Right. Moving On.

By: Martha | February 6th, 2009

Putting aside the grim and heartbreaking realities that a)Nice, for the most part, have failed to show the necessary commitment for two of the last three matches, and b)Cyril #1 hit the bar with the PK that very likely represented his (and the rest of Nice’s old people’s) last chance ever to play in the Stade de France, Ben Saada’s goal was gorgeous, and is only going to make me talk more about how he needs to get a run in the side to show what he can do. Yes, he’s scrawny and not as consistent as he should be, but apart from Rémy, Nice have no one else who can change a game like Ben Saada can. Period. He can do magical things, whether with smart little touches (Exhibit A) or with determination and skill, when the team are dying for someone to step up (Exhibit B is above).

* * *

It’s fascinating to see how Antonetti’s is reacting to the loss, and how it’s affecting his approach to the Lyon match. Rather than doing what you might expect and downplaying the Vannes result as “just another loss,” and something that the team are already beyond, he immediately described it as something that could lead to a crisis (his word, not mine), and then, today, at the same time that he lamented the early non-PK call in the Vannes match and the damage it did, he also said Nice’s challenge going into the Lyon match is “To manage [the Vannes] failure. It takes great courage, great sacrifice. This will not be simple.”

In my experience, that’s a pretty unusual approach for a head coach to take after a devastating loss, and heading into a match against the league leaders, no matter what sort of form the leaders are in. Yes, Antonetti’s defending his team against the Great They in the media, but he’s also basically daring them to step up take some responsibility for their season, and the direction it’s been going to last two months. Me, I love it. I just hope they’re able to respond because, results aside, it’s going to be very, very hard for them to get their confidence back if Sunday’s is another bad performance.

[In other news, the team are under threat of disciplinary action because of the behavior of supporters during the Vannes match, and could find themselves playing a match behind closed doors following the Disciplinary Committee's meeting on the 19th. Man, and throwing stuff seemed like a such a good idea at the time, too.]