Nîmes Olympique: for Adil Hermach, “shifting into high gear” is imperative

“Le bilan est insuffisant”, n’a pas caché en conférence de presse, ce jeudi, le coach croco Adil Hermach, qui ne veut pourtant pas dramatiser la situation. Midi Libre – Thierry Albenque

Nîmes Olympique, who have only won one match since the start of the season, must beat Versailles on Friday 20 September at the Antonins to avoid falling down the rankings.

Thirteenth in the National after five matches (1 win, 1 draw, 3 losses), Nîmes Olympique is far from the mark and must react against Versailles, visiting this Friday, September 20 at the Stade des Antonins.

Reaction (and victory) required after the 1-0 defeat in Concarneau: “A professional foul, repeated in a press conference this Thursday, crocodile coach Adil Hermach.There were far too many things missing for it to feel like a football match."

Individual interviews with players

This week, the crocodile technician had "a lot of exchanges" with his players through individual interviews. “After five days, it was time to take stock.”

Individually, this assessment is not good. Collectively, “it is insufficient compared to what we show, to what we manage to do, Adil Hermach does not hide. I am not satisfied with what we are doing in both areas. We need more bite, more cutting edge in the last thirty metres, better use of space, make more runs and finish off actions. We are the team that keeps the ball the most, that puts the most balls in the opponent's area, that makes the most passes forward, but we are the one that shoots the least. We are missing that little bit of confidence. Every time we make a mistake, it's a goal against us."

No question of changing the playing philosophy

The Nîmes coach assures us: "I have great confidence in my players." So he won't change his playing philosophy: "Getting behind and playing long balls, I don't have the squad to that." And to insist: "The game will always reward you." Which does not prevent, the transitions and duels having been worked on in recent days, from being aggressive with the ball .

Iafrate, Bouaoune and Amara on the flank

To reverse the trend, Adil Hermach, who will have to do without the services of Iafrate (adductors), Bouaoune (left foot) and Amara (foot) for the reception of Versailles, “a very good team focused on the offensive, one of the most athletic in the championship, if not the most athletic", took refuge in work.

"Provoke the trigger"

And he refuses to dramatize the situation: "We are not in the lurch, it is not yet a disaster. We ask ourselves questions but not everything is to be thrown away, there are interesting things. Things can quickly change, we must provoke the trigger, engage the higher gear even if for the moment, we do not succeed. Achieving a very small series would give us back this baraka that eludes us for the moment."

Nîmes (13th, 4 points) receives Versailles (8th, 6 points) Friday September 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Antonins. Referee: Maxime Jamet. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Match commentary on midilibre.fr. Prices: from 5 to 12 euros.