Very disappointing in Ferencvaros, the Niçois showed a completely different face three days later to become the first to bring down Monaco in six months and pocket the derby. We didn't give too much of their skin, like before the shock against PSG (1-1), and it is most often when they are not expected that the Aiglons manage this season to show the full extent of their qualities .
This Saturday evening, in Brest, they will therefore face what is hardly successful for them, that is to say going on, they who lack regularity and have never yet managed to win two matches in a row.
“The victory against Monaco brings confidence but above all demands. What matters is to repeat this kind of performance“, warns Franck Haise. “If we want to be up there in the rankings, we will have to create a positive series”confirms Gaëtan Laborde.
Eighth, the Aiglons share the same number of points as their evening opponents (13) but it is on the European scene that their success is very different.
While the Gym is stuck at the bottom of the Europa League standings (32nd with 1 point), Brest is having a magnificent run in the Champions League (fifth and still undefeated). And this despite all the evil tongues which promised him hell.
“Very hard to play there”
Very admiring the work of Niçois Eric Roy, whom he worked with for a few years at RC Lens, Franck Haise made no secret of expecting a very difficult match, in a Francis Le Blé stadium, in the English style and always hot , where he has some “painful” memories and where SB29 has just taken 10 points out of 12.
“It’s very hard to play there. They are capable of coming out with very, very big matches,” also warned Laborde, who had spent a season on loan at Brest 10 years ago.
The hero of the derby is one more arrow in the bow of a coach who should also recover some ammunition with the expected returns (the group will only be communicated today) from executives Dante, Youssouf, Clauss and Ndombele.
However, if Franck Haise should have choice in defense and attack, a luxury that he has experienced little until then, he will still have to deal with a depopulated midfield, since Hicham Boudaoui, injured in the ischios, will be absent at least until the next break.
In the meantime, the Gym will have two other matches to negotiate against Twente then Lille in an intense week where the Gym coach, constrained by the precarious state of form and the risks of relapse within his group, promised “strong choices” and a big turnover to come. “Those who play less will have to be good”he warned, because that should not prevent Nice from approaching the next challenges with ambition.
