OGC Nice must improve their finishing if they are to beat FC Nantes on Saturday and end a winless streak of three Ligue 1 Uber Eats matches, says coach Patrick Vieira.
OGC Nice - FC Nantes
- Kick-off at 21:00 CET (19:00 GMT)
Vieira watched as his team hit the woodwork three times in their goalless draw with Girondins de Bordeaux last time out, a point that followed on the back of defeats to Montpellier Hérault SC and Paris Saint-Germain.
After starting the new season with a brace of wins, it's a dip in form that Vieira hopes work on the training ground can address.
"I thought it was really quite a promising performance," said the ex-Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City midfielder. "We lacked a clinical edge to our finishing. We continued in the same style of play as we had done against Paris. The fact we hit the woodwork three times means that we must still improve. We have to work on our finishing, but we produced some good stuff."
WATCH: Luckless Nice draw at Bordeaux
A muscle injury sustained in training means Alexis Claude-Maurice will miss the match as he sits out for three weeks joining Youcef Atal (thigh strain) on the sidelines while Danilo and Hicham Boudaoui continue their recovery from knee injuries.
After drawing a blank in Bordeaux, Vieira will have to consider whether he again employs summer arrival Rony Lopes in a central role behind last season's leading scorer Kasper Dolberg, who has not scored since Round 2 and is coming back from a bout of COVID-19.
"He could be a long-term solution at the heart of our play. I'm happy with his performance. I knew he could do it. He can beat his man, go forward. He feels better physically, he had some ground to make up," explained Vieira of Lopes whom he coached while working in City's youth set-up.
"For Kasper, it was a bit more difficult. He hadn't trained for several days. I started him, and he gave everything, but he wasn't at his best."
Nantes boss Christian Gourcuff knows what it is like to have to contend with the coronavirus ravaging his squad. His pre-season plans were shredded due to a number of players needing to self-isolate, and it has contributed to a patchy start to the season.
Les Canaris have just one win to show from their five outings so far, and they — like Nice — have registered just a single point in their last three Ligue 1 Uber Eats games.
WATCH: Nantes lose in Lille
Gourcuff does have all his squad bar Anthony Limbombe available for the trip to the Côte d'Azur as he looks to improve on a run of one win in their last seven league away games, a miserable streak that was extended by their 2-0 defeat at LOSC Lille in Round 5.
"The performance was far from ridiculous. The first half, we were a bit too timid, especially in keeping possession, but in the second, we controlled the game, we had the match in hand," said Gourcuff, who saw Nicolas Pallois' own-goal late in the first half and Burak Yilmaz's penalty late in the second leave his team empty-handed at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
"It's a shame we didn't put away our chances. We need to do more and better in our play. We lacked precision. The second goal is a little anecdotal. It's a bit worrying because we lost 2-0 without playing badly, that's not reassuring."
Probable teams
Nice: Benitez - Lotomba, Pelmard, Dante (c), Kamara - Lees-Melou, Schneiderlin - Ndoye, Rony Lopes, Gouiri - Dolberg
Nantes: Lafont - Appiah, Girotto, Pallois (c), Fabio - Coco, Louza, Chirivella, Simon - Blas, Kolo Muani
