Nice coach Lucien Favre has said he struggled to understand Mario Balotelli's red card against Lorient and is backing the striker to deliver more than just goals this season.
Balotelli, 26, struck a fifth Ligue 1 goal in three outings with a spectacular winner four minutes from time in the 2-1 victory on Sunday to take his club back to the top of the table.
The deadline day arrival from Liverpool was then harshly booked for a second time late on, but Favre told Nice's official website: "Honestly, from the dugout, I did not understand at all what happened.
"It seems Mario did nothing, no bad gesture. I only saw it again on a small screen. I'll have to look at it calmly and see what happened, if something did happen."
Favre warned Balotelli his demands on him will soon increase but for now his impressive goals return is enough.
"Mario has an incredible ability. He's good with his right foot, and his head," he said. "There's work to do with his left. You have to be blind not to see that he's very good in front of goal. He has a very good attitude towards his teammates and all the staff.
"He's healthy in his concentration and how he helps the whole team. He does overtime in training, working in front of goal. For the moment, we're taking advantage of his finishing skills. The more we go into the season, the more we'll be demanding of him about his runs, his tracking back.
"It's a very long process. He wants to get back to the very, very top level. We'll get there step-by-step. If we ask too much all at once, it won't work. We'll get there progressively."
Balotelli was sent off by referee Olivier Thual after a minor clash with Lorient full-back Steven Moreira.
Balotelli initially appeared to move his head towards Moreira, who was also booked for the incident, but then turned away and did not appear to make contact with his opponent.
That Balotelli was still on the pitch into added time was something of a surprise as he had been substituted at the interval of Nice's 5-2 Europa League defeat to Krasnodar on Thursday -- a game in which he also scored -- suffering from a cough and sore throat.
"Absolutely not, I don't see why. We know that he can score incredible goals at any moment," Favre said when asked whether he had considered replacing the forward during the game at the Allianz Riviera.
"Overall, it's true that we struggled to find him. At the break, I asked him to make more runs through the middle, which he did better after that. In terms of Mario's goal tally, we're all very happy."