"My Best Season" Moses Simon talks hitting top form

You have been in Nantes for almost six years, and have played 190 matches in all competitions with totals of 35 goals and 39 assists. What does that make you feel?

39? It's not much (smiles).

It's not bad though...
To tell the truth, I don't really look at the stats. I know that I'm almost at 200 matches in a big club with a great community. I'm attached to Nantes, to life in France. I have a lot of friends now, I like French cuisine and I have a good connection with the young players. And then my son (his third child) was born here, my family loves France, my parents come often.

One might be surprised not to see you in a bigger club, given your abilities.
But when you love your club, when you get on well with everyone, you can stay, so it's not a problem. For now, in my head, I'm happy here. You can be in a bigger club, not play and not be happy. Playing in Europe, of course, is something I've already experienced it but if it doesn't come... My job is Nantes, after that I don't know (laughs). I also hope to play a first World Cup in 2026. In 2018, I was injured, and in 2022, we didn't qualify.

How do you judge Nantes' season?
We're not yet where we want to be, so we're going to continue to fight and in the locker room, I try to be an encouraging person. There are stronger teams than us, two weeks ago we were lower down the table, so we're not a team in form, but we're not the only ones.

Despite that, is this your best season at Nantes, on a personal level?
Yes, it's the best, because I've scored six goals and provided seven assists, I know that too (smiles), so I'm ahead of the previous ones.

In many offensive stats, you are in a good place or at the top. You are the one who has attempted the most dribbles, who has the most meters gained with the ball at his feet forward...
Yes, after that if you have good stats without winning, it is the worst. But what I prefer are the assists...

Everyone knows your style of play by heart, your runs and your ways with the ball at your feet, there are sometimes double-teams, and yet you still frustrate opponents...
Whether they know how I play changes nothing, if you have a sense of dribbling and speed, even if I'm not very strong, you can get through no matter what. You can be blocked twice, three times, but that one time you can go through. Like against Rennes (1-0, December 8), a goal that I still watch often (smiles). Maybe I'm not as fast as in 2019, but I'm quicker in my decision-making. And I don't have any pressure. It's the younger ones who have the pressure.

Like Ousmane Dembélé, you can use both feet...
Not like Dembélé, he is stronger, but it's okay (smiles). I am still right-footed but I am often decisive with my left. And it is more complicated for the opponent to know which side to close because I can mix between overtaking and entering the axis. The important thing is when the opponent says to himself: what do we do, we don't know where he is going to go.

Why do you prefer to play on the left?

I don't know (laughs). In the national team I alternate flanks. But I am accustomed to playing on the left.

At Monaco (1-7, February 15), you also played in a more central role with Matthis Abline...

Yes, it is also an interesting position, you can run everywhere, Matthis too, and it went well. Unfortunately, it ended badly. In that situation, it's OM, a good team that monopolizes the ball, we risk touching little and we will have to do a lot, with it, to bring something back.

Do you remember your first goal with Nantes?
In Amiens, yes, on a pass from Valentin Rongier (2-1, August 24, 2019) -- it was nice to reunite with him. But like Quentin Merlin, he is a good guy, a good player, but on the field there are no good guys (laughs)."

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