Lyon: Philippe Clément, it’s now or never
After a complicated start (only 4 points taken in 3 games), Philippe Clément must beat Lyon to launch Monaco in the race for the podium.
With four points taken in three games (1.33 points per game), Philippe Clément has not yet validated the choice of ASM, to oust Niko Kovac (29 points in 19 games, or 1.52 points per game on average). Choose who can logically explain himself, if we take into account the time of adaptation necessary for a coach, before being able to impose his philosophy of play on a team.
If a change of coach during the season is always complicated, in the absence of a philosophy of play, we expect at least results. And after a draw, a victory and a defeat, the ASM sees the match against OL coming, without any guarantee. His first tactical attempt seen in Lens (replacing Volland at the heart of the game, in support of Ben Yedder), in the Coupe de France, last weekend, was a fiasco. So much so that the German was replaced even before the hour mark, after having gone through the first period like a ghost.
Prince Albert finds Kovac’s ousting too hasty
While waiting to see the changes in the game, tonight’s meeting offers the Monegasques the opportunity to join the Top 5, while remaining in the race for the podium.
“It’s a naturally important match against a great team, with a lot of quality up front, some good arrivals also in the last week of the transfer window, but it’s not the decisive match”plays down Philippe Clément. “There will be fifteen more matches after that. Naturally, we want to win every game and we want to take three points. When you win, it’s not decisive. So when you lose, it’s not either.
Except that for the Belgian technician, the points are not the only issue of this meeting. A month almost to the day after his arrival, he must finally prove that he can be a plus for ASM. Otherwise, more and more observers could be thinking the same thing as Prince Albert who believes that Kovac’s dismissal was too hasty. “Normally, we take stock towards the end of the season and not in the middle, it’s too hasty a decision” he said on European 1.