Deschamps, Petković call for improvement

Didier Deschamps, France coach
We always have room for improvement. That's important at this moment in time, because this result suited us. We had four good chances. Switzerland were better on the ball at times without threatening too much.

In terms of our plans it was very, very important to finish first in the group. It's very good; clearly there are things to improve on, but I've seen virtually every match in this competition and all sides have had tricky games.

Sommer is the man of the match and, when the goalkeeper is man of the match, that shows we had chances. You can always criticise players; I know the players are well aware that we can improve in a number of different areas.

But for a great goalkeeper and a few centimetres, or being more clinical, we could have scored goals. This was a crucial match and we've finished top. I decided not to change our back six as they play together like clockwork and it's very important to have defensive stability.

Paul [Pogba] was the game's life force during the first half – he's got a great shot on him, he was our heart and soul. He didn't get forward as much in the second half but he's a player with huge potential and I've got great faith in him. We need Paul Pogba at the top level.

We got through, scored goals and created chances, and resolved a number of things defensively in a short space of time. There was a lot of focus on defending set pieces. In terms of our control in attacking play, we can always do better, but I'm pleased with what the players are doing.

There are expectations; it's great to have the support of the people but we need to be able to let go a bit more in matches. That was the case in the second half of the second game, and it happened in flashes tonight, even if we didn't have to really push because we wanted to make sure of top spot.

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Vladimir Petković, Switzerland coach
It's a significant achievement, but it's a first step forward – this was our minimum objective. We played well and held firm. Tonight is very positive. Even when we had to drop back, we never tried to stay back. We played excellently in the first half, in the second we faded a bit physically but we kept our heads up and kept the ball – but we can and must do better in the final third.

[I'm pleased] with the whole team; when the team is compact, we perform much better. We saw that from the second game onwards – and if we cut out individual mistakes, we can do even better.

[On reaching the knockouts for the first time] History is behind us, in the past; it's important but you don't live on your past achievements. We've made a significant stride forward and we're still hungry; we want to achieve something even more significant.

We know now that we'll play on Saturday at 15.00 in Saint-Etienne. We're through, we can rest up and it's for other sides to push to play against us. All three of our potential opponents are very good; we played Poland in a friendly and they're a good side, nothing needs to be said about Germany, and Northern Ireland are a surprise. We're relaxed about who we play.

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Yann Sommer, Switzerland goalkeeper and man of the match
We're very happy, it's great for Switzerland to be in the last 16 of a tournament like this. We deserved to get through this group; we played well today, we had a bit of luck too. We played well and kept the ball – it's a great result for our country.

I don't have a preference [for the last 16] – we haven't thought too much about what would happen after this game. Our concentration was on this game, we needed to get one point minium and we've done that. Now we have a week to rest, a bit of an easier week, and we'll see who we play next. We're relaxed about that.

I wasn't looking too much at France! Of course they're one of the favourites for the tournament, we saw tonight they have an incredible team with several high-quality players. They're among the favourites but we saw how we played too, and that you can make life tough for a team as good as France when you play like we did tonight.