Preview: Pocognoli speaks ahead of AS Monaco’s huge Coupe de France clash with Strasbourg

AS Monaco head into Thursday’s Coupe de France Round of 16 clash with Strasbourg brimming with confidence. A hard-fought 0-0 draw at Juventus, followed by a commanding 4-0 win over Stade Rennais, has lifted spirits in the camp. Manager Sébastien Pocognoli outlined his ambitions for the tie while also addressing a range of other topics.

Squad news

The coach started by giving an update on squad availability ahead of this fixture, explaining: “Kassoum (Ouattara) has a calf injury and will unfortunately be out for several weeks. Ansu (Fati) will also be absent tomorrow after taking a knock to his calf in the last match; we hope for a quick return. Wout (Faes) and Christian (Mawissa) were present at training. It’s still too soon for them to be in the squad against Strasbourg, but they are on the road to recovery. We expect Wout to be quickly reintegrated into the squad after his sprain, while we are taking precautionary measures for Christian, who has already suffered several hamstring injuries. We will do everything we can to ensure he makes a full recovery.”

French Cup aims

With the Coupe de France offering ASM a legitimate chance of clinching a piece of silverware this season, Pocognoli spoke on the importance of this competition for his team.

“The Coupe de France is just as much of a goal as qualifying for the Champions League playoffs or getting back into contention for European places in the league. For me, the most important thing is to be competitive on all three fronts and perform at our best. In the Cup, we know how many matches we have left to go all the way and secure a European spot,” he insisted.

“If we win tomorrow, we’ll already be in the quarterfinals, so things can move very quickly. The draw has given us an away match in Strasbourg, against a team also fighting for a European spot. It will be a high-level match, and we’ll need to replicate our recent strong performances to have any hope of qualifying. Tomorrow will be another day. If we show the same mentality we displayed in the Champions League and against Rennes on Saturday, we’ll have a team capable of going far in this competition. So I think it’s more about the team’s mentality than the specific moment in time.”

Strasbourg

Next up were Pocognoli’s thoughts on the challenge Strasbourg will pose, and he provided some keen insights into this encounter and what the keys to success will be.

“There are many people I know who played for the same clubs as me in England. Liam Rosenior, who has since moved to Chelsea, was one of my teammates at Brighton in 2016-2017, for example. Racing is an ambitious club, they invested heavily this summer, and they’ve been working well for the last two years. The Cup has been announced as a major objective by the new coach. So I expect them to go all out for this ambition, and they’ll do everything they can to achieve it,” the 38-year-old stated.

“It’s a cup match, so it will have a different feel because there could be a penalty shootout after 90 minutes. We’ll need to be solid, play as a team, have great cohesion and have the same tactical discipline as in recent matches. From there, we can start to see qualification, but we can’t afford to lower our expectations by even 1%, as I said after the Rennes game. The morale is certainly good after a victory, especially since we’d been waiting for it for a long time. This win capped off a great week with qualification for the Champions League playoffs. However, we quickly came back down to earth because there’s a busy February ahead with some great matches in all three competitions.”

Adingra’s arrival

Discussing exciting new recruit Simon Adingra, who arrives on loan from Sunderland, and Pocognoli mentioned the Ivorian’s strengths and how he expects him to contribute.

“Simon should be in the squad barring any administrative delays. I haven’t played alongside him in the past, but we have many people in common. I’ve only heard positive things about him personally and his professionalism. He’s an interesting player because he’s versatile and can play in different systems. He’ll be beneficial for managing the squad and for any potential tactical adjustments. He’s a strategic asset to the team, especially since he has both a good attitude and great potential to help the team in the coming months, much like Wout. He can indeed play on the left, on the right, in support of the striker and as a wing-back,” he told the media.

Defensive solidity

Last on the agenda was his take on his team’s recent defensive improvements, which has seen them keep three straight clean sheets, having conceded 15 goals in their previous four matches in all competitions prior to this run.

“We’ll try to keep a clean sheet. If we manage that tomorrow, we have a good chance of going further in the competition. We need to maintain this foundation, and keeping three clean sheets in a row is a great achievement. However, we mustn’t forget that we’ve already done it several times this season, particularly in the Champions League. This means we’ve already been able to put in some good defensive performances on occasion. Now we need to find consistency with the return of the injured players and continue to build confidence thanks to our recent good results. That’s why I’ve been so positive in the past, because I know what the team is capable of,” acknowledged the Belgian.

Go again

After their sparkling triumph over Rennes, ASM will aim to maintain that winning form for this crucial clash with Strasbourg, knowing what a prime opportunity this represents to claim a trophy, especially with Paris Saint-Germain out of the competition.