Nice To Be At Nice
Exactly 3 weeks ago, French side OGC Nice, currently in Division 4 in the NWO, were 19th in the league, with only 3 points from their first six games. Bart Leszner was the previous boss, and managed to score 9 goals in those 6 games, but still had a lousy record of 3 draws and 3 loses. More incredible was the fact that Nice conceded 15 (YES FIFTEEN) goals in their first 6 games. This is where the club was about to change...
Nice, nicknamed The Eaglets, have only ever won the French Division 1 title 4 times, before being moved into the New World Order. This being their first season in this elite set-up, the club, board and President, Jean-Pierre
Riviere, all agreed that Bart Leszner´s career at Nice was over before it had even started. The last game for Bart in charge of Nice was an away fixture to none other than the beasts of Turkey, Fenerbahce! In front of 33k people and a stadium with Nice´s new possible investors, the club failed. But it was a small failure? No. The French side were dispatched before half time. 3-0 to Fenerbahce, an absolutely nightmare for the club. Nice president Riviere, even admitted, that when half time hit, the chairman was already boarding his private plane back to France with a lot of decisions that must be made. Fenerbahce ended up scoring straight after half time to seal a 4-0 victory, which was to be Leszner´s last game at the club. The following day, the club made the announcement, which didn't come as a shock to the loyal fans of The Eaglets!
Nice, 19th in the league, a HUGE local battle of France with Olympique Marseille coming up within 4 days, had to quickly react and bring in a manager who they believed could turn the fortunes of the club around. 2 days later, Riviere called a press conference and in came Cam S.
Yes, who, you ask, is Cam S? Cam S, 33 year old Englishman from Portsmouth. This is all the details the press needed to know, as Riviere stated, let this man show you his potential by watching his teams performances on the pitch!
Nice's first game under Cam S was Marseille. The club, which is situated in the south of France, by the Italian border, were hosts, and fans from all over France came to see this game. The Allianz Riviera, hit a new crowd record of 29,655, in anticipation to the big game. Unfortunately, the game was a disappointment. Alessandro Plea did give Nice fans some cheer scoring within 3 minutes of kickoff, but Mitroglou, spoiled the fun,scoring an 81st minute equaliser for Michael Anderson's side. In a post-match interview, Cam said this, "I am delighted with the performance today from the players. I came into this job on the back of a 4-0 hammering, the morale was low,
and it was my job to get it back and get them to fight. I saw bits and pieces, but only being at the club 2 days, I am not a miracle worker and the players need to play to my strengths, and adapt." So, 1 game, 1 point, its okay but still no win!
3 days passed, the club training like crazy. Up step another French side, ready to fight for French dominance. Olympique Lyonnais, or Lyon, as its a pain in the ass to write the full name! Nice had a short travel to Parc OL, the home of Lyon. And my, what a great travel. Nice made a couple of changes from the Marseille draw, and it paid off, just! At one point, the game seemed like deja-vu. Mario Balotelli opening the scoring for The Eaglets in the first 12 minutes, with a deft flick which wrong-footed the keeper. Lyon, in all fairness, fought back hard and got a well deserved equaliser through Traore. Luckily for Nice, they had a secret weapon, a Dutch destroyer, a free kick specialist, the man they call Sneijder!!! Wesley Sneijder (pictured, right), stepped up to a 76th minute free kick, and sailed the ball inside the near post. Massive jubilation, huge celebrations, and Nice get off the board with 3 points, which kept them in the relegation zone, but up to 17th!!!
More training, more preparations, Lyon had a Cup match to deal with. Ukranian side, Shakhtar arrived to test their might. Cam fielded a young side, making 10 changes from the side that beat Lyon. 18-year old defender Malang Sarr (pictured below) opened the scoring from a corner. The youngsters were all heart and had something to prove against a strong, experienced Shakhtar side. But fair play to the Ukranians, they fought back hard and managed 2 goals through Paletta and Danny to take the lead before half time. Doucoure did manage an equaliser with 20 minutes left... but neither side could capatilise and the game was eventually won on penalties by Shakhtar. Great game for the spectators, and the youngsters were clapped off the pitch by the home fans, 29k turned up just to get a glimpse of this turnaround.
Villareal were the next visitors to Allianz Riviere, as a full strength Nice side were looking for back to back wins. And my, they did not let another record crowd down. 26-2 shots, 14-0 on target... That was the stats in this one sided affair, and Nice had suddenly clicked! Balotelli, scoring his 2nd goal in 3 games, opened the scoring for the home side, again in the opening 15 minutes. Central defender Lejeune made it 2-0, with Sneijder assisting both goals. Plea wrapped up the proceedings with a 63rd minute strike which caught the Villareal goalkeeper off balance. Great game, great performance. Cam even said after, "Its nice to be at Nice. The fans are great the team is working, and things can only get better, but we need to keep our feet to the ground and fight for every point we earn." Nice move up from 17th to 14th.
Sunday 9th November, Nice travelled north to Holland to face Dutch side Feyenoord. Feyernood, under patrick d, had a decent start to the season, and sat just above Nice in the table. The sun is shining, the fans are in full voice at De Kuip. But, as in Nice style, again they scored in the first 15 minutes. Well, to be precise, Nice opened the scoring within 60 seconds, as Plea fed Koziello who slide the ball beyond Vermeer and into the net! From that moment, the 5k Nice away fans were in full voice. Another commanding performance 18-5 shots, 8-1 on target, saw Nice go 2-0 up. Again, Koziello scoring. This guy was on fire. It was a man of the match performance, running the game from midfield. But on 77 minutes, Koziello saw red with a high challenge, earning himself a 3 match ban. Great game again and great performance. Nice move up to 9th.
Next up on the list, George James bought his Real Sociedad side to Allianza Riviere. The Spanish outfit were on the same points as Nice heading into this game. Another record crowd arrived as just over 30k turned up to watch Nice move to 6th. The French side were again dominant. 17-9 Shots, 7-1 on target. Limiting their opponents to long range efforts and doing what they get taught to do in training. Grab that early goal. Wesley Sneijder answered that call, scoring with 4 minutes of the kick off to the delight of the home fans. Another game, still unbeaten in the league under Cam, and another game with a first 15 minute goal. Is that the secret to Nice success?
Promotion chasing Sporting were the last team up, last night. Could they upset the apple cart at Nice in front of another record crowd of 34k? The answer will follow. Sporting, came out of the blocks on fire, even missing a first minute penalty, Doumbia firing wide in an awful miss.They stopped Nice getting forward by applying pressure to stop them getting that early goal. As time went on, both clubs had chances, to no avail and the clubs went in 0-0 at half time. Time continued to tick on, 50, 60, 70 minutes, still no goals but plenty of opportunities from both sides. Then it happened, free kick on the edge of the box. The goalkeeper could only get his hand to the ball and it flew into the back of the net. Great free kick from Ruiz, and Sporting were in front. This was the first game Nice had not scored the first goal in. Could Sporting hold on? Of course not! Within a minute of the goal, Sneijder fed Plea, who mishit a shot into the bottom corner of the net. The home fans celebrate, as the game fizzled out to a 1-1 draw. Nice now up to 5th, in the playoffs, 3 points behind Porto in 3rd and 6 points behind the leaders PSV and
West Ham, with no league defeat in 6 matches, conceding 3 goals in Cam´s tenure at the club.
Is he the man to fulfil Nice's potential? Only time will tell.
