•Squad list for Arras:

Gardiens: Letizi, Moreau
Défenseurs: Apam, Cid, Gace, Hognon, Jeunechamp, Rool
Milieux: Echouafni, Faé, Hellebuyck, Traoré
Attaquants: Bamogo, Ben Saada, Modeste, Mouloungui, Ozokwo, Quansah

Rémy, Kante, and Coulibaly all have injury problems and Adu is suspended (?!), but the rest of the absences are being rested or, in the case of Barul and Moussilou, cruelly ignored. Antonetti said earlier this week that Moreau could get the start if Letizi can’t go and, though the match is being taken seriously, it’s nevertheless thought that guys like Hognon, Cid, Traoré, Ben Saada and Modeste could all figured in the first XI.

•Though he returned to Nice not yet fully recovered from the injury he picked up last month, Rémy is due to start training again on Tuesday, and is expected to be in the squad when L1 resumes on the 10th. Woo hoo!

•Not surprisingly, Roger Ricort is denying that the club are interested in either Dindane (yes, him again) or Sablé, the former because he (still) costs too much, and the latter because, well, they just don’t want him.

•During the break, both Cyril #1 (who Google translate calls “the crustiest“) and Chouf talked to Nice-Matin about the season so far, and both of them, while pleased with the 30 points the team have amassed, pointed to the canceled Grenoble match as the thing that screwed everything up because it “broke our rhythm.” Cursed rain!

•In an interview with the official site, Antonetti also gave his take on the first half, praising the team’s ability to take points even when they don’t play their best, and being his usual, eminently reasonable self in bringing some perspective to how high Nice were flying about a month ago. (He, also, lists the cancellation of the Grenoble match as one of his regrets, along with the loss to Le Havre on the season’s opening weekend.)

•Ospina was voted Nice player of the month for December, because he is just that awesome.

Happy New Year, everybody. Hopefully next time we talk, it’ll be about advancing in the Coupe de France, and not about some sort of humiliating disaster.

•The Grenoble match will be played either a week from today or on the 17th of this month. The 10th was the league’s initial proposal, but Pierre Wantiez had a fit about Nice getting an extra day of rest, so it could be pushed back a week. (In response to the fit, Antonetti turned on the sarcasm and suggested that maybe a strike is in order, if only to ensure three full days of rest between matches. Oh, snap!)

•Out of concern for the proverbial “public safety,” the police have stepped in and forced the cancellation of the special train that was to take Nice supporters to the OM match. In light of past problems, one understands their concerns, but Nice’s security guy had a point when he suggested it’d be a lot easier for police to manage the supporters if they were all in one place, rather than arriving as they will now, via bus and car, at various times and locations.

•The official site has an interview with Chouf ahead of the match, in which he’s characteristically cautious, and also expresses some concern about the team going two weeks between games.

•Nice Premium ran a long interview with Maurice Cohen on Sunday, and even through the filter of Google translate, it’s well worth a read. Among other topics, he discusses the status of the club’s youth program, if there will be any winter signings, what’s up with Chouf’s and Letizi’s contracts, and how the defense will stand at this time next season. (He also reveals that Cyril #2 has a clause in his contract whereby it’s automatically extended if he reaches a designated number of appearances. That’s, like, flying car technology right there!)

•On the topic of signings, a couple different sources are reporting that Nice are tracking Monaco’s Camel Meriem. No idea of there’s any validity to the stories at all, though. Anyone?

•Via the OGC Nissa forums, here’s an Infosport feature on Nice from last week that includes some of the yelling at Habib! (among others) that I’m always talking about. It’s hilarious even to me, so I’m guessing people who actually understand French will enjoy it, as well.

•And, finally, I can’t find the original source, but one of the fan sites is reporting that Antonetti has officially announced the gloves are Ospina’s after Christmas. Nice. (Nahhhc, not Neece.) He also may end up playing against OM, depending on how Letizi’s feeling — the old man didn’t train at all yesterday.

ETA: The train to Marseille has been un-canceled.

Who does he think he is, Gerd Müller?

