Like a Nice team playing too often on alternating current, the young attacking midfielder Alexis Claude-Maurice (22) is slow to express his potential in the heart of a group fighting for maintenance and opposed to Rennes on Friday in Ligue 1 (9 p.m.).
His successive coaches have often been able to appreciate the ability of Claude-Maurice to eliminate an opponent on a ball catch, but for the time being, the Niçois (16th in L1) have only had an intermittent glimpse of this talent.
Against Metz (2-1 defeat) last Sunday, repositioned at the heart of the game, the player did not stand out during the first forty-five tasteless minutes.
More interesting then, the Azureen attacking midfielder delivered a gem of a pass to Amine Gouiri, finally showing all his abilities.
“I know I have qualities.
But I had a lot of trouble showing them in a match, ”he admitted in mid-February.
“The reviews make sense.
I accept them, I am much harder on myself.
I was the first to find my performances not convincing. ”
It was after the defeat at the Parc des Princes (2-1) where the Aiglons had been interesting without managing to snatch a point despite an equalizer in the second half.
The match also corresponds to the best performance of "ACM" under the Nice jersey, endorsed during the first transfer window of the new owner Ineos, at the end of summer 2019, as part of a transfer from Lorient between 13 and 15 million euros.
Unsatisfied
The Ile-de-France native of Noisy-Le-Grand and passed through all the youth selections was then considered one of the best footballers in Ligue 2 with the Merlus (14 goals in 35 matches in 2018/19).
He has not yet taken the next step and is not satisfied with his statistics in the elite: only 3 goals, including one in 19 matches this season, and an assist.
“I know how to take ball space at my feet, I have to persevere and do it more frequently.
I always question myself, ”he admits, saying he's not hungry.
The return to 4-3-3 established by Adrian Ursea fixed him in the axis, he who had been tossed a little in all offensive positions.
“The click is tactical but also mental”, he judges.
But the collective and individual improvement is not yet obvious, or only by flashes - Nice was invisible during the first periods in Paris, Marseille (3-2) and in front of Metz (1-2) -.
“Alexis thinks a lot. In these cases, you don't let your instincts speak on the court and you are always behind. He is not a player of duels but rather of feints and movements ”
Adrian ursea
The Riviera coach sees in these last three defeats in a row a "failure in concentration in the first minutes.
An easy balloon lost ... And confidence escapes.
It's not for lack of warning the team, ”laments Ursea.
Since his internal promotion at the beginning of December, after the dismissal of Patrick Vieira, of whom he was the deputy, the Romanian technician has focused above all on caring for weakened morale within a team that dreamed of Europe and found itself in the fight for stay in the elite.
A psychological observation that also applies to Claude-Maurice.
“Alexis thinks a lot.
In these cases, you don't let your instincts speak on the court and you are always behind.
He is not a player of duels but rather of feints and movements ”, analyzes Ursea.
Friday in Rennes, the coach will once again not be able to renew the same starting eleven, due to an uninterrupted flow of injuries.
This is bad news for Claude-Maurice, who will still be deprived at his side of the Portuguese international Rony Lopes (thigh), with whom he had forged a promising connivance on the ground.
But it's time for Alexis Claude-Maurice to stand on its own two feet.
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