In Montpellier, the only Ligue 1 team to have no draws, it’s not just the six losses that are worrying. Paradoxically, these are also the four successes obtained this season by the Hérault group. Those facing Strasbourg, Troyes and Ajaccio, because La Paillade had all the trouble in the world, in front of its audience, to win them. While the river in Brest does not particularly reassure, because it constitutes, in the opinion of all, a kind of “trompe l’oeil”.
This is how the balance sheet of twelve points in ten days, like the content of the matches too often unsatisfactory, brought to the fore the demons of last season, or at least those of a return phase concluded with the dunce cap ; if not in the minds of all players, at least in those of fans and observers.
Updated, the burning questions of last summer, which the club hoped to sweep away: is the coach’s message still getting through? Do the players still want to fight for him? Why do they give up so easily? Is Olivier Dall’Oglio the man for the job? Can he prevent the Paillade from sinking, and can he put it back into orbit?
A defensive animation that always raises questions
It must be said that the team’s inability to resolve its defensive concerns raises questions and feeds this flood of questions. Especially if the Pailladins have, until now, always limited the damage and compensated with a powerful attackthe fact that she remained silent against Monaco makes us fear the worst, in the near future and against the big cars.
The most optimistic can obviously think that Montpellier has simply come up against the second best in the championship since the sixth day, and that the returned copy will end up paying. But the most pessimistic will remember only two things. First, they will think that the pair of Monegasque centrals was far from being an impregnable fortresslast Sunday, three days after facing Trabzonspor in the European Cup.
Then they will point the dynamic: in the last five games, the MHSC is 17th with twice as many goals scored as goals conceded. While, since the beginning of January, the Hérault team has only won 7 out of the 29 official matches played, against 19 defeats and 3 draws.
Coach threatened?
Data that does not escape the leaders even if, for the time being, the latter do not wish neither give in to panic nor speak out publicly. We can also wonder if this silence reflects a desire not to put more pressure than it already is on the staff, but we can also see a desire not to support a technical team that it would be necessary, possibly, to thank a few weeks later.
As things stand, one thing is certain: in their minds, there is no no question of imitating Brest, Auxerre and Lyon yetwho have just separated quickly from Michel Der Zakarian, Jean-Marc Furlan, and Peter Bosz, three men with a slightly higher total of points for the last, much less important for the first two.
In Montpellier, the idea seems rather to temporize, and to see where the team will be at the end of the next five daysin other words when approaching the international truce.
The point of the truce?
First, because the points of view diverge, internally, and there is no consensus around the question of thanking the coach or not. Despite certain voices in favor of the arrival of a new technician, Laurent Nicollin still resists, he who entrusted the coach, whom he himself chose, with a double mission: a rather easy maintenance and the highlighting of the training center . And for now, the tenth place in the standings and the emergence of several young people do not encourage him to press the button hastily.
No advantage than the finances of Montpellier Hérault, who will think twice before parting with a coach and his staff, with the indemnities that would include the various contractsand to attract another, without the guarantees of doing better and even of not doing worse.
And then, if the coach no longer enjoys the same indulgence as six months ago, the president is certainly aware of the fact that he has no could not offer him the long-awaited sentry (defensive midfielder) and that the numerous injuries also played a major role in the delicate start to the season for the Pailladins.
Only, because such is football, this part of the explanation could be shattered on November 14, after the last match before the World Cup, depending on the results. In particular if Laurent Nicollin, beyond knowing if the coach and the team meet the expectations of the supporters, felt that the locker room no longer met those of the one who pilots it.