Hello all. I’m Casey Evans and this is Played on Paper, a pay-to-read football newsletter written by yours truly. If you’re reading this, you’ve either received it in your inbox, had it shared with you or you’ve come across it on social media.
If you fall into either of the latter categories and want to subscribe you can do so with the following handy link:
While this newsletter provides some free content, it also has a paid tier, which helps me continue writing this and gives you access to all the posts on Played on Paper.
Now that’s all out of the way, let’s get into it….
After months of deliberation, it seems like Sir Jim Ratcliffe has finally won the ownership race for Manchester United (if you can call owning 25% winning).
Of course with this news, fans have begun to question whether his credentials are up to scratch. Some through a seemingly fanatically devotion to the Qatar bid, but others through a genuine desire to see United do well.
And luckily with SJR, fans have his other projects to take a look at.
Last January I wrote about SJR’s time on the south coast of France in OGC Nice's Ratcliffe Renaissance - How has it gone? which you can read with the link provided.
The conclusion was that though SJR had invested a lot; his strategy wasn’t the greatest and had hampered results. This came to a head last season with a catastrophic transfer window followed by a disastrous campaign.
However there was a light at the end of the tunnel. SJR and his ever-present number 2 Sir Dave Brailsford took a step back and appointed former Len’s mastermind Florent Ghisolfi as Sporting Director.
So how are Nice doing this season? Well that’s what we are going to take a look at in this weeks Played on Paper, both for the curious United fans and also because their progress this season deserves to be talked about.
Let’s start with the stuff a 5 minute spell on Google could tell you.
Nice are currently second in Ligue 1 behind AS Monaco but ahead of Paris Saint Germain who sit in third. However it should be noted that Nice are unbeaten, winning and drawing four in their opening eight games.
Those eight games include wins against Monaco (1-0) and PSG (3-2).
They are among the lowest scorers in the competition so far with only nine goals in eight games, but they have far and away the best defence, only conceding four goals.
Obviously, it is too early in the season to be making any assumptions for how the table will look at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, but it’s a much better start for Nice than in previous seasons and the style of football they’re playing (while not providing a boatload of goals) is impressive to watch.
And that is down to one man.
When I wrote my article on Nice back in January, they had just parted ways with Lucien Favre and had appointed Didier Digard in the interim position.
Favre was never really the right fit for this young Nice team, therefore the next appointment the French club made needed to be the right one, before the key pieces of the side began to be stripped away by other clubs.
Enter Francesco Farioli.
Farioli is a relatively new manager on the scene however he has garnered an exciting reputation quickly. Coaching initially under Roberto de Zerbi at Sassuolo, the 34-year-old moved to Turkey where he had his first taste of being a head coach with Fatih Karagümrük1 and Alanyaspor.
His time in Turkey drew the attention of a number of teams in Europe; especially those who had projects centred around young players that they were hoping could develop and grow under the fledgling manager like Sunderland and Braga.
Nice won the race and seem instantly better for it.
You can see a lot of the qualities in Farioli’s style of play which also shine through in De Zerbi’s Brighton team. His team’s are very adventurous on the ball and invite the opposition to put pressure on them in order to exploit the space they leave.
The major tweaks from his mentor’s style come in how his side sets up off the ball. One complaint levelled at De Zerbi is how when his football doesn’t work, Brighton can get turned over easily.
Farioli’s sides are adept at defending in a high, mid and low block and can adapt between them depending on the situation, game-state or opponent. This has obviously contributed to Nice’s defensive form this season.
But while Farioli is impressive, not everything can just be attributed to the manager. He has a good squad to implement his ideas.
Ghisolfi is a fantastic Sporting Director but you can not attribute the quality of this current Nice side to him as most of the leg work was done before he arrived2.
Last season’s window was a disaster, with Nice signing the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and Joe Bryan but this is more an exception to the rule than an indictment of their business as a whole.
Since Ratcliffe took over, the likes of Martin Bulka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Melvin bard, Khephen Thuram and Hicham Boudaoui have come through the door and they are all key parts of this current Nice side.
They have also bought and sold the likes of Amine Gouiri and Mario Lemina for profit in this time as well.
Bulka has been excellent this season. The 24 year old has been a key part of Nice’s low goals against tally this campaign with a number of standout performances.
But not all the praise can go to the goalkeeper, Todibo has taken another step up this season and is quickly establishing himself has one of the best ball-playing centre-backs in world football.
Todibo’s form can be directly correlated with the increase in responsibility he is given in Farioli’s system both in and out of possession. He constantly has to take up good positions to give his teammates a passing option if they can not go forward.
And I have run out of words to describe how good Thuram actually is and the fact he is still at Nice and not playing Champions League football is baffling to me.
The one thing that Nice are clearly lacking is a top level creator. Jeremie Boga was brought in from Atalanta this summer but he has not really hit the ground running and the same can be said for Sofiane Diop.
So what does the future look like for Nice?
While their defensive form is impressive, I don’t think that there are enough goals in this side for them to go all the way this season and they could fall away once things start to click at the Parc de Princes.
However in the long term, this season already looks like a massive step forward for Les Aiglons after their stumble last season.
Farioli has a two year contract, but I expect that to be extended expeditiously after his good start to the season and the potential for the sharks to begin to circle if they leave it too long.
And Ghisolfi will hopefully be able to manage the project behind the scenes to continue to improve the team and replace the players who will inevitably be snapped up by bigger teams outside of France.
The big question mark over Nice however, is how SJR’s involvement with United will affect their progress. Will the Ineos businessman prioritise his boyhood club and leave Nice feeling sidelined, or will he find a way to strike a balance.
Todibo and Thuram are two key pillars of this Nice squad and they have been heavily linked with a move to United. But a transfer of assets could be only scratching the surface if SJR’s attention and resources are fully diverted to the north of England.
Only time will tell in that regard, but Nice fans have been quick to voice their displeasure with the ownership in the past and I’m sure if the team start to become marginalised due to SJR’s latest investment, they will make their feelings known.
And for United fans looking for positives ahead of a potential new era at Old Trafford, SJR’s spell at Nice has had positives and negatives, but it has also been a learning curve that now looks to be going in the right direction.
At the time of his signing, he was the youngest manager of a club in a European top league at 31 years old.
Terem Moffi however is an excellent addition to lead the line for Nice.