspended. So if you want to be available to play, you have to avoid cards. You gain experience. When we say don't commit fouls, it means playing intelligently. In that respect, Ligue 1 has helped me a lot. At the start it wasn't easy because there's the tactical level, the technical level, and the physical level too. Today it's going better, and I say thank you to Ligue 1.

Speaking of which, in what areas would you say you've progressed the most?

Emmanuel Agbadou: Concentration. Even though we know to err is human and that the best players at the highest level make mistakes, as a defender you have to be focused. The slightest error costs you dearly. You have to be able to maintain that level of concentration match after match. In that respect, Ligue 1 has helped me a lot. There's also how to defend intelligently, not necessarily going into a challenge every time. Sometimes shepherding the opponent allows the whole team to get back into shape, and that lets you win the ball back afterwards. I've also learned simplicity in my play with the ball at my feet. Being fairly comfortable technically, I sometimes had a habit of taking one touch too many. So I've become more efficient.

Read more on this subject: Reims - Abdelhamid: "Agbadou has taken a real step forward in concentration"

Stade de Reims, led by your coach Will Still, is held up as an example for its style of play. What's the recipe?

Emmanuel Agbadou: Our first quality is the pressing and counter-pressing. We like to play in the opposition half. Once we're in their half, we like to build our attacks to hurt them. Then it all depends on the opponents too, because sometimes you can face a team with a very low block and that will require us to have more possession. There are also teams like Lens, for example, against whom you have to take more risks because they're very big on 1 v 1 duels all over the pitch. Every player has to be able to take responsibility for getting the ball out. We have this ability to adapt to the opposition, and that's the Will Still touch.

"The ambitions have changed at Stade de Reims"

Season after season, Reims are establishing themselves in Ligue 1. We see the team managing to finish well up the table. Brest are also having a remarkable season. At this level, can we still talk about surprises?

Emmanuel Agbadou: The club's directors put a project in place a few years ago. The ambitions have changed at Stade de Reims. Since last season we've been hoping to nick a European place. We didn't manage it, so we hope it will happen this season. The club has left behind the category of sides expected to be fighting relegation and is now aiming higher. You can see it in the club's infrastructure. The training centre has been renovated. A lot of professionalism has been brought in, and that shows the club's ambition. Now it's up to us to prove on the pitch as well that the club is growing. Since last season, we've been tipped to push for the European places. So if it happens this season, it will be a confirmation.

Speaking openly, can we say that Reims are aiming for Europe?

Emmanuel Agbadou: Exactly. We're not far off the European places. There are five matches left and we're going all out.

"The hardest part starts with Ivory Coast "

Your performances earned you a return to the Ivory Coast squad during the March international break. Was getting back into the Elephants an objective, or did it come as a surprise?

Emmanuel Agbadou: The Ivory Coast national team has always been a goal for me. But then it all depends on the head coach and the profiles of players he wants to work with. He also picks those who are in the best form in his eyes. As a player, you have to do everything you can to be available for the national team, notably by stringing together good performances. Representing my country and wearing the Ivorian shirt is a source of pride. Coming back was one of my goals. But the hardest part starts now, because I'll have to keep performing to be called up again. And that's without forgetting that, without you, they won an AFCON. So the bar is high and you have to raise your level to prove that, even if you weren't part of the group, you have the qualities to be part of it now and keep winning titles.

As an Ivorian international, how did you experience seeing the AFCON played at home while not being in the squad?

Emmanuel Agbadou: In sporting terms, every Ivorian wants to play in the AFCON, even more so in his own country. You know Ivorians, we're very attached to our country. Of course, being part of it was a dream, but only 27 players can be called up. Not being in the team does sting a bit, but you have to support the team. But in my philosophy, everything happens in its own time. When your time has come, when God has decided you're going to achieve certain things in your career, those things can't pass you by. You will achieve them. That's what helped me get through the disappointment and be happy for those who were called up. I told myself: "your turn will come, the moment when you can show all your talent to Ivory Coast, give everything for the shirt and win titles." There will be other AFCONs, other competitions... It's up to me to work hard.

Your club team-mate Oumar Diakité was there. He must have let you experience that AFCON vicariously...

Emmanuel Agbadou: We spoke regularly. He told me about the atmosphere out there, how the group was living, the group stage... It allowed me to follow things closely. Without being there, it's as if I was.

The end of the season could be exciting for Reims. You're under no pressure, so how will you approach these final matches?

Emmanuel Agbadou: We have to play game by game, like finals. Winning with style no longer matters. If we want to nick a European place, we just have to win. It's the home straight. However you do it, you have to pick up points. And even if we don't have the same pressure as other clubs, our aim, as Brest are doing, is to be that surprise nobody was expecting. When you see clubs lower down the table being tipped as contenders for European places and not us, even though we're having a better season, it creates a sort of frustration. But we have to turn that frustration into something positive that fires us up to go and get that place.