AS Monaco thread [R]

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

An interesting headline.

Arsenal and Tottenham interested in Monaco starlet (http://www.footmercato.net/un-jeune-monegasque-interesse_article15760.html)

The brief story is in French, but interestingly, it's not about Ménez, Gakpé, or anyone who's already on the first team. It isn't even about a guy who has signed a pro contract. It's about Yohan Mollo, and the interesting thing is, according to many Monaco supporters, he isn't even among the top 5 guys on our CFA team (Schwechlen, Zola, Bakar, Malaury Martin and Mongongu would all be ahead of him). Apparently, though, since he's been given the opportunity to play in the CFA team as well as the French U-19s, he's raised some eyebrows abroad.

In any event, it appears that we have a bunch good players in the making back on our CFA and U-18 teams. Let's hope we can actually hold on to them.

[SportBoy333]

Same old tatics from the English. Keep going after the young foreigners and you will eventually suffer the consequences in the end. Idiots.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Thought I would update this with a couple of headlines.

First off, Ménez played alright in the Espoirs game, though it was a disappointing affair overall as his team could only draw 1-1 against a Romanian side who were quite competitive throughout, and Jérémy once again showed a couple of moments of brilliance, though he also almost got sent off for a blatant elbow in the final minute (the ref didn't see it). Gakpé was on the bench, which in hindsight appears to have been a mistake, as Gouffran, who played on the wing during the game, was quite sub-par. Ruffier as the backup keeper obviously was on the bench, and Muratori did not appear on the team sheet.

On the plus side, the ASM reserves did well in their CFA match, winning 3-1. This is actually important as there's been discussion about some of them being called up. Specifically Djamel Bakar scored a brace, and the defense/defensive midfield composed of Malaury Martin and Mongongu (who was actually playing as a central defender) was solid.

Personally, I think Mongongu should get a shot in central defense considering how one can say Monsoreau hasn't done much to impress this season. If he (and Muratori) want to leave to go to the Valencia bench, so be it. Mongongu is that physical guy (1m89) who will actually scare opposing attackers instead of watching them.

In any event, we face our toughest opponent this season coming up, though hey, we may as well get all of the bad blood out of the system.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Oh, to provide more coverage, Jan Koller got an assist on the winning goal as the Czech Republic qualified for Euro by beating Germany 3-0, though admittedly Germany had already qualified, yet the Czechs deserve credit. Incidentally, former ASM midfielder Jaroslav Plasil sealed the deal with the Czechs' third.

[SportBoy333]

The reserves play in CFA group C. They are currently in 8th place. Here are the standings.

http://www.soccerway.com/national/france/cfa/2007-2008/group-c

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Which isn't bad, but having downloaded one of their matches, their manager is a moron. Well, in that game, anyway. Also, they haven't had everyone healthy except in the past couple of matches. In addition, some of the players can get called up without notice, as Bakar has appeared on the senior team bench since the Coupe de la Ligue match, and will likely be on the bench against Lyon as well.

[SportBoy333]

where do you find CFA matches to download ?

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Various French torrent sites. Typically it's low quality, so I end up watching the highlights off www.asmfoot.fr, they have videos of almost everything related to the club.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Apparently there is we, along with other French clubs, are interested in Le Havre striker Guillaume Hoarau. I know absolutely nothing about this guy, and have yet to encounter a LHAC fan here, though if anyone knows anything about him, please contribute! Le Havre, though, we do know, are off to a good start in L2, so if we don't see this guy this year in L1, we will soon.


http://asm-passion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=487&Itemid=2

[SportBoy333]

On the OM transfer thread, the link I posted from Mercato365 about OM and Vanger Love also mentions that guy from Le Harve towards the end.

[SportBoy333]

Genoa on Bernardi ?

http://www.mercato365.com/depeches/filinfo_200286_2514_Monaco-Genes-sur-Bernardi-.shtml

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Genoa's been a place where we've been able to send castoffs, like in Di Vaio's case, so despite him having been a good servant to the club, I would sell Bernardi, who isn't physically strong enough anymore.

On the other hand, Dominique Malonga, who left us for Torino in the offseason, has actually been doing well in Italy, according to what the magazines have been mentioning.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Well, it appears perhaps our fellow board buddies are overlooking this match, though here's the rather interesting starting 11 that Ricardo decided to go with.

