An unheralded choice to replace Lucien Favre on the OGC Nice bench in January, Didier Digard has turned Les Aiglons round. Check out what he had to say about his increasing notoriety after a fourth win in a row - 3-0 over Ajaccio - at the helm of the Côte d'Azure club.
It was also a fifth win in an unbeaten run of six league outings under Digard, who was promoted from assistant coach to the caretaker role following the January sacking of Lucien Favre. The former Nice midfielder has breathed new life into the team, and appears to be managing the psychological aspects of the team's routines extremely well.
'100% impervious to the outside world'
"I like this victory," he said after the dominant display against Ajaccio. "We were 100% impervious to the outside world, to the pressure of whether the team would slacken off, against a lower ranked team. The players didn't fall into that."
His approach would appear to have brought the changes that many were expecting - but which failed to materialise - as the INEOS-owned club invested heavily in players over the last couple of seasons. His side are no longer under-performing, and with the European places now just three points away, people are starting to sit up and take notice.
>> MATCH REPORT: Brahimi double keeps Digard's Nice moving up
All eyes
"We are currently the team that are taking the most points," smiled Digard. "People are watching us. That's good. I hope the players are taking the praise on board. They deserve it."
Indeed, it was an excellent performance by Digard's men against Ajaccio, with evergreen captain Dante (39!) nodding home form a corner early and in-form wing-back Bilal Brahimi bagging a second-half brace off the bench to make sure of the points.
Emblematic
"We built this plan up as the week went on," divulged Digard. "By keeping fresh players on the bench, I wanted to be able to hurt them with our substitutions - and we were rewarded."
Brahimi's performance followed on from his superb strike in the stunning 3-1 R22 win in Marseille, but Digard wasn't surprised.
"I don't have any particular comments about him. I trust him because he deserves it and he listens," said the coach who clearly has an excellent relationship with his players. "He generally hasn't been rewarded for his efforts with goals, but that's starting to change. We just told him what we saw in him."
Nice's next challenge is a stiff one - at home to Ligue 1 Uber Eats top scorer Folarin Balogun's Stade de Reims - but you can bet that Digard has a plan.