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Galtier management
For his return to Geoffroy-Guichard's cauldron, Christophe Galtier played a terrible trick on his former team. The coach of OGC Nice had everything good this Saturday. A solid team, rapid projections forward ... The 4-4-2 of the native of Marseille is still as well established. The choice to set up constant pressing in the first quarter of an hour to destabilize a Saint-Etienne team in full doubt has paid off. Aggressive, positioned very high on the field, the Aiglons caused a lot of misery to the rearguard of AS Saint-Etienne. After the opening of the score of Amine Gouiri (15th), the technician from Nice managed the meeting perfectly. He maintained his game plan until the goal of the break from Calvin Stengs (54th). Then theex-coach of LOSC has reorganized his team by releasing his striker in favor of Pablo Rosario, much more defensive. Despite some slight shivers at the end of the match, “Galette” did not tremble, his team held on until the end, even allowing themselves the luxury of worsening the score through Delort (83rd).
A boss size Gouiri
The former Olympique Lyonnais nugget is asserting himself as one of the very best players in Ligue 1 this season. Over-motivated, the ex-Gone undoubtedly remembered the good memories of the derbies by scoring against AS Saint-Etienne this Saturday. Often at the origin of actions, the international hopeful has been the spearhead of his team. His vision of the game and his technique did a great deal of good for the attack in Nice, which was in full swing. It was he who opened the scoring from a free kick (15th), certainly deflected, but the main thing was elsewhere. This fifth achievement in the French championship makes him the current top scorer in Ligue 1. Like many young players,Amine Gouiri has an undeniable talent but has often seemed irregular last season. Now he seems to get everyone to agree. At only 21 years old, the OGC Nice striker continues his meteoric rise.
Flops
The feverish rearguard of the Greens
Claude Puel has the reputation of being a relatively cautious and defensive technician. Against OGC Nice, the Stéphanois coach was no exception to the rule. In great difficulty this season and in flagrant lack of confidence, the Greens had to be reassured. For this, the former coach of Olympique Lyonnais decided to launch his team in 5-3-2, with a reinforced and compact rearguard in the axis. His team positioned very low on the ground wanted to be solid but it took the water from all sides, leaving many spaces that the Niçois have perfectly exploited. Conceding many chances, Claude Puel's men finally gave in in the 15th minute, which sank them. Outclassed in the first period, the second did notwas hardly better for Stéphanois who were punished twice (54th and 83rd). And if the young goalkeeper Stefan Bajic had not multiplied the parries, the bill could have been even more salty. Feverish from start to finish, the Greens are now the red lantern of Ligue 1.
Bouanga's failures
If the offensive players of AS Saint-Etienne have absolutely not weighed in this match, a man clearly stands out from the crowd and not in the best possible way. Considered, often rightly, as one, if not the strong man of Saint-Etienne in attack, Denis Bouanga was very disappointing tonight. The Gabonese did not lack will but greatly sinned in the last gesture. How not to think about his action in the first period in which he completely unscrews his shot, forgetting to serve Wahbi Kahzri who was alone in the opponent's area (32nd). This precise moment is one of the turning points of the match because if the Greens scored, they came back to the score and the rest of the match could have been quite different. A great missed opportunity, which will have contributed to sound the death knell for his team. As a symbol,Bouanga was replaced at the start of the second period by Ryad Boudebouz (45th). A match for him to forget.
