In her own terms, Nice has undergone a veritable revolution this summer.
It started with the exchange of coaches, when Christophe Galtier left PSG after fifth place and a cup final, and in his place Swiss coach Lucien Fabre returned for a second term.
The changes in the players were also significant: the arrival of Kasper Schmeichel and Aron Ramsey added a great deal of prestige and European experience to the club from the Riviera, with the addition of talents such as Mathia Vitti, Alexis Beka Beka and Ilya Rarsch.
Four official games during the season were enough for Nice to come to the conclusion that the revolution is not yet complete and that there is still a lot of work to be done.
In the league, the team recorded two results, a draw and a loss in the last round to Clermont in a game which they finished with nine players, while in the Conference League they will show up for the rematch against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the playoffs after a 1:0 loss in Bloomfield.
The consequences of these disappointing results can be clearly seen in the table where Nice is in 16th place, and not least in the many reports about new candidates coming to the club.
The list is long and glorious and includes, among others, Edinson Cavani, Marcelo, Nicola Pepe, Ben Brereton Dias, Miralem Pjanic and others, but it is very unlikely that more than one of these names will arrive.
"We need more acquisitions," Fabre admitted this week in great frustration, "but it is very difficult to bring in players now, and not only for us."
Fabre guides Dante.
The business is creaking, photo: AFP
This is not how the second term of the 64-year-old Swiss coach was supposed to open.
After a season that included good games but also instability and very pragmatic football under Christophe Galtier, Fabre arrived to re-ignite Nice.
In his previous tenure, he made the attack of the team led by Mario Balotelli one of the best in the league, organized the defense and led Nice to third place in the table and the Champions League playoffs where they surrendered to Napoli.
His return, plus the financial support that owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe brought with him in 2019 (a year after Fabre left), raised expectations from the team that was marked by commentators as one that might be in the top three.
"There are excellent players here and a very good mentality," Fabre said when he was introduced to the club in June, "the direction here is positive, and I'm sure it will be interesting."
"Moving on"
so far, definitely interesting.
A few days after the appointment of the Swiss, the club underwent a shake-up in the professional staff.
Julien Fournier, the sporting director and the person responsible for purchasing, left unexpectedly.
The one who was jumped in his place for a temporary position only was the British Lane Moody.
It is not surprising then, that the prominent acquisition players were the Welsh Ramsey and the Danish goalkeeper Schmeichel who played 11 years in Leicester.
Outside of the British Isles, Nice is struggling to generate deals at this stage, and the team is hurting.
On top of that, Galtier's attempt to carry out a stylistic revolution also encountered difficulties, mainly due to the lack of sharpness of the pioneers.
Amin Gwiri closed seven months without a goal in the league yesterday, Andy Delor often misses and scored this season only from the penalty spot, while Kasper Dolberg is injured and is unlikely to stay.
Ilya Rarash against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He doesn't hit either, photo: IPA
That's why Nice is putting a lot of effort into finding a new striker, but one hasn't arrived yet.
The defense is also far from impressive at the moment.
Nice conceded one goal in each game, the veteran Dante is far from his peak and there are not many other options.
Despite the bad start to the season, Fabre is currently keeping his cool.
"Obviously we are disappointed," he clarified, "but we have to raise our heads and move on."
The Swiss coach mentioned that even in his first term, the purchase arrived late and the start was faltering, but later things came together and the team went on to a record season.
There is no doubt that this can still happen this time - as the first half in Bloomfield made clear, Nice is an excellent team with tremendous resources - and it could be that all they need is one big victory.
Now, Maccabi Tel Aviv should hope that this victory will not be precisely in front of them.
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