ASSE 0-1 Nice
But: Echouafni (20è) pour Nice

St Etienne: Janot – Andreu, Benalouane, Varrault, Sauget – Machado, Hautcoeur, Dernis (Payet, 73è) – Ilan (c), Gomis (Gigliotti, 82è), Mirallas (Matsui, 64è)

Nice: Letizi – Diakité, Apam, Kanté, Rool – Echouafni (c), Coulibaly (Jeunechamp, 73è), Faé, Hellebuyck – Bamogo (Modeste, 58è), Mouloungui (Cid, 94è)

* * *

There’s not really much to say about this match, apart from that it was just the sort of ugly win that makes you really proud of a team. The three points won were nothing to do with ability, and everything to do with desire, organization, and fight; points that have to be gutted out if Nice are dreaming of an extend stay within shouting distance of where they are in the table right now.

Conditions were dreadful and, for essentially the whole match, it was 10 men behind the ball and a whole lot of running from everyone in red and black. Ugly or not, it was awesome to see how hard everyone worked — Bamogo did nothing but defend for long stretches, and Hellebuyck, who must be the fittest man in the world, was all over the pitch, particularly late when legs were going and no one else could get forward. He was immense.

Really, it’s hard to think of much to add to Anonetti’s postmatch comments, particularly the bit where he said “I [take my] hat off to our defense that was heroic.” Damn right. This team have given up one goal (against five scored) in their last four league matches and, apart from some lapses against Lorient, the defense — including Letizi, who doesn’t get many style points, but is there when he needs to be — has looked nearly impenetrable. I don’t care who you’re playing, those are impressive numbers. After a preseason spent leaking goals, I don’t think anyone would have guessed a Lloris-free Nice would be defending this convincingly, even by late November.

* * *

I also don’t think anyone actually believes Nice will stay this close to the top of the table for long, but it’s fair to say that, in the last seven matches — starting with Bordeaux and including Créteil — the team have really shown us something. Apart from periodic, inspired stretches, the football isn’t petty, but they’re smart, they’re hard to play against, and they believe in themselves. Those three things, even without Rémy, and without the still-missing killer instinct, have made Nice a force to be reckoned with and, most importantly, a team that can tough out wins, even when they’re not playing well. If they can keep their wits about them moving forward (and adjust successfully when Rémy comes back), they’re going to make this interesting.

And, finally, while digging through ASSE forums yesterday, in amidst the “OMG NICE PLAY ANTIFOOTBALL!11!!!” rants and debates on whether they should moon over how much they want Antontetti back or just move on, I found this post, which I thought was a pretty perceptive summary of where Nice stand and how they play (forgive the Google translate garbling, I think you can still get the gist):

Nice still lost 4 best players in the offseason (Balmont, Kone, Lloris, Ederson) does not have a staff of Cador championship (an attack Mouloungui-Bamogo-Modeste, we saw more impressive) and was moving last night without his main striker (Remy). One can therefore understand that this team has not proposed football-champagne, outside what is more, and also in a relegation (kind of wounded beast that must be wary because it is always susceptible to rebel) .

Nice done with its resources and for now that they succeeded fairly well. They seek to maintain them as soon as possible and once the first goal achieved, they will seek the highest possible. They are not flamboyant in the game (how many teams are in France?), They know very well that they will be very difficult to maintain their current pace of 38 days but offset by a state of mind of combatants and not drop anything. And the points made are no longer taken.

Finally, Antonetti yells perhaps on the edge of the button, but he is at the root of this desire that we see on the ground and that made her a commando team on which many training just break your teeth (when they appear above Nice on paper). If Etienne had half the commitment and willingness shown by the people of Nice on the first 15 games, it would not be the 20th this morning.

(I’m generally a pretty cynical, irritable football fan, but having Nice described that way by an opposing supporter made me feel almost embarrassingly proud.)

For the first time since Frédéric Antonetti was a svelt 20-year-old, he’s got a full squad to choose from: No suspension, no injuries, no personal crises, no nothing. Everyone is fit and ready to go — what luxury!

