Matazo showing why he can be a real asset for Hutter’s AS Monaco
Having been on the periphery for the opening months of last season at AS Monaco before being loaned out to Royal Antwerp for the second half of the campaign, Eliot Matazo looks ready to fight for his place with Les Monegasques this time around.
After battling injury and making just six appearances totalling 98 minutes in Ligue 1 for Adi Hutter’s team in the 2023/2024 term, joining the Mark van Bommel managed Royal Antwerp offered him a chance for some crucial playing time.
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“Sometimes the players aren’t 100% satisfied. That is normal in football when you have lots of players for just one or two places. I like him a lot as a player. He is an interesting player who always trains at a high level. It is now my problem because I have lots of players for few positions. We may need to think for the future what to do with Eliot but I want to congratulate him on his attitude on a daily basis,” Hutter insisted at the time.
Featuring 12 times for the Belgian outfit, this enabled him to gain some vital top-flight action and recapture his rhythm to an extent to give him a solid base to return to the Principality to make his case ahead of the new campaign.
If ASM’s recent pre-season friendly with Cercle Bruges was anything to go by, Matazo appears right up for the challenge to impress his manager, for the 22-year-old produced a shift littered with upside.
Unquestionably one of his team’s standout performers in this encounter, the Belgium U21 international hardly put a foot wrong in what was a polished display from his central midfield station.
Looking especially excellent in possession, there was plenty of excitement to be extracted when he had the ball at his feet.
So clean and crisp with his first touch and ball control, this gave him the platform to weave away from opponents, excel in close quarters and protect the ball amid the intense harrying from his adversaries.
Moreover, how he used his strength, low centre of gravity and agility, in combination with his sharp awareness and scanning of his surroundings, to navigate these tight situations was also a highlight.
Once free of attention, it was great to see him embark on some driving dribbles to gain territory for his team and lure out opponents to create space or open passing routes.
Meanwhile, in terms of his passing, Matazo was brilliant at linking play with wonderfully weighted one and two touch passes, as these were hugely effective at breaking the Cercle Bruges press.
How he struck some incisive through balls in behind and hit some penetrative line breaking passes into feet also warranted praise.
In addition, the way he breathed plenty of life into ASM’s forward forays through his movement and relationships with his colleagues was a joy to watch.
Working hard and with intelligence to help provide an option to support attacks, his positioning and alertness to open space saw him constantly get his team up the pitch.
Assisting immensely in forming triangles and diamonds in right and right of centre zones, this was hugely beneficial for ASM to give the ball holder many passing outlets while forming numerical and positional superiorities.
Timing nicely when to move to be a viable option, this was also evidenced when he helped facilitate third man combinations to dismantle Cercle Bruges’ stopping structure.
Coalescing superbly with the likes of Krepin Diatta and Takumi Minamino down the right, his smooth interchanges of position compounded issues for their foes, causing confusion in regards to who to mark who in what specific area.
Matazo also executed switches with Mohamed Camara to add some extra variety and unpredictability to Monaco’s build-up plans.
Matazo notably impacted proceedings with his marauding forward bursts in behind and through his smart edges into the 10 spaces, with his ventures into advanced zones amplifying his menace.
Tenacious, determined and full of intensity, opponents were certainly placed under immense duress with his fierce pressing, assertiveness in the challenge and physicality on the defensive end.
While it remains to be seen if he’ll stay with ASM for the upcoming season, Matazo offered a timely reminder of what he brings to the table in all phases of the game.
His previous comments on the heavy competition for places and how he tackles this made for interesting reading, with it giving a terrific insight into how he approaches this scenario. “I don’t feel any pressure about that. I work every day to have opportunities to play. There are good players in front of me, but when you play for a club of the standard of AS Monaco, it’s normal that there is competition, that the positions are doubled. This competition pushes me to better myself and I am constantly learning from them. I have to seize the opportunities that come my way,” he insisted.
He then added this on the areas he planned on refining, which he’s certainly done offensively especially, stating: “I can still bring more defensively, but especially in the offensive side. I want to have more influence on the team’s game, by projecting myself more, by being more creative. It’s a facet that I haven’t shown much until now, but I’m capable of it, I think in any case I have the qualities to do it.”
Clearly eager to put his best foot forward to impress Hutter and his coaching staff, the ever-improving Matazo undoubtedly proved he can be a fine contributor with his sparkling body of work in this latest friendly.
As the season draws closer, the challenge will be replicating this output in his quest to stake his claim and illustrate why his skill set can be so valuable for Hutter’s Monaco.