Nîmes Olympique: it’s off to a good start, the Crocos win their first preparation match

Sur deux ou trois accélérations, Abdelmalek Amara, l’une des quatre recrues, a montré sa capacité à déstabiliser les défenses. Midi Libre – Thierry Albenque

Authors of a rather consistent and interesting first appearance, Tuesday in Toulon, the Crocos logically won.

The second half was less accomplished, more choppy and more muddled but Nîmes Olympique delivered, Tuesday July 16 in Toulon, especially for a first outing, a consistent and interesting performance. The Crocos are not starting from scratch, that is obvious.

Coach Adil Hermach “generally satisfied”

Adil Hermach was also "overall satisfied" after a logical victory, which could have been heavier &ndash ; "We can win 3 or 4-0" – with a little more efficiency. Opportunistic if not realistic, the Nîmes took advantage of two defensive errors from the Var to score one goal per half.

"It's not particularly the victory that I want to remember but it’s always good to develop this competitive soul, does not hide the crocodile coach, he who admits to hating losing even a simple game of cards. It's never easy to win matches, even friendly ones."

The technical sheet

TOULON (N2) – NÎMES (N) : 0-2.
Bon Rencontre Stadium.
Half-time: 0-1.
Goals for Nîmes : El Hamri (31st), Laurens (48th).
NÎMES (in 1st period) : Cozzella (Masse, 33rd) – Labonne, Iafrate, Mendy (cap.), Beneddine – Delpech (Laurens, 33rd), Akkal, El Hamri, Amara – Camara, Mbina (Ngakoutou, 33rd).
NÎMES (in 2nd period) : Masse (Ichalalen, 60th) – Sbaï, Diouf, Paviot, Diallo – Picouleau – Marcel, Laurens (Bouaoune, 60th), Lemaangr, Khalid – Nkakoutou (Thoumin, 60th).

Long holding times

Aerobic work with the ball, technical mastery, possession and positional play: the objectives pursued were rather well achieved. Hermach: “it confirmed our good start to preparation. It's always good to manage to get things back in shape in a match.”

The Nîmes team, who fairly quickly found two or three preferred circuits, had “very long possession times, which hurt the opponent”, appreciates Adil Hermach. And if the Toulonnais scored a few blows at the end of the game, Marcel, one of the newcomers, “very interesting in his work with the team”, was not the most spared, “it is perhaps because they were tired of running after the ball”.

Les joueurs d’Adil Hermach viennent d’arriver à Toulon où il fait plus de 30 degrés. Un tout léger vent souffle. Les quatre recrues sont présentes. pic.twitter.com/0Cx0Ct0yXm

— Midi Libre Sports (@MidiLibreSports) July 16, 2024

The Crocos thus had confirmation that"by managing to deprive the opponent of the ball, it opened up naturally&quot ;. We were then able to see, on a few shots, the power of acceleration and percussion of Amara, another rookie, capable of eliminating two or three opponents and difficult to stop without making a mistake once launched .

Positive point, no opportunities conceded

Another positive point: apart from long shots, the Crocos did not concede any chances, only Ichalalen having to relax at the end of the match.

"Without having yet worked defensively, which we will do next week, we are continuing from last season, welcomes Adil Hermach. When we lose the ball, everyone knows what they have to do. This ability to suffer together, which we showed last year, must not be lost."

The Crocos will certainly need it on Sunday against Marseille for their second preparation match. "A completely different opposition", certainly.

The notable actions of the Crocos

4e Strike from Delpech, from the right, which misses the target.
6e Corner from Beneddine headed by Mbina. Too high and out of frame.
10e Amara infiltrates the side of the house. left and comes up against Ternynck.
29eCenter behind Labonne that Camara, the only full axis facing the goal, sends over the crossbar.
31e Ternynck misses his exit outside the area. Camara recovers the ball and serves El Hamri who, from 18 m, scores in the empty cages (0-1).
36e Delpech's left strike, à level with the ground, lack of power to worry Ternynck.
48e In the area, Laurens steals the ball from the feet of a defender and follows up with a right shot (0 -2).
68e Shot from Thoumin, side left, deflected for a corner by Dilo.

To give him time to come back and get back into rhythm, he who had knee surgery last October, goalkeeper Dias was not traveling to Toulon. He stayed in Nîmes where he trained solo in the morning. I subscribe to read more