“Some players are lacking in confidence. It can be seen”, declared Patrick Vieira after the two points dropped against Angers on Tuesday evening at the Allianz Riviera.

The Nice coach was in part referring to Mario Balotelli, who is searching for his first goal of the season: “It can be seen in his control. To get him going? He needs to continue working, quite simply. He is doubting, you can see that with the chance where he didn’t control it well.

With the “Super Mario” chant was ringing out once more from the Populaire Sud in the first half, Patrick Vieira insisted upon the importance of supporting the Italian: “Everyone needs to support him, the club, the players, the supporters. We all need to get behind him, to put him in situations in training that will help to boost his confidence and he needs to put in the effort to be there for the team. The whole squad needs to help him, it’s then that we will see the strength of the squad. We will help him to get through this tough moment . He just needs one goal. He is an important player for us.”

Friday will see the derby against Monaco, the opponent that he has scored most goals against in Ligue 1 (6 goals): “A goal against Guingamp or Angers would have been just as important. He would be happy to score against any team” repeated his coach. “The match against Monaco arrives quickly, now I won’t focus on Mario’s situation, because the attacking problem is a team one, other players were also involved in the attacking phases. We were asking for too much of the ball into feet. We didn’t attack the space enough.”

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