They missed Champions League spot by two points
Nancy was on the verge of historical success, as just a home win in the last round of Ligue 1 stayed between them and a Champions league spot. But when everyone expected them to succeed, they lost the game to Rennais, and finished fourth, qualifying for the Uefa Cup. In the first part of the season Nancy surprised everyone with great performances, and they were the only team who could keep up with Lyon. At the end of the year 2007, the team suffered a bad run of results, and went on nine games without winning. The situation got worse as Zerka, Hadji and Chretien went to play in the African Nations Cup in January. During that time, the team lost to fifth tier amateurs in the French Cup. But colourful coach Pablo Correa used the result to his advantage as he inspired the team to repeat the performances from the first part of the season. And if it hadn't been for the defeat in the last round, the team would be competing in the Champions league this year. But the Uefa Cup place is more than Nancy players would have hoped for before the season.
Nancy kept almost all the stars
After an excellent last season in Ligue 1, the main task of Pablo Correa was to keep the team together. And except Sebastien Puygrenier, great defender who signed for Zenit, all the other key players stayed in the team. Nancy signed a lot of defenders to compensate for Puygrenier. Abdeslam Ouaddou returned to the club after seven years, and he is maybe the biggest signing of this transfer window for the club. Another central defender, Sami signed from Amiens, and two side defenders Calve and Helder also joined the club. Attacking midfielder Ferret arrived from Reims and after great four years in the second division, he will be looking to succeed at the highest level. Apart from Puygrenier, of the players that left the club only Sauget had been part of the starting eleven last season. The team signed so many defensive players as big clubs have shown interest in Michael Chretien, and he may be allowed to leave. The team will expect best performances from the attacking players Hadji, Zerka and Issiar Dia, and hope that with the help of other players that will be enough for good result come end of the season.
In
Jean Calvé (Le Mans)
Julien Féret (Reims)
AbdeslamOuaddou (Valenciennes)
Helder (Juventude)
Joel Sami (Amiens)
Thomas Gaudu (returned from loan at Entente)
Out
Kim (Al Arabi Doha, QAT)
Puygrenier (Zenith, RUS)
David Sauget (Saint-Etienne)
Ludovic Guerriero (Ajaccio)
Adrian Sarkisian (released)
Yamoudou Camara (released)
Damien Mozika (Louhans-Cuiseaux)
Dosunmu (GB Anvers)
Rachid Hamdani (Clermont)
Nancy expects top table finish
The team played great football last season and will certainly hope to repeat it. This will be much tougher as Nancy will play in the Uefa Cup, and that will tire the players even more and make things difficult in the league. Their best defender Puygrenier did leave the club but good replacements arrived and he will not be missed. The club did a good job by holding onto its best players, and that will help a lot in their league campaign. Maybe the biggest strength of the team is their coach Pablo Correa, who is a great motivator, and a real enthusiast. It will be really hard repeating last season performance, even though the team is more or less the same strength. I think Nancy will be satisfied with top table finish, even if they do not qualify for European competitions through league. Because some of the teams that finished behind Nancy are stronger this year, I think Nancy will finish in the middle of the table.
Our tip: Mid table finish for Nancy
Odds
Bookmaker: Bet365
CL
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UEFA
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