Elye Wahi's Hat-Trick Leads OGC Nice to 5-1 Victory Over Rennes

Franck Haise’s return to the Allianz Riviera was supposed to be a reunion. It turned into an autopsy.

His Rennes side were ripped open by an unforgiving OGC Nice, Olivier Pantaloni’s team dismantling them with a 5-1 win that exposed, once again, all of Rennes’ travelling frailties in Ligue 1.

Elye Wahi walked away with the match ball and the headlines. The Nice centre-forward hit a ruthless hat-trick, twice from the spot in a chaotic first half, as Rennes completely lost their bearings without the injured Brice Samba behind them.

Wahi runs riot, Rennes unravel

Nice smelled weakness early and went straight for it. Rennes, already scarred by four-goal concessions at Lyon and Paris FC this season, never looked settled. The back line hesitated, the midfield failed to screen, and Wahi thrived in the gaps.

Two penalties in the opening 45 minutes told the story. Both times, Rennes cracked under pressure. Both times, Wahi stepped up and finished with icy precision. Each successful kick drove the knife a little deeper into a defence that has forgotten how to suffer together.

Jonathan Clauss joined the party, finding the net as Nice swarmed all over a disjointed Rennes side. Mohamed Amoura added his name to the scoresheet too, turning a convincing performance into a statement one. By the time the whistle went for half-time, Rennes trailed 3-1 and were clinging to the fixture by their fingertips.

Haise saw enough.

“At half-time, I took off two players – Przemysław Frankowski and Adrien Thomasson – but I could have taken off eight. Who was really on form in the first half? Hardly anyone,” he admitted afterwards, his words as sharp as any Nice counter-attack.

Discipline gone, doubts growing

The numbers are brutal. Thirteen goals conceded in their last three away league games. Different systems, different personnel, same collapse.

“We've conceded 13 goals in our last three away matches, changing our system, sometimes even changing players… But not changing our discipline or our attitude in certain duels,” Haise lamented, pointing straight at the core of the problem: a team that switches shape but not mentality.

He highlighted a lack of cohesion out of possession and bemoaned basic defensive mistakes. The evidence backed him up. Rennes’ back line moved in fragments, not as a unit, repeatedly caught between pressing and retreating. Nice did not need a second invitation.

Without Samba, the leadership void at the back felt glaring. The France international’s absence cannot fully explain the collapse, but on nights like this, his authority was sorely missed.

Olympiacos looming

There is no time for self-pity. Rennes now turn around to host Olympiacos on Wednesday in Matchday 4 of the UEFA Europa League, carrying the scars of another heavy away defeat.

Haise has changed systems. He has changed players. What he has not yet managed to change is the recurring pattern of defensive surrender on the road.

That, more than any tactical tweak, will decide whether this Rennes side can steady themselves or whether nights like Nice become their defining story.