good article, though I have to somewhat disagree with the belhanda statement, he was the influential part of the team and a lot of the creativity was coming through him but after the winter break belhanda has taken a bit of a back seat coming more as a super sub or a half time tactical change, the team can play somewhat play "well" when he's on the bench but credit is still given to him since whenever he comes on he provides all over the pitch too bad he can be a bit of a whiner and sometimes gets hotheaded rather quickly don't expect m'pellier to keep him for long
I figure Belhanda and Giroud will both be around for the CL next year. If they let either go they might as well take their ball and go home earlier. Yanga, Belhanda and Giroud are the spine of the team, that is evident.
One of the more classic m'pellier style of games we are use to seeing, plenty of possession, creativity and opportunities however things started to shift the moment mhsc started to give away possession to sochaux, kudos to boudebouz and martin for making this a more enthralling game though boudebouz was at times making too much of a show with his acting their GK also deserves some credit for keeping the scoreline close with multiple saves and good positioning anyways the only negative I had was the sloppyness of some players when tackling namely estrada who though contributed well with passing and covering man did he have some reckless tackles besides that no other negative points, the defense did well with the only goal against being a very beautiful acrobatic goal PSG won vs OM but montpellier have a game at hand and are first
Hopefully Montpellier win the league, it would be great to see a team like that succeeding without help of a Billionaire (eg. PSG)
I would love to see them stick it out one more season just to see them entertain in the CL group stage but I know that they will feel pressure to sell from the big money vultures swooping in.
They must stay. Giving them up before even playing next season would be ridiculous. Go to the CL, play and if you're bounced by January then sell them if you feel pressured. Until then given them a bumper contract extension to keep them happy.
I would agree but one never knows how people are going to react when the big money clubs come in with rediculous transfer offers.
Lorient up 1-0 in the 70th minute, both clubs having tons of chances in front of goals and Im quite surprised with the scoreline being this minimal late on Lorient has had more in front of goal moments whereas m'pellier has had better outside chances and passing outside the box belhanda, cabella, giroud all playing very well
ended Lorient 2-1 MHSC lorient scored another went up 2-0 and montpellier responded through giroud however the last 10 mins or so lorient were getting chance after chance and mhsc dropped down a level and played mediocre with no incisive passes Im going to say lorient merited the win but m'pellier played a good part
I don't follow Ligue 1 closely, but this year's Montpellier HSC is one of the best stories in European football this year. Would love to see them win it all, and I'm hoping FS+ airs some of the remaining matches in the US.
It isn't their choice to pick as they seem to go with the late evening match whomever is set up by the league. That said, it will be a cool last few weekends.
only saw the replay of the goal and the second half toulouse were creating chances early on and were pretty decent in the counter causing some problems for m'pellier unfortunately they could not get past hilton/bedimo and jourdren they came close twice but after the coach switched to a more defensive form it was a losing uphill battle for toulouse there was a penalty for giroud which I didn't see but it was weak seeing the replay final: TFC 0-1 MHSC Lille play PSG in what could be a turning point for either club, if PSG lose Lille would only be 2 points away from 2nd, if Lille lose psg see another week and lille would face pressure from lyon(if lyon win)