Ligue 1 Review | Cause for concern after OGC Nice’s derby humiliation | OneFootball

There were fireworks on the pitch long before they were lighting up the Populaire Sud on Friday night as Olympique de Marseille demolished local rivals OGC Nice 5-1 away from home. There was little cause for celebration from the viewing in the Allianz Riviera for Nice supporters. Still, the ultras would not be dissuaded from marking their 40th anniversary with a firework display in the 86th minute. 

The interruption would prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Nice players, who watched the celebrations from near the halfway line, as the referee would call time on the game shortly after the restart. There would be no injury time to make up for the delay; Nice would be put out of their misery at the 90th minute. They had been well and truly beaten. 

There was a look of resignation from the Nice players as they went to the Populaire Sud at the end of the match, hands on their hips as they stood and faced the insults and remonstrations. Unfortunately, it was a look they had worn well since Mason Greenwood scored the second of the evening in the 33rd minute. 

Nice in their worst spell this season

Nice head coach Franck Haise admitted when asked in his post-match press conference that he believed his players were suffering from a mental block when faced with a “hitch.” Haise said, “Yes, even though up until halftime, the intentions were quite good, quite coherent. Intentions alone don’t win matches. But today, there wasn’t just one hitch.”

The defeat to Marseille makes it four defeats in a row across all competitions, with losses to Paris Saint-Germain, SC Freiburg, and FC Metz preceding the international break. Nice’s worst run of form this season in a campaign filled with poor spells, and it has come immediately after it looked like Haise was finally beginning to get a tune of this season’s squad, as before playing PSG, they had won three league games in a row. 

Haise has been clear that he believes the players available are not at the required standard, saying after the loss to Marseille, “The global level [of the team] is insufficient.” The summer transfer window has proven to be a bruising one, with the club losing last season’s top scorers Evann Guessand and Gaëtan Laborde, while incomings like Salis Abdul Samed, Yehvann Diouff, loanee Juma Bah, Isak Jansson, and Kevin Carlos have failed to deliver. 

Nice looking for miracles

Usually in this kind of situation, the manager would be at risk, but according to a report from L’Équipe, Haise’s position is not under threat. Instead, behind the scenes, the club are encouraged by him and his coaching staff’s management. They perhaps even agree with his assessment of the squad, as it is expected that Nice will invest in the January transfer window. 

Haise proved last season and in his work with RC Lens that he can work miracles with few resources. Last year, Nice crashed out of the UEFA Europa League at the league phase, but finished the campaign in fourth despite suffering an astounding injury crisis, registering their highest finish in the league since 2017. However, this campaign is perhaps proving that even Haise cannot work miracles with no resources.

The aim this season was for the squad to challenge again for the UEFA Champions League places, but after 13 games, they find themselves in 9th, six points adrift of Lille OSC in fourth place (and the Champions League playoff place). There is a clear cause for concern that the gap will only widen if Nice cannot find a way to escape their slide. 

This week’s Ligue 1 sub-plots