Within 30 seconds, AS Monaco would have spent a rather quiet summer. Finally third in Ligue 1 after the goal conceded at the end of the match in Lens (2-2) on the final day, the club was condemned to get rid of two opponents to reach the Champions League groups. After a complicated match (1-1) in the first leg, the return leg of the third preliminary round in Eindhoven, Tuesday August 9, already appears to be a turning point in the season.
If they get rid of the tough PSV, the Asemists will then face Rangers or Union Saint-Gilloise in the play-offs. “The championship is a marathon, but given our calendar, we have to start with a sprint”summarized coach Philippe Clement at the end of the victory in Strasbourg (1-2), during the first day of the new Ligue 1 season.
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After this tricky trip to Alsace, ASM must face Lens, Rennes, PSG and Nice in the next few days, so many direct competitors. As if that were not enough, Monaco will not benefit from the respite offered by the traditional international break in September. Mondial in November and December obliges, the meetings will be linked. The first days of the hens of the European Cups thus take place at the beginning of September. Wissam Ben Yedder and his teammates will be affected no matter what because in the event of failure against PSV or in the play-offs, the club will be transferred to the Europa League groups.
Last year, the club from the principality was already confronted with an insane month of August. Eliminated by Shakhtar Donetsk in the play-offs (0-1, 2-2), the Monegasques had paid for their efforts by winning only one of their first six league games. “If the club missed qualification at the end of the season, it was because almost all the players were very disappointed after this elimination and had difficulty reacting”analyzed Philippe Clement, not yet in office at the time.
In order not to avoid a new exit from the road, the Monegasques have shortened their holidays. They returned to the La Turbie training center on June 18, seven days earlier than last year and two weeks before the Parisian champion. “We started the preparation early precisely to be run in”justified Clement.
They are back at La Turbie! pic.twitter.com/BweHqa7sTV
– AS Monaco (@AS_Monaco) June 19, 2022
Despite a series of ups and downs (two wins in seven games), ASM was able to pick up the pace. “My players were ready and that’s important”, said the coach after the match against Strasbourg. In the first leg against PSV, Monaco struggled to snatch a draw in a late game that they packed. This freshness in the “money time” is a guarantee of a certain maturity in the management of the effort, not obvious at this stage of the season.
To do this, Philippe Clement relies on a quantitatively provided workforce. The Belgian changed half of his team between the reception of the Dutch club and the match at La Meinau on Saturday, without losing in the change. Wissam Ben Yedder, on the bench on Saturday, is also the only player guaranteed to start in Eindhoven, said his coach.
Rookies Takumi Minamino (Liverpool) and Breel Embolo (Mönchengladbach) are integrated into this homogeneous group. Other new elements should be added to it, in particular to compensate for the loss of Aurélien Tchouameni to Real Madrid. On the transfer market, ASM will “be aggressive, but strategically”assured the sporting director Paul Mitchell at a press conference in June.
It’s the story of the snake biting its tail: Monaco needs recruits for these preliminary rounds… but cannot complete its transfer window without being fixed on its European fate. It is difficult, as it is, to attract big names without the guarantee of competing in the C1. Conversely, a premature elimination can generate inclinations to leave. In 2015, executives Anthony Martial, Layvin Kurzawa and Aymen Abdennour left as soon as they lost a play-off against Valencia.
Would they have stayed in the event of qualification? Monaco would have had in any case an additional financial surface to retain them. A qualification in hens confers at least 25 million euros, in addition to the benefits linked to TV rights and results. Therefore, the ASM is probably waiting for its destiny to be tied up at European level, on August 24 at the latest, to take action.