Morgan Schneiderlin still has an important role to play in the Nice squad says coach Christophe Galtier with the former Manchester United and Everton midfielder readying for Sunday's Côte d'Azur derby with Monaco.
NICE - MONACO (kick-off 1pm CEST)
Schneiderlin suffered a knee injury during a training camp early in pre-season and has not featured in a competitive game since Galtier took charge at the Allianz Riviera this summer. The 31-year-old former France international was in the treatment room as the club beefed up its squad during the transfer window, and has made an unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaign without him.
But Galtier built his title-winning Lille side on a blend of youth and experience, and has told Schneiderlin there is still a place for him in Nice's ambitious plans.
"Morgan has a lot of experience, he's been through a lot. Before his injury, he had quickly assimilated and understood what I wanted to see in midfield, the complementarity that I wanted to find," Galtier explained, adding that he had recently talked to Schneiderlin about his situation.
"I had a chat with him a few days ago, we had quite a frank discussion. He's intelligent and very mature. Right now, everything is clear between him and me. I hope he'll bring a lot of competition for places to help find that complementarity in midfield."
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Galtier may be tempted not to tinker too much with his starting XI, however, after seeing his team make such an impressive opening. No other team in Europe's top five leagues can boast of not having conceded a goal this term, while Nice's young guns up front, notably Amine Gouiri, Kasper Dolberg and Justin Kluivert, have helped the team net 10 goals in their last three outings.
There was a touch of fortune about last weekend's 2-0 defeat of Nantes, who were unlucky to not — at the very least — become the first team to find a way past Walter Benitez this season. But late goals from Dolberg and Gouiri — the latter set up by summer signing Andy Delort — kept their side's momentum high and highlighted the threat the trio will pose opponents.
"I had said in the pre-match press conference that they work together and will work together. I decided not to start Andy to comfort the players in what they had done since the start of the season. I was very happy with the performances of Kasper and Amine in the matches that they had played together," explained Galtier, who has full-backs Youcef Atal and Jordan Lotomba available for the derby after injury and suspension respectively.
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"I felt Andy needed to come on and that I would need to push Amine out to the left, because he knows this role well. There was a goal with that at the heart. When you have quality players who are used to getting assists, who have a calm head in front of goal, you've always got a chance of scoring. We needed to bring some fresh blood in attack, reposition Amine on the wing that he likes and link up Andy with Kasper."
The prolific connection between Wissam ben Yedder and Kevin Volland was central to Monaco finishing third last season, but the duo, who netted 36 league goals between them in 2020/21, have yet to find the net in the French top flight so far.
Only Volland started as Monaco opened their UEFA Europa League group stage campaign with a 1-0 win over Sturm Graz on Thursday, though Ben Yedder will return to the starting XI against Nice in a bid to improve on a worrying run of three defeats in four league outings.
"We know we're in a difficult situation," said coach Niko Kovac, who will have to decide whether to hand Thursday's matchwinner Krepin Diatta his first league start of the season.
"Each challenge, each pass is difficult. It's very different to last season. We have to keep working and battle to turn things round. We're aware we have problems in terms of our finishing. We're also lacking a little bit of luck. We have to work. The players are also irritated by it. We have to work to get ourselves out of this situation."
Probable teams
Nice: Benitez; Atal, Todibo, Dante, Bard; Stengs, Rosario, Lemina, Boudaoui; Dolberg, Gouiri
Monaco: Nübel; Sidibé, Maripan, Badiashile; Fofana, Tchouaméni; Martins, Volland, Golovin, Henrique; Ben Yedder
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