Nice had a historic evening on Friday, beating Saint-Etienne 8-0 on the fifth day of Ligue 1. While he was pleased with his players’ performance, Franck Haise remained measured and had a thought for the Stéphanois.
Nice celebrated its 120th anniversary in the most beautiful way. Defeated last weekend in Marseille (0-2), the Aiglons did better than recover and this time delivered a high-flying performance at home to thrash Saint-Etienne (8-0) on Friday, for the fifth day of Ligue 1.
“I remember the collective performance but of course individually we did exceptional things. We have a quality group that is progressing well. We lacked success against OM (with two shots on the post in particular) and we were realistic tonight. Things are progressing, we all have expectations. We played a complete match with great moves and a 6-0 at half-time with 9 shots and nice goals. We are on the right track,” rejoiced Franck Haise at the end of the match on DAZN.
At half-time, the Niçois had already wrapped up the match and scored six goals, a gap that the French championship had not seen after the first 45 minutes of play since 1997 and Lyon’s victory against Marseille. What could the Gym coach then say to his players who had just had one of the best periods in their history?
“Humility and demands”
“I didn’t have much to say,” he admitted. “I had two words in mind. I asked them what they expected for the second half and they told me humility and demand, the words I was waiting for.” And to express, even before the other half of the match, compassion towards their opponents: “I knew that we were not going to have the same period and I put myself in the place of the staff, the players and the coach of ASSE.”
While a crisis meeting took place in the Saint-Etienne dressing room after the debacle, Franck Haise remained measured. “Let’s stay humble, football moves very quickly, we have to get back to work but we also have to enjoy it, it’s a very rare moment,” he confided, already thinking about what comes next.
This flamboyant success allows the Niçois, also engaged in the Europa League this season, to temporarily move up to fifth place in the standings. Conversely, the Stéphanois, who thought they had started their season after their success against Lille (1-0) last week, find themselves in the play-off position.
