Nîmes Olympique: after the defeat in Valenciennes, take the blow, but don't blame it

Décisifs contre Châteauroux, Bouaoune et Abdeldjelil ne l’ont pas été à Valenciennes. MIDI LIBRE – Doriane Michalak

National/Après 3 journées. Pour leur premier gros match, les Crocos voulaient frapper un grand coup. Raté. Explications.

It's a story of moves. Adil Hermach tried a move, in 3-4-3 or 5-2-3, by changing, contrary to the adage, a winning team. By changing the system and men (the recruits Akkal and Bouaoune on the bench, the “old” Diallo and Mexique on the field). A possible masterstroke that ultimately turned out to be nothing more than a shot in the dark.

Adil Hermach: “A few individual underperformances, and I include myself in them”

“Two big individual errors (by Mendy then Sbaï, Editor's note)set our defense on fire when we were doing well, we were taking the lead when we conceded that first goal. The first half was 50-50. There were some very well-led attacking situations on our part, but they ended in nothing. We had the ball, often in their 20-meter box, but that's where we made a mistake. And then there were some individual underperformances, and I include myself in that”, analyzed Adil Hermach after the defeat at VA (0-2).

To sum up, the coach missed his shot, and his players missed a lot of offensive shots. One thing struck us: the Crocodiles lost almost all their duels in the opposing area, they didn't steal a ball from the (7) corners or crosses. “We were literally dominated by the three central defenders (Poha, 2.02m, too strong for Abdeldjelil, Editor's note), but if we saw them a lot, it's because we also called on them a lot", the coach tempers.

"We also made the goalkeeper shine, we made him do a “specific crosses”, he noted, deadpan. We got our hands back on the match at the start of the second half, we settled in at their place, but the question is: what do we do at the time of the last pass ? It lacks a little more creativity, genius, accuracy."

Vincent Marcel, rising value

Speaking of these three qualities, Vincent Marcel is the one who brought the most. He was involved in almost all of Nîmes' good moves. Moreover,“We were hoping to strike a big blow at Valenciennes,” confided “Vini”, his nickname. As everyone says, they are the big team in the championship this season. We came to win, we tried to press, to play the game, we weren't afraid, but they were more successful than us. That's football these days: playing well doesn't do much anymore. You have to be more deadly, meaner in front of goal. That's our weak point at the moment. I'm the first to be frustrated because I'm part of the attacking sector. You have to find solutions to score. We work every day for that".

Adil Hermach, again : "There is work in all directions"

So the Crocos have taken a little blow to the head. They take the blow, but they don't blame it. “I think the best won, based on the strength the team showed. We didn't manage to thwart their plan, but there was room to do better”, Hermach is convinced, who clearly expected more from his players.

“There's work to be done in all directions. We'll have to pull ourselves together, I hope it will come and that we'll come back stronger next week for a very important match at Antonins against Rouen."

Finally, the Gardois have taken some blows too. Like against Châteauroux. Booked five times, the Valenciennes team "dominated athletically" (Hermach) and Marcel and Camara, for example, ended up marked, hit in the cheekbone.“They put more intensity into the aggression, when it must be one of our strong points”, the training regretted. All that's left is to put a… extra effort into training.

Behind the scenes of the Crocos

DOUKANSY'S APOLOGIES The defensive midfielder, who dried up the first weeks of training because he wanted to leave, is still there. One of the best Crocos of last season should resume collective sessions this week. A few days ago, he apologized to the group.

ALI YES, BADU NOThe club has made official the loan of Ali, a powerful 18-year-old winger from Strasbourg. A free loan, with Racing covering the entire salary. For Badu, NO still had some doubts about his physical condition (back problems).

ROUEN at 18 H 30 Nîmes will host Rouen at the unusual schedule of 6:30 p.m., Friday, September 6 at the Antonins, because France hosts Italy at 8:45 p.m. in the Nations League.

THE U17 CHALLENGE This Sunday at 3 p.m. à Nice, for the 2nd day of the national championship, the U17s of NO face Cavigal, a formidable training club from the Côte d'Azur, 3rd in the group last season and the winner of AS Monaco 3-1 in the opening match. But Salim Fiorentino's Crocodilets resisted well last Sunday at La Bastide against… OGC Nice (0-1). So ?

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