Mancity’s game plan was to control Porto was clear. They wanted to be aggressive with and without the ball. Although, Mancity’s aim was to take the game to their opponents, Porto failed to initiate any threat to Maresca’s men after they thoroughly failed to execute in certain moments. The difference in the game proved to […]
Nottingham Forest secured a historic 1-0 victory (2-1 aggregate) over FC Porto at a raucous City Ground, booking their place in the Europa League semi-finals for the first time since 1984. On an emotionally charged night, Vítor Pereira’s side capitalized on an early red card for Porto’s Jan Bednarek to take control through a deflected […]
Nottingham Forest secured a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Estádio do Dragão, delivering a performance of restorative tenacity to frustrate FC Porto and leave this Europa League quarter-final finely balanced. In a statistically lopsided encounter, Francesco Farioli’s side exhibited the creative volume that Vítor Pereira’s men lacked, yet were undone by a momentary lapse in […]
Olympique Lyonnais continued their impressive run under Pierre Sage with a fourth victory in a row, as they defeated OGC Nice by a single goal. Lyon climbed up to 11th place on Friday night, while Nice, on the other hand, could drop from second to fourth if results over the weekend go against them. Tactical […]
Before the derby between OGC Nice and AS Monaco had even begun Paris Saint-Germain’s grip on the title grew a little tighter as they extended their lead over Nice by 11 points. It looks like a long time ago now that there were dreams of a title race involving the two Côte d’Azur high flyers, […]
OGC Nice for much of the season had felt like an inevitable force, winning games by a single inescapable goal. Their visit to Nantes was a chance to return to the top of the table against a side that had not won in their last four fixtures and only two days before appointing a new […]
Both teams finished the game with a red card apiece but that was the only fate that OGC Nice and Stade Rennais shared. Nice demonstrated again why many in France consider this team to be the greatest threat to PSG’s stranglehold on the league, while Rennes failed once more to impress despite another summer of […]
An early top-of-the-table clash between some unusual suspects saw the two teams that started the weekend in first and second collide in a hard-fought affair. Neither Nice nor Stade Brestois excelled, but they showed exactly why so many teams have struggled to break down their defenses. Tactical analysis and match report by Nick Hartland. The […]
After two comfortable victories before the international break, you could be forgiven for thinking everything was back to normal for Paris Saint-Germain, but OGC Nice were there to remind them of their problems. A game defined by two managers obsessed with pressing… and only one team that seemed to know how to implement that vision. […]