Gardiens: Letizi, Ospina
Défenseurs: Apam, Cid, Diakité, Hognon, Kanté, Rool
Milieux: Coulibaly, Echouafni, Faé, Hellebuyck, Jeunechamp, Traoré
Attaquants: Bamogo, Ben Saada, Modeste, Mouloungui, Rémy

Absents: Adu, Barul, Gace, Moreau, Moussilou, Ozokwo, Quansah (choix de l’entraîneur)

One assumes we’ll see Rémy from the start in place of Modeste, but apart from that change, the rest of the team could well be as it was against Nantes. Unless, that is, Antonetti wants to go crazy and play Ben Saada in behind a front two of Mouloungui and Rémy. (Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m not in charge.) It’s also possible that Apam could be rested — he played all 90 minutes against Colombia at midweek, and just arrived back in Nice yesterday.

For their part, ASSE are having huge injury problems in their defense, so much so that they’ve got only three first-team players fit, and could well start someone from the youth squad in the back. And, injury problems notwithstanding, Saint-Etienne are seriously struggling — they’ve lost six in a row, and have given up 16 goals against only two scored during those matches. It’s been a truly horrific run, but they’re at home, playing under a new coach there for the first time, and will doubtless be desperate to turn things around in front of their supporters.

In other words, it’s just the sort of match that can spell doom for high-flying opponents who come in feeling a little too good about themselves. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m nervous as hell.

Gardiens: Letizi, Ospina
Défenseurs: Apam, Cid, Diakité, Hognon, Kanté, Rool
Milieux: Coulibaly, Echouafni, Faé, Hellebuyck, Jeunechamp
Attaquants: Bamogo, Ben Saada, Modeste, Mouloungui, Quansah
Absents: Traoré, Rémy (blessés), Adu, Barul, Gace, Moreau, Moussilou, Ozokwo (choix de l’entraîneur)

Away from tomorrow’s squad, there were at least three articles about Emerse Faé in various French outlets yesterday. Did he hold an all-press conference call, or something? I guess, as a former Nantes player, he’s the obvious person to talk to as the media try in uselessly to generate neutral interest in the match — it was worth a try, anyway. Sadly for the press, Faé didn’t have anything controversial to say, though he nevertheless didn’t shy away from agreeing with the assertion that there are significant problems at Nantes, problems that were not solved by their brief stay in L2. (Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation.) As a kid at Nantes, because of the problems there, he thought constant “tension off the field” was the norm, which is among the saddest things I’ve ever heard. Happily, though, Nice is showing him otherwise, and he’s loving life on the Côte d’Azur, in no small part because he’s playing regularly after a year in the stands in England.

Doing their part in the build-up, Ouest France ran an interview with Antonetti, who assured them he’s “very much in Nice” and that his family loves the city so he’s not going anywhere. (Cross your fingers, everyone.) He also talks about the insane youth of his team — despite the ancient people who are central to Nice, 16 of the players on the roster are between 18 and 22 years old (GOOD GOD) — and assures the reporter the team can still improve in every area.

If I find a stream tomorrow, I’ll put it up. Otherwise, enjoy your minute-by-minute text updates, everyone!

ETA: Lots of streams here, and not just the TV-aimed-at-webcam kind.

Gardiens: Letizi, Ospina
Défenseurs: Apam, Diakité, Gace, Hognon, Jeunechamp, Kanté, Rool
Milieux: Coulibaly, Echouafni, Faé, Hellebuyck, Traoré
Attaquants: Bamogo, Ben Saada, Modeste, Mouloungui, Rémy

Absents: Cid (17 stitches in his head), Adu, Asamoah, Barul, Moreau, Moussilou, Ozokwo (choix de l’entraîneur)

* * *

So, word on the street — by which I mean the big French football papers — is that, after spending the week thinking hard and carefully examining all his keepers, Antonetti’s decided to go with Ospina tomorrow against Bordeaux. Awesome.

The kid performed impressively under immense pressure last weekend, and gave the eagerly optimistic among us no reason to throw out our hopes that the club my just have found a worthy successor to Lloris. Plus, ability aside, Opsina has a great attitude, his French is improving, and he’s reportedly hugely popular with his teammates (something which, amazingly, started before he spoke any French at all); he’s got all the easy stuff covered and, if Antonetti is ready to go with him again, it’s safe to assume the footballing part is there, too. (Even if Ospina does play, though, the gaffer wants us to know that it doesn’t mean he’s first choice for good quite yet. So, you know, no counting chickens yet and all that.)

* * *

Other news from this week:

•Needless to say, since there’s a match going on, the strike isn’t happening. That’s nice.

