OGC Nice had reason to be hopeful after stringing together two consecutive victories. However, the Aiglons, paralyzed, fell back into their old habits against Fulham (4-0) on Saturday. With a week before the start of the championship, Puel’s version of Gym is still in preparation.
OGC Nice was crushed by Fulham (4-0) last night at the Stade du Ray. Deprived of Kevin Anin (injured) and Renato Civelli (rested because suspended against Ajaccio), the Aiglons still tried to make their mark, as seen with Fabrice Abriel.
Positioned as a free electron behind the central striker (Abraham Guié-Guié), the Nice number 7 seemed in his element in the first period. Active, he offered good attacking situations for the Reds and Blacks, even exciting the supporters.
But the former Lorient player could not avoid the English response. Shortly after the quarter-hour mark, Mladen Petric punished a stretched defense with a magnificent volley. 1-0: Joris Delle could only watch the damage.
Coulibaly not excluded, but replaced
Fulham then decided to let Nice take possession of the ball. In spurts, Puel’s team tried to react, as seen with Fabian Monzon (21st minute) or Didier Digard (22nd minute). This was not enough against the Australian goalkeeper of the Cottagers, Mark Schwarzer…
Aggrieved, the Nice players became increasingly aggressive but lacked precision in the final action. Tough on opponents, they knew how to be: midway through the first period, Kafoumba Coulibaly tackled former Lyon player, five-time French champion, Mahamadou Diarra from behind. In a rare decision, referee Nicolas Rainville did not exclude the Nice player, but Claude Puel replaced him ipso-facto with Romain Genevois.
Despite this, Didier Digard’s teammates became more and more pressing. But they also exposed themselves and ended up paying dearly just before halftime: Alex Kacaniklic doubled Fulham’s lead, catching the entire Nice defense off guard. At the break, the Aiglons were logically down 2-0. They made too many defensive inaccuracies to show any confidence in their offensive phase.
Fulham driving the knife deeper
From the start of the second period, Martin Jol’s men continued to deliberately leave the ball to the Nice team. Although their tactic had worked well until then, it nearly backfired. In the 48th minute, Monzon crossed for Guié-Guié, who cleverly laid it off for Abriel. The former Marseille player shot, but Schwarzer intervened.
The Australian stood out again in the 54th minute with another Abriel attempt. Then the Cottagers resumed their attack, causing significant damage. The looseness of the Nice defense offered considerable spaces to the English attackers.
Although the young Tunisian Kerim Frei (18 years old) stumbled on the good defender Digard, the azure captain could not prevent “Gila” Diarra from scoring his own goal. Served perfectly by Mladen Petric to everyone’s surprise, the Malian nestled the ball in the corner of Delle’s net (3-0). The slew of changes made by Puel 23 minutes from the end changed nothing.
Worse, the Nice defense collapsed in the 74th minute under the weight of accelerations from the young winger Mesca, who had just entered the game. Calmly, he cut inside and ended the hostilities (4-0). An evening to forget for Gym, which still has a lot of progress to make to become competitive.
