Ligue 1: At Auxerre, OGC Nice still can’t get it done

Dominant but without solutions, OGC Nice eventually crumbles on Auxerre soil (1-0). With Gym now finding itself last in the standings, the alarm bell seems to be ringing louder than ever.

Still without a victory in mid-September, OGC Nice traveled to Auxerre, the only team with zero points in the league. The ideal match to seek the first three points of the season? Especially since the Eagles were returning to this stadium with a sense of revenge, 125 days after a crushing defeat that sent them to the playoffs.

On the tactical front, Olivier Pantaloni kept the same base in his starting eleven as against Le Mans. He simply decided to change his attacking trio by fielding for the first time Mohamed Amoura, alongside Elie Wahi and Gauthier Hein, who was returning to the starting lineup.

The stat: Auxerre won in 73% of its 27 home receptions against Nice, its best ratio against an opponent received at least 20 times.

Sterile domination

True to its philosophy, Nice quickly established its short passing game, seeking rhythm through rapid builds to create danger. But this largely Nice possession ran up against a solid Auxerre block, and an attacking line in cruel lack of solutions. These difficulties in advancing led to several ball losses, synonymous with dangerous counterattacks for AJA.

One of them even cost an indirect free kick in the box, with Yehvann Diouf taking the ball in his hands due to a misunderstanding with Axel Witsel. Danny Namaso then fired a low shot, saved at the last second on the line by Djibril Coulibaly.

Nice created its first big chance shortly after. Elye Wahi’s shot crashed into the head of goalkeeper Mamadou Diop. A lack of success that also illustrated the deficit of connections between Elye Wahi and Mohamed Amoura, still unable to find the right rhythm in their exchanges.

At the half-hour mark, the Eagles had a real scare. Caught out from behind, the defense allowed Cameron Archer to send a hard cross from the right. The ball, deflected by Junior Mandza, arrived perfectly for Labeau Lascary, who only had to push it in. Fortunately for Nice, he had gone out of bounds just before the cross. Buoyed by this chance, Auxerre regained confidence and settled into Nice’s half.

Just before half-time, Elye Wahi confirmed his poor form of the evening by completely missing his shot, although he was perfectly set up by Jonathan Clauss. At the end of the first half, the Nice side finally strung together some better sequences.

“We need to put more pace into our passes. When we play the ball, there are gaps, but we can’t exploit them,” analyzed Niels Nkounkou at the break.

Ndayishimiye sinks Gym

The second half resumed at just as frantic a pace, but somewhat more favorable to Auxerre. Youssouf Ndayishimiye made a huge mistake early on, allowing Cameron Archer to run free on goal against Yehvann Diouf. The Nice goalkeeper saved his side with a fine save. Shortly after, a huge counterattack led by Elye Wahi and Mohamed Amoura failed to find a finish.

The pattern remained much the same as in the first half. Nice retained possession, but lacked technical precision, while Auxerre took advantage of every ball loss to launch dangerous transitions.

The Nice side also continued to miss their chances. Found by Jonathan Clauss in the box, Gauthier Hein was alone and shot with his left foot, but it went wide. Despite a fragile and generous Auxerre side creating chances, the Nice attacking trio never managed to capitalize, highlighting their lack of cohesion.

And finally, what absolutely should not have happened did happen. Completely forgotten by Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Cameron Archer was sent through on goal, beat Yehvann Diouf and opened the scoring (1-0, 75th minute). Mamadou Diop then took charge of extinguishing any hope of a comeback, making several decisive saves. The quadruple substitution, marked by Hicham Boudaoui’s return to action, was not enough to trouble Will Still’s side.

Next Sunday, OGC Nice will host Lille OSC in the 5th round of Ligue 1. A match already very important if the Eagles do not want to relive last season’s nightmare. Kick-off will be at 17:15.