•Diakité and (of course) Cyril #1 are both at their card limits and will miss the midweek match at Caen. Additionally, the club have been fined €1000 for scofflaw supporters who used fireworks at Monaco. (That amount, by the way, is 100 times, give or take, what Spanish clubs get fined for throwing things on the pitch. At least Ligue 1 makes clubs suffer a little for fan behavior.)

•Derek Asamoah, who has been with the reserves since the start of the season, has had his contract terminated by mutual agreement. It actually happened last week, but (from what I’ve seen, anyway), the news just came out this week.

•Meanwhile, Apam’s agent is telling the press that his client’s contract has been extended for one more year, tying Apam to the club until 2013. Nice, however, have not confirmed this yet, so I have no idea if this is Apam’s agent just stirring, or what’s going on.

•And, finally, Raymond Domenech assistant Alain Boghossian will be at the Ray tomorrow, eying up players for the NT (Like, perhaps, The Next Zizou — For Real This Time!). No pressure, Rémy. Just breathe.

•Ben Saada played 10 minutes of Tunisia’s 1-3 friendly loss to France yesterday. Friendly or not, it was a big match for him personally, since he’s French-born and won a U-17 title in a France shirt before choosing Tunisia as his senior side. (Based on his grinny, pre-match interview, though, he’s never had much regret about the choice.)

•Quansah scored on a free kick to beat Gambia 1-0, putting Ghana’s U20s into their first Africa Youth Championships since 2001. W00t! (Thanks to commenter Mawuli for the heads-up.)

•There’s still work to do for Rémy, who played 92 minutes (and then was subbed) in the Bleuets’ 1-1 draw with Germany last week, and is quietly confident ahead of today’s massive, all-or-nothing second leg.

•In actual Nice team news, Kanté is suspended for the derby because of accumulated yellows. Superb.

•Letizi missed training yesterday with a calf strain, but he’s hoping to be back on the pitch today. (What a L1 debut Monaco would be for Ospina, huh? No pressure, kiddo.)

•Lots of prematch quotes here, from Faé, Cyril #1, and Hellebuyck, none of whom even bother to throw out the old “it’s just another match” line, given that the match would be massive even if it wasn’t the freaking derby.

•The gaffer, meanwhile, is already working the referees, saying he remembers near-violent conduct from Monaco last season, but — picture a very serious, slightly sad expression on Antonetti’s round face for this bit — that now he “hope[s for] fair arbitration.”

•And, finally, Roger Ricort and Eric Roy gave what is actually a pretty interesting interview radio interview this week. The full interview is up at ogcnice.tv, if you pay for that, but if not, the high points are here, including discussion of the futures of Matt Moussilou and Morrisson Ozokwo (the latter is rendered confusedly by Google Translate), a touch of regret about what happened with Laslandes, and vague plans to buy in the winter transfer window.

Now, if you’re anywhere near Nice, get offline and to the team store so you can see Cyril #1 and Ospina present the new kit. Go! Take pictures!

I thought I was over the Lyon match, but I just watched the Inside documentary at ogcnice.tv and am once again deeply depressed, albeit what I suspect is a very girly way — the rage is gone, and now I’m just really, really sad for all of them, especially poor Letizi. What a nightmarish thing to stomach, especially when you’re totally impotent to right such an obvious wrong — one that, to make matters worse, has been officially acknowledged. Jesus.

There’s a well-established history of referee corruption in Italy but now, generally, where awful calls are made in favor of the big clubs, it’s credited to a “psychosis” whereby, summarized very simplistically, officials bow to an internalized belief that the big clubs are probably better anyway, and deserve the benefit of the doubt. I’m assuming a variation on that is what happened on Saturday, but I gotta say it doesn’t make it any easier to take, particularly with all of France — press and otherwise — seemingly believing Lyon are routinely favorite by officials. (Take out “Lyon” and replace it with either “Inter” or “Juve,” and you’ve got the subject of at least a dozen articles published each Serie A season.)

And Aulas‘ self-righteous objection to L’Equipe’s description of the match as “stolen” would be hilarious if it wasn’t so offensive. When that sort of things happens to your advantage, you keep your mouth shut and your head down, and just be thankful, particularly when your player essentially admitted to diving for the free kick that was the first goal.

