This Friday, 9:05 p.m.
If OGC Nice has experienced difficult times this season, notably at the end of autumn when, weighed down by serial injuries, the Aiglons left a few points on the way, Franck Haise’s men know that they can rely on an attack in great shape to stay in the race for the podium.
With 35 goals scored in 17 days (a record since 1978 for the Alpes-Maritimes club), Nice however has a major challenge to take on this Friday (9:05 p.m.) with a trip to Lille, the second best defense in the championship.
Just five units off last year’s total
Proof of this offensive enthusiasm, halfway through the championship, the Azuréens are only five lengths from the total number of goals scored (40) at the end of the championship spent under the orders of Francesco Farioli.
At the gates of the podium, Nice (4e30 points) is only ahead of PSG (46 goals), leader, and its runner-up Marseille (39). Lille (5e29 pts), his next opponent, is far behind, with 26 achievements. “Frankly, this season is much better,” assures defender Youssouf Ndayishimiye. Last year, “our philosophy was to wait for the opposing attackers,” remembers the Burundian. But this season, we can attack at any time. That’s the difference. »
With several offensive festivals against Angers (4-1), Saint-Étienne (8-0) and Reims (4-2). At the end of the first leg, only Marseille (2-0) and Lens (0-0) deprived Evann Guessand, Nice’s top scorer (8 goals), and his acolytes of the pleasure of scoring.
-The infirmary is emptying, Haise smiles
Franck Haise, who arrived this summer from Lens, which he took to the Champions League, assures that he is not “flattered” by the current praise and prefers to be satisfied with all “the range offered” by his team. “I am happy that we are scoring, that we are creating chances, that we have the image of a rather playful team, capable of scoring on different actions: more or less direct placed attacks, high recoveries, transitions to from low recoveries, lists the technician. We also score from set pieces. »
The return of the wounded also allows it to broaden its scope of action. “Being able to work over time, with players who continue to know each other, to understand expectations, allows the activities to progress,” he says. We have quality players. I knew that when I arrived. And yet, there are those absent (Moffi, Boga, Orakpo, Sanson, editor’s note). »
The requested framework has been understood, but Haise does not want it to be “not limiting” and specifies: “The players have their say. The more connected, questioning and intelligent they are, the easier it is and the more freedom they can have, because they have the answers. Letting them express themselves is much richer. »
“The goal of having fun”
Haise appreciates seeing his men “take the initiative” and his team “want the ball”, “not just to have it, but to go into the opponent’s 16 meters and attack the goal with people. »
“In Reims, our fifth goal, refused, scored on high pressure, demonstrates the state of mind,” he underlines. I like that! I don’t even push them at that point. They go there alone. » “The objective is to have fun, to be offensive. But this should not prevent balance or attacking intelligently, he concludes. »
As in the days of the legendary Yugoslav center forward Nenad Bjekovic, 29 goals in 1978, the supporters appreciate it. But that season, if Nice had scored 72 times, it had conceded 70 goals and finished 8e. Today, the objectives are higher.
