There are more pleasant awakenings than others on the Côte-d’Azur. Wednesday morning, “Nissa la bella” woke up qualified for the final of the Coupe de France after her victory over the little thumb, Versailles (2-0). A first since 1997. After the emotions of the Cup, the current third in the French championship, is preparing to receive Paris Saint-Germain, Saturday March 5, at 9 p.m.
After two goalless draws this season, in the first leg of Ligue 1 and then in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, Christophe Galtier’s men are starting to take a liking to these confrontations. Like their coach. With Saint-Étienne, Lille or now Nice, Galtier combines the blows. Last season, his French champion Losc remained undefeated in Paris, even having the luxury of a victory at the Parc (1-0) in the midst of the title race.
You’ve been waiting for it… here it is!
Find the film of the qualification against Versailles, in an incandescent Allianz Riviera ⚫️
—OGC Nice (@ogcnice) March 2, 2022
“Galette (Galtier) knows the recipe for beating PSG”, summarizes Éric Roy, former player and coach of the Gym, now a consultant for Franceinfo: sport. He will continue to apply what has worked the previous times: rigor, heavy pressing when the ball is lost around a team block so as to involve everyone in recovery. If done well, that’s enough to defeat them.” Defeating them is one thing, beating them is another. And the greediness of the people of Nice could convince them to try to beat, finally, the band of Kylian Mbappé.
“To try to beat Paris, you will have to be very good at recovery, especially on the first two or three passes.continues Eric Roy. This is when we can lack foresight or energy and therefore we are most vulnerable if we lose the ball immediately afterwards. On the contrary, we must take advantage of these balloons to break the lines and put the Parisians on the back foot. Then, in front, iThey are capable of flashes with Justin Kluivert, Amine Gouiri or even Calvin Stengs who has not yet revealed his full potential in my opinion.”
Between them, the Nissarts attackers have only fourteen goals. It is in this sector that the Gym still needs to progress. Because if the team is the best defense in Ligue 1 (21 goals), it is however less flamboyant in attack. Her 37 goals scored make her the 9th attack in Ligue 1, less than the red lantern Bordeaux, for example.
Therefore, how to highlight an attack that is not very sovereign and finally manage to score against PSG? “The ideal would be to evolve with a mid-low block, in order to be able to press high on the static phases, explains the former midfielder. This is what Real failed to do in the Champions League (PSG won 1-0) by defending with a block that is too low, surely to leave as little space as possible for Mbappé and Messi.”
Philosophizing football, preparing his tactics and thinking about micro-details, this is precisely what Christophe Galtier prefers. Having just won his first French championship title with Lille, the native of Marseilles is already experiencing his first great emotions in Rouge et Noir. Qualified for the final of the Coupe de France therefore, he should fight a big battle in the coming weeks to win a place in the European Cup.
Trained at the club, first team player for eight seasons and finally coach between 2010 and 2012, Éric Roy is pleased with Galtier’s first results: “I am impressed by the quintessence of what he manages to draw from his teams. Christophe is very pragmatic, and that is not pejorative, because he knows how to organize his game very well according to his players. He has a young team, which is still to be polished. The club is changing towards excellence, it’s beautiful, and it could become a club that counts in the years to come.”
In addition to the Galtier method, the entire Ineos method is beginning to bear fruit. Arriving in 2019, the English firm and its director Jim Ratcliffe are seeing their investments pay off. And a victory against PSG could be an important stone on the road to success.