AS Monaco thread [R]

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

He can basically play anywhere in the attacking front, but he's typically on the wing.

Anyway, that lineup isn't confirmed, though don't be shocked if it does turn out to be the starting 11 tomorrow.

[SportBoy333]

Bernardi regrette l'ère Deschamps

http://news.maxifoot.com/info-069802_71031/football-193842451097203a2.php

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I didn't watch the match against Lens, though by doing a bit of reading, it appears that again, our defense let us down, though really, before the match, I had expected Lens would be able to score 2 goals. However, I had expected we would have scored 3, which, sadly, didn't happen, since as it turns out, the lone goal we scored was kinda fluky which was an almost accidental shot by Piquionne which got deflected by a Lens defender before beating Le Crom.

Modesto is the goat today according to the supporters. Don't know why Ricardo started him in the first place, though both Dindane and Boukari caused him to look silly. The remainder of the defense wasn't much better, with both Monsoreau and Muratori being seen as having bad games as well. Monsoreau, though, tried hard, whereas his central defensive partner Modesto may as well have been a statue, based on some of the fans.

Leko and definitely Pérez were manhandled in midfield, Sablé and Kovacevic were more efficient and helped their offense more too. When Carrière came on as a sub to replace Sablé, he was certainly better than both our midfielders as well.

On the bright side, Ménez again was our dangerman, causing huge problems to the right side of the Lens defense. Koller was decent as well, though he gets credit here as according to the fans, "he was much more effective in defense than Modesto was."

Nevertheless, I think everyone agrees that it was another sad performance overall, despite there being bright spots.

[SportBoy333]

What did Ricardo say after the match ? This is a bad loss to lose to someone who has been playing so poorly. You said the defense let them down ? Thats not really surprising

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

After the match, Ricardo said that we dominated the second half so we didn't deserve to lose. As I didn't watch the match, I can't comment on that, though there are certainly ASM fans that would disagree that we didn't deserve to lose. It is agreed upon though that we did better in the second half, but again, a lapse in concentration doomed us.

Almost all the fans want to ask Ricardo why he's sticking with Modesto. He wasn't asked about that post-match though, as instead the questions veered on "what will be done to get the team a win again" (a valid question) and "why is the team almost always trailing at the half" (another valid question).

Anyway, the team we face on the weekend also were upset today. Rennes lost to Valenciennes 2-0 at home, which is certainly a shocker, I think.

[SportBoy333]

I'm not shocked because cup matches are unpredictable. In France the bigger teams usually get knocked off. I dont wanna bash Modesto. Its like beating a dead horse. Most of the backline sucks, period. Notice how the best players on the team are all attacking players. That says it all.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Couldn't agree more, the fans are kinder to Muratori because he's homegrown, though both of them would be on the bench in a championship-quality team as you correctly point out.

It's kinda sad as no one cared when we didn't re-sign him, but Manuel Dos Santos has been having himself a pretty good season at Strasbourg according to the majority of magazine ratings. He's done better than either Muratori or Berthod, according to them.

Ah, how Bernardi (and everyone else) reminisces on the days when the backline had Evra and Squillaci.

Though hey, the Ligue matters more anyway, and considering how Rennes appears to have looked today, we certainly can't rule out upsetting them at Stade de la Route de Lorient, especially with two of their main starters, Pouplin and Wiltord, out.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Well, many of our senior team members struggled to score a winner yesterday, but not Djamel Bakar, who scored the winner as the France U-19s defeated Slovenia 2-0. Bakar has been making strides throughout the past year and is now reaping the rewards of his huge improvement. This month in particular he's been coming up huge, as he's certainly been scoring in the CFA as well.

There are some who question why Ricardo hasn't played him yet, though the question is, where? He's essentially a smaller version of Gakpé with more speed and less passing ability. He can also be a #10, but we know that our manager doesn't employ systems that utilize a playmaker other than a deep-lying one in midfield, and if there is a #10, he'll be behind 2 defensive midfielders, which takes away another spot in attack.

One intriguing idea though is that Bakar's development allows us to sell Piquionne, who could bring in some good dough. Piquionne was largely responsible on allowing the winning goal yesterday, as he essentially watched Aubey go by him to cross to Monterrubio whose shot hit the crossbar before being turned in by Carrière. There is chatter Piquionne is also somewhat alienated from his teammates, as he doesn't alway see eye-to-eye with other veterans such as Koller and Bernardi, whereas he hasn't been here for that long to know our rising stars that well.

The obvious idea is to use cash generated by a sale of Piquionne to bolster defense and midfield. Even though Piquionne has very good attacking skills in that he's big, fast and one of the better finishers we have, I wouldn't mind selling him if it could help us in other areas.

Though in the end, none of these ideas matter if we don't get out of this slump. Our roster is too decent to think we're out of everything yet, and we haven't got any help from the refs or anybody during the past couple of months. Though the important thing is that we have to help ourselves, and the team has to get its collective act together. We have the parts. We have to stop always equaling less than their sum on the pitch. I really have enough faith that we'll get it together eventually, but it won't be easy.

