ASM dismisses its trainer Niko Kovač! – Foot11.com
Niko Kovač arrived in Monaco in July 2020, leaving ASM. According to information from several media including L’Équipe and RMC Sport, the Croatian will be dismissed very soon after being warned on Thursday, December 30. The conclusion of a long reflection led by Monegasque decision-makers. More
Monaco pushes aside Kovač
AS Monaco will soon have a fifth coach in the space of just three years. After Leonardo Jardim, the title’s coach in 2017, Thierry Henry and Gerard Moreno, Niko Kovač was dismissed from his duties at the head of the first team this Thursday, December 30, as expected at the beginning of the week. Before formalization, RMC Sport and The team announce that the Croatian technician, arrived in July 2020, was received by its leaders. The latter would have announced to him their desire to put an end to their collaboration. After leading the resumption session on Thursday, the former Bayern Munich coach will soon leave AS Monaco. A decision that the Dimitri Rybolovlev – Oleg Petrov – Paul Mitchell trio have been maturing for several weeks.
A mixed first part of the season
After leading Monaco to third place in Ligue 1 last season, and playing for the title until the last day, the Croatian lived a first part of the 2021-2022 season between good results in the Europa League (first place in a strong group composed in particular of Real Sociedad and PSV Eindhoven) and disappointments in the league.
However, with three successes in the last four games, the Asemite club is on a dynamic that allows it to move up the standings. And to spend the holidays in sixth place in L1, four points from the podium, the assumed objective of the leaders.
Kovač’s methods in question
But, beyond the sporting aspect, it is a deeper analysis that would have been carried out by the decision-makers of the club diagonally. After a cannonball second half of the 2020-2021 season and a very offensive and attractive game, they were disappointed not to see any continuity this season. And this, despite a workforce that changed little during the offseason. The management of young players was also one of the subjects of reflection while Aurélien Tchouaméni and Youssouf Fofana in particular are struggling to regain their brilliance from the first months of the Kovač era. In addition to the technician’s difficulties in advancing the young elements of the group, the latter’s methods were unhappy. His management of certain players, including Wissam Ben Yedder, and his tendency to raise the tone during briefings post-match in particular used his group to lose the ex-midfielder the confidence of his locker room.
While Monaco must face Quevilly in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France this Sunday, the club will meet again in Ligue 1 on the ground of Nantes on Sunday January 9. With a new trainer on his bench.