In their penultimate game of 2020, six days before Christmas, Nice’s defence was ripped to shreds by Lyon. In fact, even that might be too generous a reading of what transpired. Nice’s defence ripped itself to shreds for Lyon’s benefit.
Before half-time, the Aiglons had handed two goals to Rudi Garcia’s Lyon, who added two more after the break.
It was another setback in a poor season and the sixth time Nice had conceded three or more in a game since they were hammered 6-2 by Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League on October 22.
Between the Leverkusen and the Lyon games, Nice’s manager Patrick Vieira had been fired by his bosses at INEOS Football and their Brazilian defender Dante had picked up an ACL injury that will keep him out for the season.
Though INEOS have splashed the cash to bring in forwards Kasper Dolberg, Alexis Claude-Maurice and Amine Gouiri, as well as Morgan Schneiderlin in midfield, their defensive recruitment had not been as well planned.
Without Dante, they were left playing a back three of 23-year-old Robson Bambu, 20-year-old Stanley Nsoki and Austrian teenager Flavius Daniliuc. With little experience and insufficient quality, they were extremely vulnerable.
Come the January transfer window, Nice had to act. The obvious thing to do would have been to hire an old head, either on a free or on loan, to provide some calm guidance to their young backline.
Instead, Nice went bold. In came two more youngsters, William Saliba and Jean-Clair Todibo, on loan from Arsenal and Barcelona respectively.
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