Nîmes Olympique: the Crocodiles have no more excuses

Beneddine and the Crocos cannot stand idly by: they must react. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

National/6th day. Good or bad pitch, good or bad opponent, 11 players or 9 in front, absent wingers or not… the Crocos must show a different face on Friday, September 20 against Versailles. And, after Concarneau, not turn the other cheek.

After the nightmare, it can only be time to wake up. To forgive. To redeem. Adil Hermach may have reminded us that “we are not the first, nor the last to lose in numerical superiority“, the defeat in Concarneau with 11 Gardois against 9 Bretons, last Friday (0-1) has necessarily left its mark on the minds of Nîmes.

Now, the best way to forget is to win again. Today, they have no more excuses: good pitch (in Finistère) or not good (at Antonins), good opponent or not good, absent wingers or not, the Crocodiles have no other choice but to show another face. And not turn the other cheek against a Versailles that had started well (1 win and 2 draws including one against the leader Nancy, only one goal conceded) before stalling (draw at Aubagne and first defeat against Orléans, six goals conceded in two games).

One of the best weeks of training

Jean-Luc Vasseur's Parisians will play without Calvet or Karamoko, sent off against the Loirets, but with their top scorer Mbemba (2), a recent Croco that no recruit has yet managed to make us forget. “We are asking ourselves questions, concedes Hermach. I had a lot of discussions with the players, who are dejected because not everything is to be thrown away. We had one of our best weeks of training. The stats say it: we are one of the teams that has the most possession, that brings the most balls into the opponent's area, but that shoots the least on goal! There are things that make me think that things will get better quickly. But now, it's starting to become urgent."

A triple need for revenge to satisfy

The players are expected to deliver. The coach too. At the end of June, when talking about the successful survival mission, he told us: “Success, defeat, it's fleeting. A coach always has his ass between two chairs. You have to be ready for anything in this job. I think of the best but also the worst, because everything can turn around very quickly. It's football, and I'm prepared for that. What is certain is that I do everything with my heart because Nîmes is my city".

Versailles, one of only two clubs to have beaten NO twice in the championship last season, including once 6-0…

His group will need heart this Friday evening to satisfy a triple vengeance: avenge the affront of Concarneau, take revenge on Versailles a year ago (0-6 there, another nightmare) and Versailles, period. Because it is one of only two clubs, with Epinal, to have beaten the Gardois twice in National last season. If Mendy's partners do not succeed, they will go and play a first fear match at the current red lantern, Villefranche, the following Friday. That is all the harm we do not wish on them.

The probable compositions

Nîmes. < /strong>Simon – Labonne, Diouf, Mendy (cap), Beneddine – El Hamri, Doukansy, Mexico – Camara, Abdeldjelil, Ali Abdallah.
Substitutes (of your choice): Dias (l.), Diallo, Sbaï, Picouleau, Akkal, Khalid Marcel, Osei . Wounded: Iafrate, Delpech, Bouaoune, Amara.