A little heat or a polar cold, to pass the first truce ? Montpellier will be fixed on its fate at the end of the afternoon, this Saturday, after the match against Strasbourg, at La Mosson (5 p.m.). A victory, the fourth in eight days, would allow La Paillade to breathe and calmly prepare for the trip to Toulouse in early October.
It’s not a revenge, but a little bit nonetheless.
A draw or worse, a defeat, would on the contrary cause turmoilinternally, since the MHSC would complete its first lap with a number of negative results (5) greater than the total of its successes (3), even if Montpellier Hérault would ultimately do no worse than in the first eight games of the previous financial year, at the end of which it recognized nine points, as much as today before the reception of the Alsatians.
But before thinking about the balance sheet, Olivier Dall’Oglio talks about content and expects attitudes : “We need to show something other than what we showed last weekend. It’s not a revenge, but a little bit nonetheless. We lost on the last game, we have to recover on this one. Strasbourg or another team, it’s the same, we have to be real competitors in this, be determined. This is what I expect above all, and we will do the accounts afterwards. Me, what I’m waiting for is a huge rebound“.
In terms of play, Strasbourg is not in its place.
A collective reaction, above all, but also individual for several elements of the locker room who were not at their level on the lawn of Raymond Kopa. To start with the captain, Teji Savanier, probably due to alack of rhythm“after a three-game suspension.
However, the coach is optimistic and warns : “Considering the week Téji did, it will certainly not be the same. He is determined, he wants, he loves competition. I think that in his Mosson garden, there are additional invisible forces and energies, which are there and which transcend him.
Considering the week that Teji did…
And they will not be too many, facing an opponent who is “out of place“, according to the Pailladin coach, Olivier Dall’Oglio: “One wonders how they could not score in the last game. But that’s football, the keeper has been good, there’s always a saving guy on the line, etc. Some teams are luckier, with matches played on a direct free kick, or with corners that make the difference (…) But in terms of play, Strasbourg is not in its place“.
Out of place, and out of place. Julien Stéphan’s infirmary has nothing to envy to that of his Hérault counterpart: seven players on the flank, four uncertain. The MHSC would be wrong not to take advantage of it and will do everything this time to not to start the season of one of the two Ligue 1 teams to still not have won.