Cote d'Ivoire seemingly cantered into the African Nations Cup final with a 3-1 success over DR Congo on Wednesday night, but coach Herve Renard was far from a happy man as he seeks a historic second continental title.
Renard criticised his players for not heeding instructions and showing a "lack of respect" to their opponents, reinforcing the belief this is a great collection of individual talents who have yet to really gel as a team.
"I didn't like this game," he told reporters. "We didn't do all the things right as we should, maybe at times we didn't show enough respect to our opponent. If the players are not listening they can get caught out."
Goals from Yaya Toure, Gervinho and Wilfried Konan set up a third final appearance in the last six tournaments for The Elephants.
"I was worried that playing a fifth game in this tournament would prove very tough but the most important is that we reached the final," Renard said.
"We didn't have the same level in the two halves and DR Congo were always dangerous on the counter-attack.
"I said to the players at half-time they were not playing like they realised this was a match to get to the final of the Nations Cup.
"They didn't show enough determination in the first half like you should in a semi-final. Maybe there weren't enough spectators to give it the right atmosphere."
DR Congo coach Florent Ibenge was far more forthcoming in his praise of both his side and the tactics of Renard.
"We're competitors, we wanted to qualify (for the final), but we saw a team that is not ashamed of his game, which has instead shown a beautiful facet of Congolese football," Ibenge said.
"Ivory Coast has changed its game, Herve Renard is smart enough to notice that his team was too glamorous. He put three defenders in the axis, and instead of playing ball retention, they play behind and on the counter-attack, and were much more effective."
Ivory Coast will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Ghana and hosts Equatorial Guinea tonight in Sunday's decider.
Renard could make history by becoming the first coach to win the Nations Cup with two different countries.
He led Zambia to the 2012 title over current Cote d'Ivoire side.
