Luke's Football blog

In recent times, there have been some new and upcoming managers, with Will Still topping the list of the new managers breaking through right now, but one manager who has gone under the radar at the moment is Didier Digard, and I’m here to tell you why he’s going to be the next big thing in coaching.

Digard returned to Nice after he retired from professional football back in 2018, and he first started working as the club’s assistant for the under-17 squad before being appointed manager of their reserve side in 2021. Then, in 2023, he was appointed caretaker manager after Lucien Favre was dismissed following a poor run of form.

His first game was a 6-1 win against Montpellier and from then he has gone unbeaten as coach for Nice as they have raised up the table and are now 5 points from a European place due to his work giving them a change in form, winning 6 out of 8 games in charge at the moment with them recently beating title challengers Monaco and Marseille 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, and he will hopefully want to continue this form and push Nice up the table and possibly get them a European place.

Didier sets up his team in a 3-5-2 formation, which allows him to play attacking full backs and has three in midfield to steady the balance while the two strikers get up the field and score goals. He likes his team to have a lot of possession, which is one of the reasons why he has worked well with his team, as it’s built on controlling possession, which allows his philosophy to work.

This is what the set up looked like in his recent win against Monaco, where you can see the use of the attacking full backs and the three in midfield, which is important to his team and allows him to play on the front foot.

One thing he has done during his tenure so far is improve players for example Khéphren Thuram. Thuram is one of the next best French talents to breakthrough, but under Favre he wasn’t in great form and was putting in below-par performances, but under Digard he has improved massively and is one of the most important players in his squad as he makes the team tick with his energy in the middle of the park, which was lacking under Favre.

His win rate is currently at 75%, which is honestly so good, especially for a manager who’s currently managing his first professional team. He’s taking them to new heights and will hopefully want to keep it up and get them a European place by the end of the season.

If he can bring this Nice side to Europe after their poor run, he will surely get the job on a permanent basis, or he could have a lot of suitors after his magnificent run. One thing is for sure, he has a good future in coaching ahead of him.