Lacking inspiration, the Gym was eliminated from the Coupe de la Ligue by Guingamp after a penalty shootout (0-0, 1-3 pens).
No matter the manner, only the result counts in a knockout match. The saying is well-known and often tested. This Wednesday, there was neither for the Aiglons. Which made the evening distinctly unpleasant.
In the cold of the Plaine du Var, just a few strides from the end of the calendar year, the players seemed to lack energy. Vigour. Determination. In a 3-4-3 formation at kickoff, with Patrick Burner and Racine Coly on the wings, Pierre Lees-Melou and Rémi Walter as defensive midfielders, Adrien Tameze and Danilo slightly higher up, and Saint-Maximin in front, the Gym nearly got caught by surprise at the start.
But once again, the Gym relied on the seriousness and talent of Walter Benitez to stay in the match. This was the case throughout the evening but has its limits. With a beautiful horizontal dive, the Argentine goalkeeper blocked a free-kick from Ngbakoto right at the start of the match (1′), then rushed out at 2000 km/h to stop Fofana (20′).
Offensively, the Azuréens had a few opportunities, but never really made their visitors tremble.
A nice move initiated on the right by Burner, switched to the left by Lees-Melou and centered in the middle by Coly resulted in an off-target volley by Saint-Maximin (6′). The same “ASM” bypassed 3 opponents but struck too softly (8′); Danilo headed over (37′) and had a free-kick saved by Caillard (41′), and halftime arrived without much warning.
Danilo tried from afar (54′) after the break, without success. Overall, the pace never intensified. No excitement and no lyricism appeared. Without inspiration, sloppy in the final action, Nice tried to move forward, in vain, and relied again on its last line of defense to avoid unpleasant surprises. Walter Benitez once again showed his talent, covering his near post perfectly on a shot from Coco (67′), following a local ball loss and a lightning counterattack by the Bretons.
With half an hour to go, Patrick Vieira brought Youcef Atal into the game, replacing Coly, and moved Patrick Burner to the left. The Martinican, solo, attacked the center of play and unleashed a powerful right-footed shot, punched away by Caillard (70′), but nothing came of it. Christophe Jallet missed his header from a corner (75′). Saint-Maximin missed his shot (80′). Almost nothing happened. The penalty shootout, which seemed the most logical outcome from the beginning of the match, emerged as the inevitable conclusion. So the Gym went into it but was hampered by the misses from Lees-Melou, Dante, and Jallet. Guingamp was flawless and secured their ticket for the next round of the competition.
PATRICK VIEIRA’S REACTION
For us, it’s a big disappointment because there was a chance to qualify. Unfortunately, we are eliminated. Once again, offensively we were average. In terms of gameplay, there were some very interesting things but we couldn’t score that goal during our strong moments and gradually we gave them confidence. It was more complicated in the second half. We weren’t good in the finish or the final pass. It’s my responsibility to find solutions.
