For the first time this season, OGC Nice was defeated on the pitch at Caen this afternoon (1-0). This loss marks the end of Nice’s unbeaten streak in Ligue 1.
The defeat on Thursday in the European Cup seems to have taken its toll on the Nice players. After a disappointing match against Salzburg, the “Aiglons” had to bounce back on the field of the league’s eighteenth-ranked team. On paper, nothing too challenging for the leader.
In defense, Dalbert makes his return, while Ricardo recovers the right corridor. Partnered with Sarr in the center, Dante once again takes the captain’s armband. In midfield, Bodmer is positioned as a 6, supporting Seri and Cyprien, who are tasked with supplying a forward trio consisting of Belhanda, Pléa, and Balotelli, who is making his first start of the season in an away Ligue 1 game.
Right from the start, Caen enters the match better than the “Aiglons.” While they have accustomed their supporters to difficult starts, Nice always managed to open the scoring before the end of the first quarter-hour. This time, no goal.
Not helped by a much more spirited Caen side and rather questionable refereeing, Nice falters at the end of the first half, when following a loss of possession by Malang Sarr, Rodelin enters the box and is tripped by Dalbert. The contact is borderline, but the referee made the decision, and Ivan Santini made no mistake to convert the penalty.
Balotelli hits the post
Back from the locker room, Nice reorganizes and switches to a 4-4-2 formation. Following a slight scare from Guilbert (a header pushed away by Cardinale in the 47th minute), Nice regains composure.
Pléa attempts a curled shot that grazes Vercoutre’s top corner (61st minute), then it’s Mario Balotelli who hits the Caen goalkeeper’s post (63rd minute). Until the end of the match, Nice maintains pressure on the Normandy goals. But today, fortune favored Caen. Thus, Stade Malherbe is the first to end Nice’s streak this season.
The “Aiglons” remain at the top of the league, with a three-point lead over Monaco (and possibly Paris). The upcoming international break will be beneficial for recovery and will provide rest for the Nice team. This is good news ahead of an already important trip to Saint-Etienne on November 20th at 20:45.
The stat: 11
This is the number of matchdays Nice went without losing in the league. You have to go back to the 1967-1968 season to see Nice achieve such an impressive series.
Lucien Favre’s reaction:
“The first half was difficult. There were few chances; it was balanced nonetheless, and the goal came at a bad time, three minutes before the break. We need to avoid that and go in at 0-0. What’s done is done; we still had 45 minutes to come back. We then played more forward, took more risks, though I regret our impatience. We needed to come back to score, of course. But first, we needed to score one goal before thinking about scoring the second. Not many chances were there either. But sometimes, two chances are enough. We had them.
Knowing we were first, we knew we were in for a tough and committed match. Caen was well-organized, compact, very hard to break through with its five defenders, effective on second balls. Our opponent also played the counter-attack well. We wanted to push forward too quickly, whereas we need to stay organized, both defensively and offensively. We wanted everything too quickly, thinking ‘we must win.’ No, it’s about ‘playing’ first. We should never forget that. We want to win, of course, but it’s not ‘we must.’ There were many things said and read. This can have a small influence. We must know how to remain patient. Otherwise, we forget instructions, become disorganized, and it’s not great at all. Today, our collective defensive foundation became somewhat disorganized by this impatience. It’s hard to recover from that afterwards.”
Mika Séri’s reaction:
“Against Salzburg (0-2 defeat), we showed impatience. I don’t think that was the case today: we tried to play our game, but it didn’t work. That’s how it is, and we must accept it and try to work on these kinds of situations against teams that play defensively like this. Caen was in a tough spot, and they absolutely needed a win to regroup. It fell on us. But only our game matters to us. We must continue to fight to keep moving forward.”
