Talk of Loic Remy transfer overwhelms Nice-TFC match

By: Dave Trotter | November 22nd, 2009

200902180498_w350 Both Toulouse and Nice, who started the season down near, or in, the relegation zone, are looking to do Auxerre-type climbs to the top this weekend as they take on each other at Stade de Ray in Nice.

And while both teams are getting ready for their match, the talk about winter transfers continue to dominate, especially in the case of Nice striker Loic Remy. Remy has been linked to Arsenal in the last few days, mentioning how he ‘talks’ to Abou Diaby and Bacary Sagna on a regular basis. Still, the highly-sought after striker said that moving in the middle of the season is a hard thing to do and that he has to concentrate on Toulouse today.

Even so, Le Tef can only hope that Remy’s mind will be on a possible transfer this winter instead of today’s game, simply because Toulouse will be without a number of players.

Goaltender Yoann Pele is serving the second match of his suspension, which will give Olivier Blondel another start at goal. Blondel has looked great in goal, especially in the 1-1 draw to Marseille at Stade Velodrome.

The other two players that will be missing for Toulouse are usually keys to their success. Norwegian Daniel Braaten, who usually plays on the right wing, has also been suspended due to excessive yellow cards. The same is the case with up-and-coming superstar Eteinne Capoue, who is out of today’s lineup for the same reason as Braaten.

While Braaten hasn’t always started for Le Tef, the absence of Capoue is going to be a hard pill to swallow. Capoue has shown that he works well at both defending midfielder and the defensive line. His playing style is very similar to Lyon’s Jeremy Toulalan.

With the absence of both of these players, Alain Casanova has had to call up some non-traditional names. Alexander N’Gadi and Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe have been called up for this match.

Even with the absence of these players, there is some good news. Defender Mohamed Fofana has returned from injury and is on today’s team. Still, there hasn’t been any talk on if Fofana will start or not. We will have to wait until game-time on that decision.

Still, here is the line up that I say that Toulouse will start with:

Blondel
Ebondo-Congre-Fofana-M’Bengue
Sirieux – Machado
Tabanou – Sissoko – Didot
Gignac

The key to today’s game for Toulouse today is to stop Loic Remy. While Nice has been able to spread their offense around a bit in the last few games, Remy is still a big part of the scoring. If he isn’t actually scoring the goal, he is assisting on it or helping create the play. This is where being without Etienne Capoue will hurt Toulouse. Without Caopue, a lot more pressure might be put on Moussa Sissoko to fall back and defend. This will take out Toulouse’s main scoring threat so far this year. Therefore, it might be hard for Toulouse to maintain a good balance between defending and attacking.

On the other hand, this is the game where Andre-Pierre Gignac has the chance to shine. If Sissoko has to take a defending role because of the absense of Capoue, then Gignac, who has looked impressive in the last few games, can break through a fairly weak Nice defense. This is where Etienne Didot will be important to the team, by helping Gignac with the push up front.

As far as Nice, they are only missing striker Habib Bamogo, who has been quiet ineffective this season.

Prediction:
Nice wins 2-0. With the lack of Capoue and Mauro Cetto (who is still injured), and not knowing if Fofana is exactly 100%, the Toulouse defense will have its work cut out for them. And if they cannot contain Loic Remy, then Sissoko will have no choice but to play back and help the defense. And, again, this will leave Gignac all by himself up front.

Toulouse is missing too many players from today’s game in order to make a victory possible. But if Olivier Blondel plays like he has the last few matches in relief for suspended Yoann Pele, then Toulouse has a chance.