The words of AS Monaco coach Philippe Clément before Saturday’s crucial game against Brest
reindeer defeat
“It’s better for the teams around us to lose points but I’m focused on the game against Brest. Yesterday I received messages at half-time in the game against Nice but the game ended at 4 -2, so we don’t have to watch all this and focus on ourselves. You lose a lot of energy when you’re happy or disappointed with the results of others. I want the players to be focused on training. They’ve done some great things this week. I don’t feel them too happy or not enough. I told them about what had not gone well against Lille. We have to do like the last two months: stay stable in our emotions.”
The trap of playing against Brest
“Les Brestois have nothing left to play, it’s true, so they can be released. They have the ambition to finish in the top 10. It’s a team that beat Monaco in the first leg, which “Getting into trouble last year too. Brest has a good organization and goes very quickly in transitions. You always have to be wary of those kinds of teams.”
Ruben Aguilar
“He is a survivor. He has an exceptional mentality. He is patient with everything for the team. If there is a wall, he would run into it for the team. He has a desire to play, to run. When training is more calm, he imposes races on himself, he needs that. He does not play for himself or to be in the light. It is important to have players like that in a team. He is a great example for the collective. He likes the connection with others.”
Wissam Ben Yedder
“When I arrived, Wissam was positive for Covid. Afterwards, he got injured. I immediately saw a player with a lot of technical qualities. Wissam grew up playing without the ball. He works more than before , he is more concentrated. It helps us to be a better team and it helps the midfielders to recover the ball more quickly. With the ball, he is very important. He creates a lot of chances, he is realistic and also plays very well between the lines. He has become even more versatile.”