Antonetti raised the issue of replays, which is getting some play — including in the national assembly — because of the multiple acknowledged errors last weekend, but one imagines that, like it always does, the talk will die down once there are a few fairly clean rounds. He and Cohen both said after the match that it’s getting hard to believe in the game anymore, but the reality of life is that shit happens. It’s just a pity that, in football, seems to happen to the small clubs more often.

*deep breath*

Ok, I’m done. Not talking about it anymore. Really. Moving on.

Apologies for the lack of posts, but there’s nothing freaking going on, apart from the official site failing to keep up with the schedule they made for ogcnice.tv. The one change there is that we can now pay €50 for access to the site for the whole season or, alternately, not pay anything and still have complete access! (One assumes something will change eventually, but they appear to be a little confused about the order in which these things should be done.)

In news that’s not me bitching and moaning (and I’m warning you, there’s not much):

•Nice will face L2 side Boulogne (away) in the Coupe de la Ligue in two weeks.

•Majority shareholder Gilbert Stellardo was on 100% Aiglons this week (you can see it at ogcnice.tv) and addressed a bunch of topics, from Matt Moussilou (going to UAE, they swear), the club’s financial position (they need €5 million/season to compete with the top six), and the goals of the shareholders (they want to make the club better, but aren’t stupid enough not to sell immediately if someone drops out of the sky with a pile of money to invest).

•Apam picked up a leg knock yesterday and has been shut down until tomorrow; he’s questionable for Saturday. Fantastic. (That Yahia loan’s looking particularly bad right now, huh?)

•There’s a very brief, very flattering profile of Antonetti at football.fr, which ends by describing him as “the kind of coach who makes us think about all that is not just money” in football. Damn right.

•Cyril #1 talked to the official site yesterday about the Lyon match, both professing his love for Lloris and Ederson (”we will kiss before and after the match”), and also hoping Nice are the first team to score against Hugo this season. And, if they’re not, he expects a 0-0 draw. Here’s hoping he’s on the pitch Saturday, helping to decide the result.

If your club’s not buying or selling a superstar or sending players to Big Name European National Teams, international breaks are almost entirely bereft of items of interest. The Nice players not on international duty are busy training (there’s a very boring video proving this at the official site), and the rest are off with their national teams, training in such seclusion that no photo or news agencies can find them. (Well, either that or they don’t want to find them. But that’s can’t be it, right?)

The news, such as it is:

•Despite the absence of so many first-team players, Matt Moussilou, Patrick Baru and Joseph-Desire Job all remain in the reserve team, while babies from the youth team join the big kids for training. Supposedly Moussilou and Baru could be heading to Qatar sooner than later, Moussilou returning to the site of his goal-scoring explosion last year, while Baru will embark on a brand new adventure there (where someone other than Nice will be paying him).

•Traoré will be out two weeks with the thigh injury he picked up against Valenciennes, so thank goodness Ben Saada is back. Cyril #1, supposedly, will be back in full training this weekend. So they say, anyway — I realize we’ve heard this before.

•Lilian Laslandes, who was supposed to be patient this summer and wait for Nice to resign him, is still without a contract, and is regretting not signing the extension he was offered last winter. He’s apparently considering retiring, which is sad, but the man is ancient in footballing terms and, even with the pay cut to which he agreed last winter, still earns a pretty substantial salary. Nice may regret letting him go if there are awful striker injury problems later in the season (Excuse me for a second while I knock on wood and throw salt everywhere.), but at the moment it just seems like a good business decision not to keep him around.

•Even with the lofty place in the table (Fourth! FOURTH!), Antonetti’s keeping his wits about him, and is already thinking about next summer — he’s well aware of what happens to clubs who sell the top players every summer, and doesn’t want Nice to follow their examples and end up floundering in L2. Is there anything better than a coach who always sees the worst possible future? I don’t think so. (That’s sincere, by the way. I absolutely love his fierce refusal to get excited about anything.)

•Hellebuyck and Chouf have weighed in on the team’s progress this week, the former discussing new tactics (pushing further up the pitch and trying to attack more) and the latter (on 100% Aiglons, which is available on the official website in annoying flash video form) lauding the team’s “fabulous state of mind.”

Only nine days until Lyon.