With OGC Nice having reached the midway point of the season with a 2-0 win over Lens on Wednesday night, it’s time for us to take stock. Whether it’s their position in the league table, their points tally, their defensive record or their goalscorers, here are the most important things to take away from the first half of Les Aiglons’ campaign. 

LE GYM IN SECOND 

Les Rouge et Noir will spend the festive period hot on the heels of Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the Ligue 1 table. Currently second with 35 points on the board, Francesco Farioli’s players have racked up the club’s second-highest points total at the halfway stage of a season since the turn of the century, with the class of 2023–24 beaten only by that of 2016–17, who had notched up 44 points by the end of the calendar year, albeit with two more matches played, as the French top flight switched from having 20 clubs to having 18 clubs at the start of the current season. At the time, Lucien Favre’s side were picking up an average of 2.3 points per game, while Farioli’s men are currently registering 2.03 points per game on average.

At the midway point in the season, Dante and co. sit five points behind leaders Paris but two points ahead of third-placed AS Monaco.

Having been unbeaten since a 1-0 loss away to Nantes on 2nd December, Les Aiglons end the first half of the campaign with ten wins to their name, as well as five draws and two defeats.

A WATERTIGHT DEFENCE 

Having featured among the league’s top two defences in the last two seasons, Le Gym have again reached the winter break with the most solid backline in the French top flight. Les Aiglons have conceded just nine goals in 17 games, i.e. five fewer than Lille and Paris, their closest competitors in this respect, while Marcin Bułka and co. have also managed to keep 11 clean sheets – currently the most of any team in Ligue 1 – including eight in a row between Matchday 6 and Matchday 13.

Going forward, Les Rouge et Noir have scored 19 goals via seven different goalscorers, with one of them being Tom Louchet, who opened his professional account by reducing the deficit in the 3-1 defeat away to Le Havre on Matchday 16.

MOFFI CURRENTLY THE TOP SCORER... 

After bagging a match-winning brace against Lens on Wednesday night, Terem Moffi signed off for 2023 in style. In fact, with six goals in 16 games, the Nigeria international is Les Niçois’ top scorer so far this season. The Super Eagle netted for the first time in the 2-0 win over Strasbourg on 3rd September, before blowing away the Parc des Princes with a magnificent pair of goals in the very next game, namely a 3-2 win away to Paris. The striker again found the back of the net in the 1-0 win at home to Toulouse in late November, before bringing the Allianz Riviera crowd to its feet once more against Les Sang et Or on Wednesday evening.

 

His two strike partners, Gaëtan Laborde and Jérémie Boga, follow closely behind him with three goals scored each. Incidentally, the former scored Nice’s first goal of the season in their first game of the season – a 1-1 draw at home to Lille on 11th August – while each of Boga’s goals have led to a win for Les Aiglons: 1-0 v. Monaco on Matchday 6, 2-0 v. Rennes on Matchday 11 and 2-1 v. Reims on Matchday 15.

Nice’s top goalscorers so far this season: 

Terem Moffi (6 goals)

Gaëtan Laborde, Jérémie Boga (3 goals)

Evann Guessand, Hicham Boudaoui (2 goals)

Youcef Atal, Tom Louchet (1 goal)

...and the joint top assist provider 

With two assists under his belt, the Nice marksman also finds himself at the top of the charts among Le Gym’s assist providers in 2023–24, sharing top spot with Jérémie Boga, who, himself, provided a magnificent pass for his attacking teammate against Lens. The Ivory Coast international also proved key in the 1-0 derby win over Olympique de Marseille on Matchday 9, delivering a lovely free kick onto the head of Evann Guessand, while Moffi has set up two goals for Gaëtan Laborde, against Lille and Paris respectively.

Nice’s top assist providers so far this season: 

Terem Moffi, Jérémie Boga (2 assists)

Melvin Bard, Jean-Clair Todibo, Dante, Gaëtan Laborde, Morgan Sanson (1 assist)

THE UNMOVABLE DANTE

As we reach the halfway point in the campaign, Francesco Farioli has called upon 23 players so far, with only two of them having featured in the entirety of Le Gym’s 17 games and 1,350 minutes of football since August: Marcin Bułka and Dante, who is incidentally Les Aiglons’ only outfield player to achieve this feat. The Rouge et Noir captain is even on a run of 25 straight games in which he has played the full 90 minutes in all competitions, a streak straddling the end of last season and the start of the current one.

Nice’s third-highest appearance maker in 2023–24 is currently Melvin Bard, with the left-back having started every fixture so far and earned himself a total of 1,422 minutes of game time in the process. Jean-Clair Todibo (1,229 minutes played) and summer signing Morgan Sanson (1,227 minutes played) complete the top five in this respect.

the aiglon of les AIGLONS: MARCIN BUŁKA

Having been crowned as the Aiglon of the Month in both August and September, Marcin Bułka is currently the only Nice player to have won the award twice this season. Le Gym’s first-choice keeper was also recognised at national level when he received the UNFP’s Ligue 1 Player of the Month award in September.

Starting with an exceptional performance in the 1-0 win away to Monaco on Matchday 6 by saving two Folarin Balogun penalties, Bułka kept a series of clean sheets in between the 3-2 win away to PSG on 15th September (Matchday 5) and the 1-0 defeat away to Nantes on 2nd December (Matchday 14). In doing so, the Polish shot-stopper went 747 minutes without a conceding a goal before letting one past him at La Beaujoire – the longest such streak in the 2023–24 Ligue 1 season so far.

After the Nice fans voted him as their Aiglon of the Month in October, Jean-Clair Todibo was among the three finalists for the UNFP’s equivalent award last month, while November saw Melvin Bard pick up his first-ever Aiglon of the Month title since joining the club.

three AIGLONS IN L'ÉQUIPE’s “first half of the season” XI

That’s right – three Aiglons feature in French sports daily L’Équipe’s team of the first half of the Ligue 1 season: Jean-Clair Todibo, Dante and Melvin Bard. 

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Hugo Rondet