Nice 2-1 Nancy

By: Martha | August 18th, 2008

Nice 2-1 Nancy

Buts: Rémy (34è), Traoré (90è+1) pour Nice ; Gavanon (45è+1) pour Nancy

Nice: Letizi - Diakité, Hognon (Yahia, 73è), Kanté, Jeunechamp - Echouafni (c), Faé (Traoré, 82è), Hellebuyck - Bamogo, Rémy, Mouloungui (Modeste, 54è)

Nancy: Bracigliano (c) - Chrétien, André Luiz, Ouaddou, Brison - N’Guemo, Bérenguer, Gavanon (N’Diaye, 88è), Malonga (Dia, 34è), Hadji - Fortuné (Curbelo, 84è)

* * *

Woo hoo! The Ray was packed, Rémy opened his Nice account, Traoré got his first Ligue 1 goal, Letizi didn’t do anything shocking, and the team overcame some apparently dodgy refereeing to grab all three points at the death. What’s not to like? (Don’t answer that.)

All I saw of the match were a few awful minutes at the start of the second half (thanks to a webcam-aimed-at-the-TV stream, which was wonderful because it existed, but also turned out to be a magical, headache-making device), and I still don’t feel comfortable analyzing something I’ve not seen. If the website doesn’t get the full match thing sorted soon, heads will roll. I don’t know whose, but someone’s will. Dammit.

So, I’ve been reduced to just reading all the reports I can find, and it sounds like the game blew hot and cold, and that the second half was particularly lifeless. Rémy reportedly drifted in and out of the match a bit (but still gave a MOTM performance), surprise starter Mouloungui missed an early chance and then was virtually invisible prior to be replaced by Modeste early in the second half, Hellebuyck was uncommonly quiet, and the problems linking the midfield and the strikers remain. That said, though, the makeshift defense coped well (apart from that whole PK thing), Bamogo is apparently all kinds of lively, and the team fought and ran until the final whistle, pouncing on a late Nancy mistake to grab the three points, all of which are very encouraging indeed.

It’s killing me not to be seeing any of this, but just looking at Rémy’s body control on his goal makes me drool slightly. That little deke to send the defender the wrong way is so simple and so smart and so instinctive that it just underlines the potential he’s been carrying around with him since he turned up, and makes one (foolishly) start to dream a little bit. Him showing the eagerness and effort that he is — chasing down the ball to cross for Traoré’s goal was, in its own way, as impressive as the goal — makes it a little easier to take Baky tearing things up for OM, and gives one hope that goals might not be as hard to come by as we thought when everyone left. (Just pray he doesn’t get hurt, the mere thought fills me with terror.)

After the match, Rémy expressed satisfaction with his own finishing, after feeling he didn’t do enough against Le Havre, Antonetti refused to let the result mask the amount of work the team still have to do, Cyril #2 complained about the referee, and Chouf was pleased. Also, for the French speakers among us, there’s a post-match video up at ogcnice.tv that includes interviews with Chouf, Letizi and Remy, as well as clips from Antonetti’s press conference. Just try to ignore Rémy’s bare ass in the background of Letizi’s segment. (Or don’t — whatever works.)

Turning to the week ahead, it’s going to be a weird one: Cyril #1 and Ben Saada are still out, Hognon’s far from healthy, and Kanté, Diakite, Traore (all Mali), Mouloungui (Gabon), Faé (Côte d’Ivoire), Ospina (Colombia) and Rémy are all heading out on international duty, so training will likely consist of the old/French people playing monkey in the middle. In good news, Coulibaly is back from the Olympics, so that’s one more body to add to the game.