Rangers succeeded in winning an important game against OGC Nice in the UEFA Europa League matchday five when both teams met at the Allianz Riviera stadium in France, where things did not go well for the hosts.
Following an inconsistent start in the competition with a win against Malmö, followed by a heavy loss against Olympique Lyon, Rangers bounced back with a 4-0 win against FCSB and an away draw against Olympiacos before beating Nice.
After this encounter, Rangers will have to face Tottenham Hotspur before meeting Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Finally, Rangers will end their group stage journey with a match against Union Saint-Gilloise.
With 10 points, three wins, one draw, and one loss so far, Rangers are currently holding the eighth position — a spot that would qualify automatically for the knockout phase.
Their mission, however, does not look easy.
They will have to resist two powerful teams, Man United and Tottenham, which are striving to perform better following their recent disappointing results.
On the other hand, Nice have been struggling to achieve positive results in the UEFA Europa League.
They started their European journey with a draw against Real Sociedad, followed by a heavy 4-1 away loss against Lazio.
Then, Nice lost to Ferencváros in a game that they could have won, which would have kept their chances of qualifying for the knockout phase alive.
The team’s struggles continued.
They were unable to beat Twente in matchday four before facing Rangers, and losing made things worse for the French team.
As things stand, Nice are quite distant from advancing, as they currently hold the 35th position with two points.
Nevertheless, the standings can change quickly in their favour if they can win points in the upcoming fixtures.
They are only three points away from the 24th spot, which qualifies its holder for the playoffs.
That being said, Nice will have to beat Union Saint-Gilloise, which is holding the 24th position, and get the highest number of points against both IF Elfsborg and FK Bodø/Glimt to keep their qualifying chances alive.
In this Europa tactical analysis of the game between Nice and Rangers, we will focus on Nice’s defensive and attacking issues, address their errors in this match, and provide possible solutions to avoid them in the upcoming games.
At the same time, the analysis will illuminate the Rangers’ performance and tactics, highlighting what they can build on to improve even further in the near future.
OGC Nice Vs Rangers Lineups & Formations
With some remarkable absences of names like Ali Abdi, Jonathan Clauss, Antoine Mendy, Morgan Sanson, Terem Moffi, Evann Guessand, and Victor Orakpo, and the unreadiness of two other important players like Dante and Jérémie Boga, who were not fit enough to participate in the match, the head coach Franck Haise had to fasten Issiaga Camara’s second match of his career on the European stage and use both Yaël Nandjou and Iliesse Salhi, who made their professional debuts in this game.
Moreover, the two suspensions of Moïse Bombito and Sofiane Diop made things even more complicated for Franck Haise, who had to adapt to this huge number of absences and use a brand-new lineup according to the 3-4-1-2 formation.
Furthermore, the injury crisis worsened with an additional injury that occurred within the first 15 minutes.
Youssouf Ndayishimiye was injured at the start of the game and had to be subbed by Yaël Nandjou.
The team started the match with Marcin Bułka as a goalkeeper, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Pablo Rosario, and Mohamed Abdelmonem as centre-backs, Hicham Boudaoui and Issiaga Camara as central midfielders, Melvin Bard and Tom Louchet as wing-backs, and Badredine Bouanani playing as an advanced playmaker just behind the two strikers, Youssoufa Moukoko and Gaëtan Laborde.
On the other hand, Rangers were able to opt for consistency in terms of line-ups as their head coach, Philippe Clement, kept almost the same lineup as the team that started the Scottish Premiership match against Dundee United.
With just a single change concerning the striker Hamza Igamane, who started against Nice instead of Cyriel Dessers, the team started the match according to the usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Jack Butland as a goalkeeper, Dujon Sterling, John Souttar, Robin Pröpper, and Jefté in defence, Connor Barron and Nicolas Raskin as central midfielders, Nedim Bajrami and Václav Černý as wingers, and Mohamed Diomande as an advanced playmaker just behind the striker, Igamane.
OGC Nice Vs Rangers Lineups
Nice’s Performance: Errors And Possible Improvements
Nice started the match with a positive mentality.
They were even close to scoring their first goal in the fourth minute following a solo effort from Badredine Bouanani, who exploited a poor clearance of Rangers’ defence and surprised Butland with a powerful, curved shot that went inches away from the net.
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