By his own admission, Pierre Sage was frustrated with Crystal Palace's defeat to Everton on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. When asked if he enjoyed his first experience of the world's most famous league, his first response is 'we lost' - showing how seriously he is taking not only the result, but the job as a whole. "I'm not here in an attraction park, you can say that.
I'm here to win games, the job is like this and I'm not happy to lose this game," was his follow up when speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Friday's match against Manchester City. "I understood with this game that we are able to do things and it's difficult when you know you are able to do it and you don't do it for the duration of the game," Sage continued. "That's why I was a little bit frustrated because we played well during the first half and it's not normal that we played as we did in the second half.
"That's why we need to be more consistent. We need to work a lot, we need to understand together better. We need to be fluent, to be smooth in our play and the only thing to do is to work." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The focus on winning is no surprise for a manager who achieved incredible things with Lens last season.
They finished second in Ligue 1 behind PSG - ahead of the likes of Marseille and Lyon - securing a place in the Champions League. They also won their first Coupe de France title. In fact, it's the striking similarities to Oliver Glasner that saw Sage appointed at Crystal Palace on a three-year deal.
These have been evident too in the games the Frenchman has managed so far. "I think that's why the club chose me because we [himself and Glanser] are in line in a lot of principles, but we are different for the moment," Sage said. "He won and I didn't win here yet, but the most important thing for me is not to be in line with that.
It's to be consistent with the previous manager, but in my way. "When I left France, people said when I left that I was leaving Champions League football to only play in the Europa League and I told them I'd be playing in the Champions League every weekend." Crystal Palace represents another step in Sage's varied career that has seen him do everything from technical director to academy coach. But it is his time as an assistant that prepared him most for life as a Premier League boss.
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