[SportBoy333]

Who do you think would be interested in Piquionne ? I think some mid table English teams would want him.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I think someone will be interested because it's not as if Piquionne doesn't have skill. I don't know why I am singling him out though except that I really don't like him that much. He's got to be among our more marketable veterans though because it's not as if we're going to get much back with selling Bernardi whose contract is almost up or Leko who's been having a bad season. Anyway back to Bakar, I hope he'll be on the bench at the minimum on the weekend. He deserves it.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Some good and some bad happenings today, first with the good. We have signed Nicolas N'Koulou to a 3-year deal. Who is he, you may ask? He's been at the club on trial for a couple of weeks, and according to good sources, he could turn out to be one of the better prospects in an area that needs help, that being defense. According to those sources, he'd be in the top 4 defenders among our CFA team at right now, behind Schwechlen, Mongongu (though Mongongu is more of a midfielder who can play in defense) and Sambou. He's from Cameroon's Kadji Sport Academy, which is where Samuel Eto'o originally developed as a player. Obviously, no one thinks Nicolas, born on March 27, 1990, to be in that class, though he should turn out to be an international class defender for Cameroon. In any case, this is a good sign that the front office continues to care about our academy in adding good players.

Now for the bad, which is that Jérémy Ménez could be out for the match against Rennes. We will know for certain tomorrow when the squads are announced.

[SportBoy333]

Ricardo promises Europe

http://news.maxifoot.com/info-069890_71102/football.php

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I want to believe that's a good thing, but another thing Ricardo did was he announced that our lineup today (which isn't out yet) will have 3 <<relayeurs>> or holding (defensive) midfielders. Given Ricardo's tendencies, it will likely be Leko, Bernardi and Pérez, though he has included Mongongu in the group this weekend as well. I would like to see Mongongu as he is more physically imposing than any of the other 3 defensive midfielders. He can also play in defense, which may not be a bad idea considering it's not as if the competition there is on that high a level.

In any event, I hope and think we'll get a draw. I doubt we'll be able to win, or even try to considering the 3 defensive midfielders, but I wouldn't mind if the team proved me wrong.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Here are the lineups.

Stade Rennais FC:

9 Pagis - 19 Briand
24 Sorlin - - - - - 7 Leroy
14 Cheyrou - 22 Didot
3 Edman - 13 Hansson - 5 Mensah - 12 Fanni
16 Luzi


AS Monaco FC:

18 Piquionne
11 Nenê - - - - - 17 Gakpé
5 Bernardi - 7 Pérez - 23 Leko
13 Muratori - 2 Monsoreau - 4 Modesto - 12 Adriano
30 Roma

[SportBoy333]

Piquionne scores. They win 1-0.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I only watched the second half of this one, though wow, what a win! Go figure that we'd win the game that no one expected us to (well, no one expected to win at Lyon, though that's a different matter). It may not have been pretty, but everything worked astoundingly well today. The 3 defensive midfielders, Leko, Bernardi, and Pérez put in performances that would make any defensive midfielder proud. They dominated the game, got to every loose ball, while displaying the nastiness and fight the team sorely lacked during the losing streak. Alright, we picked up a ton of cards while doing this, though it's all worth it. Piquionne, perhaps motivated by the booing coming from the Rennes fans, had his best performance in a while, showing poise to beat the keeper with the header. Gakpé and Nenê, who got the assist, were often out manned due to the 3-man defensive midfield, though they were good at making runs and looked dangerous with their service.

Roma was outstanding, and finally got a win this season that he has deserved. Now, I may be a bit picky, but despite keeping Rennes at bay, the defense doesn't instill me with confidence, as it was more the midfield that kept Rennes out than our defenders. Muratori, not to pick on him, but he looked a bit shaky. Especially when the Rennes attack were going after the equalizer, they often attacked down that flank with Fanni, who often went by our left back. Everyone else did alright, nothing that makes you think we shouldn't buy a defender or two at the winter break.

Overall, though, I'm happy to have been wrong about this game (I thought it'd be a draw, but I definitely didn't think we could get a win). Though hey, we were due. Let's hope we can follow this with a decisive win against Strasbourg at home.

[SportBoy333]

Pastor made some comments to the media about how upset he was so maybe that helped motivate the team.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Either that or Ricardo guaranteeing Europe. In any event, we have to get 3 points against Strasbourg at home. They may be playing well this season, but we have no excuses if we don't win.

In other headlines, the reserves played a friendly against Cannes and lost. However, the bright side to this was the play of Distel Zola, who led the team in the second half, almost overcoming a 3-0 deficit, scoring a goal and being the architect of the comeback (final score 3-2). There are some, including myself, who think he's the eventual answer at defensive midfield, as he's considered by some as being the best defensive midfielder we've developed since Emmanuel Petit, though I literally wasn't around then so I can't comment.

Anyway, Ricardo's tactics will continue to work, I hope (and think), though it is very dependent on our getting the first goal.

[SportBoy333]

Baros towards Monaco ?

http://www.mercato365.com/depeches/filinfo_203305_2514_Lyon-Baros-vers-Monaco-.shtml

I believe this is a reliable rumor because he is clearly unhappy there and Monaco tried to sign him a few years ago.

[SportBoy333]

Genoa confirms interest for Bernardi

http://www.mercato365.com/depeches/filinfo_203305_2514_Lyon-Baros-vers-Monaco-.shtml