Preview: AS Monaco fully focused for key contest with Montpellier

Having just been knocked out of the Coupe de France against Reims, AS Monaco are ready to bounce back in style when they take on Montpellier at the Stade de la Mosson.
Fully motivated and determined to secure the victory, manager Adi Hutter’s comments at the pre-match press conference gave a keen insight into he and his team’s mindset during this challenging period.
Current form
Having not won in Ligue 1 since December 7 against Toulouse, the focus is firmly on ending this streak this weekend, as Hutter’s thoughts on their run was intelligent and measured as always.
“We have explanations in this more difficult situation, even if it can sometimes be seen as excuses. It can happen in a season, it is the case at the moment. When we look at the last match, we were unlucky in a few situations without the VAR, but we had 90 minutes to win the match. It is then difficult to explain what happened during the penalty shootout, it is not easy to accept,” he explained.

“We have recently conceded a lot of draws and narrow defeats. Sometimes it is better to receive a big blow to the back of the head by perhaps taking a 4-0 loss, instead of accumulating draws. It is, for example, better to lose once to bounce back better and win. We have to get back up and win tomorrow, we know that. Montpellier is also in a difficult situation. But to return to the question, we have no excuses, only explanations. You can call it a crisis if you want, I have already said that we are in a difficult situation. But I have never used this word because crisis has nothing to do with sport in my opinion. Of course, we are not satisfied and we know that we have to do better. I know that we are capable of that.”
Way forward
Upon being asked how his team can get out of this rut, the experienced manager’s response reiterated the importance of working collectively and staying united in overcoming their slump.
“We will get there together. As a coach, I think that everyone at the club can help us. The experienced players can do it on the pitch, but it is also up to me to find solutions off it. We are not in the best situation on the pitch, but we have to stay positive, communicate positively and believe in ourselves and our style of play. It is nonsense to talk about bad things all the time,” insisted the 54-year-old.

“We want to get out of this quickly, that’s clear. This is not the first time I’ve been in difficulty, my experience tells me that we have to stay positive. Now we have to get a victory. In this situation, it’s not easy to win because each match is more difficult than when we have a string of good results. We have to fight against this less favourable series, and a victory could help us. We can’t compare these two seasons. Firstly, a lot of players left the club in the summer and we didn’t have any international competitions, so we had the opportunity to train all week to prepare for the weekend game. Now we travel more and there are fewer opportunities to train. That makes the situation a bit more difficult, so we can’t compare them.”
Ben Seghir and Akliouche
The slight dip in form of exceptionally talented duo Eliesse Ben Seghir and Maghnes Akliouche was then touched on by Hutter.
“There is a reason that can explain Maghnes Akliouche’s recent difficulties. When you look at his physical data and the way he has progressed over the last year and a half, it’s fantastic. He didn’t have a big break this summer with the Olympic Games, I repeat it a lot. It’s normal that he’s more tired, we have to protect him. Maghnes is a great key player, it’s his second season, he had a good year last year,” Hutter said.

“Like Eliesse, he has the ability to play almost every game, but we have to protect them, they are young players. I don’t remember any bad games from him. I talk to them all the time. Maghnes trained with us yesterday, we see that he is able to play tomorrow. I’m happy about that. We can think that these young players are key players in every game, but they also need the help of experienced players. In any case, we are proud of them.
“I took him (Ben Seghir) off at half-time in Reims because I wasn’t happy with his performance, he was falling back too much and not making the best decisions. It can happen, he’s only 19. He’s already given us some fantastic moments since August, this is his first real season. Sometimes you have to accept certain games when he is less good, that’s why I replaced him. We have to help him, analyse with him and show certain situations that he could have done better. Eliesse is a player who wants to help the team and be decisive. In the period we are in, it is perhaps sometimes better to play in a simpler way.”

Selection insights
With some crucial selection questions to tackle, it was interesting to hear Hutter state Radoslaw Majecki will be back starting in goal and that there’s a possibility he could deploy new signing Mika Biereth with Breel Embolo up front.
“I think they can play together. Breel Embolo has played every game, Mika Biereth has just had a month without playing. For his first appearance with AS Monaco, he had a good game and was decisive on the equaliser. It is promising for the future. We will see if they will both be aligned tomorrow,” he told the media in attendance.

“In my opinion, it would be more worrying if we didn’t create chances. That’s not the case, we often have the chance to score. In the last five Ligue 1 games, Breel has scored three times. For him, it’s frustrating to miss certain situations like his header in the last second in the Coupe de France. For several weeks, we should have scored more, it’s a problem, but that’s football. Folarin Balogun, for example, managed to score three games in a row after breaking his goal drought. You always have to believe in him.”
Montpellier awaits
Driven to return to winning ways, expect Monaco to come out firing on all cylinders for the Montpellier match, in a clash that will also serve as a terrific precursor to their crunch Champions League fixture with Aston Villa on Tuesday.
