FM21: NISSA — 2021/22 Season Analysis
Season Overview
So it’s now mid-January and I have just finished my second season with Les Aiglons. Unfortunately unlike last season (UEFA Europa League) there was no silverware to reward the squad for their seasons work, however progress was certainly made and the gap between PSG and the others in Ligue 1 was bridged.
As you can see from the final league table above we took PSG to the wire this time around and there were only four points which separated the best from the rest in French football. The fixture list handed OGC Nice a tough run of games which seen us face FC Metz, PSG, Marseille and AS Monaco over the last 7 fixtures.
The Championship looked like it would be handed to PSG on game week 33 when the two best teams in the league went head to head. PSG took a three-goal lead with into half-time with a brace from Neymar and a goal from Mbappe. Thankfully some harsh words and the throw of the bottle was enough to inspire Matias Arezo who scored a 17-minute hat-trick to secure a point and keep the dream alive.
The following results in the Derby de la Mediterranee (Marseille) which finished 1–2 and the Derby de la Cote d’Azur (Monaco) 1–1 were to be the decisive factor in PSG claiming the title, results which did not sit well with both the fans and the board.
Deja Vu
Take yourself back to our 2020/21 season analysis, just over a month ago and you will find a similar narrative. Les Aiglons struggle across the month of February!
Last season we only managed to pick up the single point across the five Ligue 1 fixtures, the season a similar story with just four from the 15 available.
Questions must now be asked, why is it that this month is causing us a significant problem?
The most obvious place to look is by drilling down into the fixtures schedule which points out the most obvious issue, the significant demand which February puts on the squad. The team played seven games across the shortest calendar month which lead to a game every few days (3,3,4,3,4,7).
Ligue 1 Performance Analysis
Expected Points
Expected points is a sweet feature in this edition of FM21, the visualisation is available at the end of the campaign for every manager and this seasons highlights the fact that PSG were indeed worthy winners of Ligue 1. The Paris outfit gained two more points than expected when calculating games xG for and xG against.
The biggest overperformers were Marseille, our rivals secured 16 more points than performances merited, does this make them the most clinical side in the league? I am going for the fact that they had lady luck on their side aka Oliver Giroud.
The 35-year-old fired Marseille up the league and contributed to no fewer than 24 league goals and nine assists in 34 appearances. Vavavoom!
Player Awards
A clean sweep for Robson Bambu, who secured both the OGC Nice Fans Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season.
General Performance
Drilling down into our team performance in comparison to the league average it is clear to see that our radar is outperforming the average of the league across all metrics.
The stand out is the expected goals against metric which sits at 0.61, this puts us in the top percentile for the league, Kudos must go to the defensive unit and the training regime which has been implemented with the squad with a focus on match preparation and the likes of defensive shape and teamwork to ensure maximal tactical familiarity is achieved.
Expected Goals
Above is the flow of expected goals for and against across each game week spanning across the season in Ligue 1. You will notice that the blue line (xG for) is dominant across the majority of fixtures, this shows that in only a handful of games OGC Nice has failed to create more opportunities in better scoring positions than the opponent. The brand of football under Magnus is positive and despite our February blip there is no need to make dramatic changes, we just didn’t get the rub of the green.
UEFA Champions League
A successful first season for the side in the UCL, my standout game was the First Knockout Round Second Leg vs Atletico Madrid. After the first leg being tied 1–1 a Joao Felix goal looked like it would be sending the away side through to the next round of the tournament.
Pedro Brazao kept Nice in the game with a goal on the 90th minute before Caglar Soyuncu gifted Blas a chance to score from the spot after the above push on Arezo.
Milan were up next and it is fair to say that we aren’t quite up to the standard of top tier European sides, dominated over both legs in terms of both possession and chances created.
Rafael Leao, what a player! The Portuguese inside forward single-handedly handed our asses to us in the second leg scoring a hat-trick as we were dumped out 5–3 on aggregate.
Blas and Arezo getting on the scoresheet in the San Siro, certainly will be goals they could reminisce in future years.
Squad Analysis
Best XI Goal Contributions
Compared to last season the spread of goal contributions across the team is more evenly spread, OGC Nice were less reliant on Kasper Dolberg’s over the campaign to spearhead the side to success.
The trio of Rony Lopes, Amine Gouiri and new signing Ludovic Blas the supporting cast, I must say that the improved spread of goals and assists was not down to luck as a lot of work went in to tweak the L’Anchois et Les Aigles tactic.
Kudos also must go to youngster Pedro Brazao who in my opinion should have won the Young Player of the Year due to his impact from the bench over the course of the season, the winger scored 10 goals and contributed with three assists in just over 1,500 minutes of football.
Squad Analysis
Diving into our squad analysis you will first note that three players Walter Benitez, Ludovic Blas and Robson Bambu were the go-to players in relation to squad selection as all three players played over 3,500 minutes of football for the club.
Next, I would like to bring your attention to players who fall in the ‘peak’ years of their playing career (24–29). You would expect to see this segment of the team securing the largest amount of minutes yet Youcef Atal, Wylan Cyprien and Kelvin Amian all fall under the average minutes.
On face value this is an indicator to influence your decision as to whether or not the individuals need to be placed on the market or offered to clubs, for Atal we know he is in this position due to missing a chunk of the season due to being called up to the Algeria squad which won the African Cup of Nations.
However, for Wylan Cyprien it is a different story as the Frenchman has Danilo and Hicham Boudaoui in front of him for the CM position and therefore I have taken the opportunity to transfer the Frenchman hoping to secure a plusvalenza on the player.
Transfers
Players in
There are six new faces who will don the colours of OGC Nice in 2022/23, not all have been brought in with the immediate view of representing the first team.
Abdoulaye Dabo (£9m FC Nantes) and Georginio Rutter (£4m Stade Rennais)will need to prove themselves in the reserve team prior to making the step up.
Boubakary Soumare (Lille OSC) and Arthur Zagre (AS Monaco) were both picked up for free after offering them contracts in January when both only had six months left on the deals with their clubs. Soumare will operate as a back-up to Danilo and Boudaoui filling the void of Cyprien.
The pending signing of Zagre allowed Kamara to leave the club for Newcastle in the January window for £9 million and Zagre will provide direct competition for Bard operating as a Left-sided attacking FB.
Bruno Fuchs has been tracked since the first season in charge and with Dante retiring it allowed Nice the opportunity to sign another non-EU player. Fuchs will be competition for Bambu
We broke our transfer record on the signing of Dominik Szoboszlai, paying his £25.5 million pound release clause. He is our marquee signing who we hope will be a success either from the middle of the park or as an inverted-winger.
Come and join me over on Football Manager Slack at #steinkelsson-ogcnice for more of a day to day following of the save or on Twitter where you can find me @steinkelsson
