The loss too many, the fifth in a row. The Nice football club (Ligue 1) ended the coaching duties of Patrick Vieira on Friday, December 4, after another setback in the Europa League the day before against Bayer Leverkusen (2-3).
“Arrived at OGC Nice in the summer of 2018, Patrick Vieira is no longer the coach of OGC Nice as of this day”, wrote the club in a brief statement. It is his deputy, the Romanian Adrian Ursea (53), who takes the reins of the Gym, for the match in Reims on Sunday in Ligue 1.
The first experience as a coach at the very high level of the former 1998 world champion will therefore not have kept all its promises. To succeed the very experienced Claude Puel and Lucien Favre, the Nice leaders had bet on Vieira, immense champion but young technician, with very assertive and ambitious ideas on the game. But after just over two seasons, he was swept away by a stunt of poor results.
In addition to the early elimination in the Europa League, the Aiglons are only 11e (with a late match) in the Ligue 1 standings, far from the ambitions displayed by the new owner, the petrochemical group Ineos. Under Vieira’s leadership, Nice finished 7e then 5e in his first two seasons.
Team in great suffering
Seven months from the end of his contract, the former great midfielder of Arsenal or Juventus also paid a heavy price for the vagaries of a season marked by the Covid, which hit his workforce in the fall . Above all, his team had been in great pain since the serious injury of the very experienced central defender Dante in Angers a month ago. Without him, the Aiglons have very often seemed totally lost and the defense sank, including 15 goals conceded in five Europa League matches.
Pressure from supporters also had an impact. Absent from the stadium, they were virulent on social networks and very unhappy with the quality of play offered, very far from the initial ambitions developed by the former captain of the Blues. Vieira had yet been able to draw his third Nice team as he pleased and part with executives who had disappointed him. But neither the results nor the manner were there.
