The Gym wasted far too much against Toulouse and were caught up at the very end of the match. Frustrating.
Bolstered by a good home streak, the Aiglons approach the match against Toulouse with the desire to continue their haul of points. Despite Burner’s injury during the warm-up, which forces Patrick Vieira to rethink his defense, the Gym starts the match on the right foot.
Boscagli is finally positioned on the left, Sarr shifts to the center, and Hérelle moves to the right flank. It’s an experimental setup but a successful one, as the right back for the night delivers a great match, marked by numerous offensive surges. Up front, the trio of Atal-Makengo-Saint-Maximin is aligned once again.
The Gym has a solid start to the match and opens the score with a magnificent direct free kick by Wylan Cyprien (1-0, 20th minute). Like against Strasbourg, the Gym takes the lead rapidly. Cyprien even misses a chance for a double three minutes later, when another free kick crashes off Goicoechea’s crossbar.
Saint-Maximin and then Atal take advantage of Toulouse’s defensive laxity, struggling against the speed of the two wingers. Just before the break, Toulouse seizes their first opportunity, magnificently deflected by Walter Benitez.
In the second half, despite being dominant, the Gym retreats. Patrick Vieira’s players give up possession, showing nervousness. After holding firm and resisting several offensives, the defense finally breaks when, during a scramble, Mubele manages to strike and deceive the Nice defense (1-1, 89th minute).
Despite Christophe Hérelle’s outstanding performance and the significant number of offensive opportunities created, the Gym still has work to do. The top 5 and Europe are slowly slipping away, and Nice has already lost too many points along the way. Annoying.
PATRICK VIEIRA’S REACTION
“I think the draw is deserved for Toulouse. They had a very good second half. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score that second goal to put us out of danger. We had opportunities that we mishandled, where we made poor decisions, a bit too individualistic at times. They pushed, and we gave them the chance to come back even though I found us solid defensively overall. Patrick Burner had a thigh problem during training. It wasn’t planned for him to play, but Olivier had a very good match. I’m happy for him because he has gone through tough times. He performed like he has in recent weeks of training. What we need now is to be consistent.”
WALTER BENITEZ’S REACTION
“We’re disappointed because we worked hard. We did everything we talked about before the match. We knew that Toulouse was a difficult team to face, but at home, we need to win. We must score the 2nd goal to be more at ease; we didn’t, and we started to withdraw, and then we conceded that goal at the end. The most frustrating thing is that Toulouse, which is a good team, didn’t do anything in the 2nd half, apart from set-pieces, but in the end, they still managed to score. To stay within reach of the others, we must win at home. We didn’t do that tonight, but it’s not over. We’ll rest this weekend and focus on Dijon as soon as we return to training.”
