Sage admits that Crystal Palace being “a special club” was a big factor for him becoming the new manager.
It’s the first time he has managed outside of France, having previously been in charge of Chambery in 2013, before a decade-long hiatus, then taking charge of Lyon, and most recently Lens.
Sage admitted that the strong bond between the fans and the club was a key reason why he chose to move to South London.
“First of all, it’s about the league, to be really honest, and after that it is a special club”, claimed the Frenchman.
“It is the only club [in the league] with Ultras, and as I said, I like to play for the fans.
“I think the players have to understand that because we have to give them that [support], when they come in and wear something, for me it’s the most important thing.
“The second thing is not about the fact that the club has won three trophies because I have respect for that, but I haven’t come for that.
“This is a club with a big culture, and I like that, because there is a history here, something special, and you understand that when you enter the stadium, when you are in the facilities, and that is really special for me.”
The Frenchman also admitted that the main thing for his style of play would be adhering to the culture, as well as each player’s qualities.
“The first thing is to be in line with the culture, the club, and to be in the possibilities of the players as individuals and collectively.
“That’s why I always speak about the three pillars.
“The first one is about pressing; we want to recover the ball as soon as we can, because we want to play with the ball.
“We want to be as efficient in the build-up to create a good condition of position in the half of the opponent, and to finish that, we want to attack and put pressure- psychological pressure and space pressure on the opponents in the game.
“We are able to do this by having the ball in possession, but we want to do that in transition too, because we have to be able to play in a lot of contexts to be complete.
Last season, Sage’s Lens side posted some of the most impressive numbers in Ligue 1, including creating the most chances of any team with 167, and managing the second-most set-piece goals in the division with 13, a factor that he singled out
“We have to focus on set pieces too, because it’s important in making the difference in some moments of the game.”
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