AS Monaco:

9 Koller
10 Ménez - - - - - 20 Pino
21 Meriem
4 Modesto
3 Berthod - 2 Monsoreau - 25 Cufré - 22 Bolívar - 12 Adriano
30 Roma


Before we begin to discuss this, here is the OL lineup:

Olympique Lyonnais

10 Benzema
18 Ben Arfa - - - - - 14 Govou
6 Källström - 8 Juninho
26 Fábio Santos
11 Grosso - 22 Cléber Anderson - 29 Squillaci - 20 Réveillère
30 Vercoutre


I have to say, I'm always happy to see Pino in the lineup, though that's the only good thing I see with this idea. I mean, technically there are 6 defenders on the field as neither Modesto nor Monsoreau are really defensive midfielders. The idea is defensive solidity though packing it in against OL won't work as their midfield is good enough to tear us apart eventually. We're always going to be underdogs heading into this one, but I don't think this does us any favors.

Well, we're down 2-0 after 18 minutes. I'd have to say a questionable penalty on the first one, but we've been allowing OL to do whatever it wants in midfield, as expected, so regrettably looks as if it'll be another bad morning matchday. Hopefully the individual skill of Ménez/Pino will get one back for us, but it's hard to see us avoiding defeat in this one.

[SportBoy333]

I'm trying to watch this match but the damn link isnt working.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Really? I'm getting good reception off Goal TV.

[SportBoy333]

Its giving me a German match instead the link I saw. It says cctv5 on the screen but no match.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Try this:

tvants://list.tvants.com/tvants/?k=3628a5bde02e7a4af373554bc85a73c2

Have to download TVAnts first in case you don't already have it.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Turns out the CCTV-5 feed was delayed, hence I posted the tvants Goal TV link that worked for me, though in any event, it wasn't a match a Monaco supporter would want to see.

I agree with Ricardo to mix things up, though again, employing 6 guys who are actually defenders in a starting 11 isn't going to work against a team of Lyon's caliber. After HT, he corrected it a bit by putting on Leko and Pérez though overall, I think Koller (also Meriem, to an extent) who tried hard today. Adriano was again the best of our sordid defense, whereas Berthod may as well have worn his old OL jersey instead today. I don't know who was playing in central defense today as it always appeared they were chasing the OL attackers instead of covering them.

Left back continues to be a huge issue, I think. Obviously on the basis of this appearance, Berthod is not the answer, and Muratori, though he's had some good games, has had very poor ones as well. In this losing streak, Diané, Mater, Kim, and Govou have all had good games against us. What do they all have in common? They all like to attack down the right side.

Well, eventually the solution may arrive. Schwechlen can play left back, I've been told. Though I don't know when we will see him this season, though it's hard to imagine our defense getting any worse. In my view, a Schwechlen-Mongongu-Bolívar-Adriano defense could be our best in terms of physical skill. Cufré has had some horrible games this season, Modesto is mediocre, we've already gone over Muratori, and I don't even want to begin with Berthod. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, Sambou is injured and Lescure is well, declining, as he's a shadow of the player whom we once saw. I haven't heard anything out of Veigneau, though hey, can't write anything negative if you haven't seen him.

On the bright side, we have Caen, who did beat Lille today, in a week, though I'm already worried about Gouffran vs. the horrible left side of our leaky defense.

[SportBoy333]

A Schwechlen-Mongongu-Bolívar-Adriano defense still isnt championship quality. I agree Berthod and Muratori are terrible and need to go. Modesto hasnt done anything impressive. This team seems so far away from a top 3 finish. Veigneau needs to play more. I'm sorry but I dont love this team. They have too many players that I dont care about.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I think a Schwechlen-Mongongu-Bolívar-Adriano backline will eventually be championship quality. Well, I mean, that is, if Schwechlen becomes the defender the majority of Monaco supporters think he can be. I didn't think we'd be a top 3 team, but top 4-5 I thought at the start of the season. It's always hard to love a team when things are tough, though I'm optimistic about being (eventually) able to see the likes of our academy brought up. I mean, according to LFP, we ranked 2nd in 2006-07, in the top 7 this year in terms of how good our academy is, so we have to have faith that Schwechlen, Zola, Bakar, Martin and Mongongu will be able to come through.

Either that our we have to get our guys some Pepsi Max. WAKE UP PEOPLE!