Goalkeeper Marcin Bulka has hinted towards a dressing room crisis at Nice, one of the clubs owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe, now a co-owner of Manchester United and in control of the Premier League giants’ football operations, purchased the French side in 2019 through his petrochemicals conglomerate, INEOS. Nice have had a turbulent time under Ratcliffe and co’s regime, but this season started superbly and for a period looked set to challenge Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.
But a nightmare run of just one win from eight games has left them fifth in the table, three points adrift of the Champions League places. Bulka, who’s been one of Nice’s better players during their dire run, spoke out following Saturday’s 2-1 loss at home to relegation-battling Nantes and pointed the finger at his team-mates.
“I don’t understand some attitudes in the team,” the 24-year-old ex-Chelsea prospect is quoted as telling reporters post-match. “We’ll speak about it in the dressing room, not in front of the camera.”
Bulka, who’s impressive form has seen him linked with a big-money move to United, then went on to say: “I don’t know if it is collective; I’d say it’s about individuals. Everyone needs to look themselves in the eyes and ask themselves if they are showing desire. Today, for me, some of them showed that they didn’t have that desire.”
The Poland international’s comments were echoed by striker Evann Guessand, who told Prime Video Sport: “It’s true that something isn’t working. We’re not getting the results that we want.”
Francesco Farioli, 34, was appointed Nice’s new manager by INEOS last summer and after a fantastic start to life in the south of France, he and his team have suffered a fall from grace. Club captain Dante was asked on Saturday whether the dressing room is “still listening” to Farioli, to which the Brazilian defender replied: “Yes. Your question is very frank, and my response is too. I think it is too easy to have a go at the coach.”
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Farioli himself labelled Nice’s start to the game against Nantes their “worst” of the season and bemoaned his players’ attitude. “In the first half, we were almost unrecognisable,” the Italian claimed.
“Results aside, this team has always shown character and desire. But in that first half, we didn’t win a single duel, we didn’t make a single pass with the desire to get a result. It was a very bad first half. In the second half, we had more desire, but we still lacked precision and clarity in our passing.”
When asked about Bulka’s comments, Farioli responded: “My answer is always the same. We win and lose with eleven men, plus the substitutes and the coach. There wasn’t much to take away from the start of the first half, there wasn’t much in the way of substance. That’s down to individual and collective situations. They go together and I think they’re inseparable.”