Girard irritated by inefficient Lille

Exasperated Lille coach Rene Girard has said that he wants his team of "warriors" back after Les Dogues suffered a third Ligue 1 defeat of the new year courtesy of Nice. A solitary goal from former Lille midfielder Mathieu Bodmer earned Nice a 1-0 victory and a fourth straight home win for Claude Puel's men. It was, however, a third loss in five games for the visitors, and Girard is demanding his players return to winning ways before they lose their grip on third place. He told his club's official website: "What is most annoying is how inefficient we were. That sums up the game, one against a Nice team that were there for the taking and looking vulnerable. "They may have scored a goal but they never really threatened us. There really is no explanation for this bad run. We will get back to work and return to being the warriors we were back in 2013." Twelfth-placed Nice took four points from their three games in January, drawing at Rennes before beating Ajaccio and losing at Montpellier. Victory at Valenciennes next weekend could see the south-coast club breach the top half of the table and defender Romain Genevois is relieved to know his team-mates can compete with the big boys. "We were pretty pleased with our form in January, but disappointed with how we ended the month in Montpellier," he told ogcnice.com. "We needed to do better in a tougher match and we proved we can cope with when faced with a stronger team. "Lille are not as good as they used to be but they are still doing well. Our opponents saw more of the ball in the second half but they didn't manage to hurt us - we held out. Overall, it was a balanced game that tipped in our favour." Source: FIFA.com