Last week, the biggest defeat since August, inflicted on the Mosson by PSG, sealed the fate of the pailladins, one game from the end. And so, certain of finishing thirteenth, the Héraultais went to play a friendly match this Saturday against Sco d’Angers. A meeting “for butter which, whatever happens, would therefore not allow Laurent Nicollin to put more of it in his spinach.
No matter, we still had to save honor and furniture. Reconnect with a victory that La Paillade had been fleeing since March 20. And avoid, at least for the symbol, to reproduce the same series of nine games without a win as that deplored last season.
Only, while the Angevins like the Parisians did not hesitate to blow on the embers, the fever of the Héraultais did not drop, and the headaches of the staff and the management were not alleviated. On the contrary, since at the time of drawing the curtain, a thirteenth defeat since January finally came to give nausea, propelling the Paillade to the place of red lantern of the return phase.
An uncontrolled gap
Obviously, if they had had gymnasts in front of them, the Hérault supporters would have applauded the performance and given the MHSC athletes a standing ovation, both the splits achieved this season appear as spectacular as they are insane. Bad luck, it’s football in question, an environment in which this flexibility exercise is not really popular.
Not very appetizing, indeed, to go from the best first leg of the club for ten years, to the worst second half of the season for the Pailladine team since 2004, within ten months. And to transform the dream into a real nightmare, likely to give cold sweats and from which one fears never to be able to extricate oneself.
However, it will be necessary! Because in order to avoid biting the dust of Ligue 2in a year, the MHSC must now, and at all costs, learn the lessons of half a season of all the waste, before starting the exercise of all the dangers.
– John Catuffe
The means justify (in part) the end
For that, there is no question of dividing. Even though the mission entrusted by President Nicollin has not been fulfilled, namely to finish in the top ten for the fifth consecutive time, and even though the MHSC was ejected from the Top 10 much too early, on the evening of the defeat at La Mosson against Stade Rennais (2-4), the idea remains for the moment to stand together.
Internally, no one within the general staff wishes to fire red balls and publicly on a coach who, despite everything, was able to get the crowds up, at least at home, until December. A technician whose training is regularly praised by Michel Mézy and rather appreciated by many players. But above all, a coach whom his management had still asked to do as well as last season, but with much less than his predecessor.
Indeed, Laurent Nicollin knows full well that the envelope dedicated to athletes was thinner than the previous one, last summer, due to the pandemic and the TV rights fiasco. And that this lean period, in which the Alesian arrived, has more than ever forced to launch young people and recruit less than expected and without paying. Not to mention that it was necessary to replace the infernal duo, at short notice, in particular Andy Delort, when the latter decided to leave a ship that he no longer considered cut to face the seas on which he wanted to engage.
In addition to this change of direction and these unforeseen events, there is also the project for a new stadium, which obliges the club not to put all its eggs in one basket. And which compels, suddenly and more than ever, to recruit smartly rather than to spend lavishly.
A workforce out of breath?
Impossible, therefore, to attribute to Olivier Dall’Oglio the level of Nicholas Gioacchini, whose loan by a Ligue 2 club in the last minutes of the transfer window was a choice in an emergency and by default, to make the number, rather than a real opportunity, on which to capitalize. On arrival, no goal in 28 appearances under the colors of Paillade.
Complicated, too, to make ODO solely responsible for the state of form and the irregularity of Mamadou Sakho or Valère Germain who, after being deprived of competition or preparation, before disembarking, could not hold out over time.
Inconceivable, finally, to point the finger at it following the poor performance of several boys who have apparently been less interested in their entry on the lawns of Ligue 1, than in their night outings, before or after the championship days. And whose attitude would have rubbed off, according to certain voices within the club, on some of their partners, since January.
Trust far from blind
However, if for all these reasons, but also because his contract runs until June 2024, the Montpellier club did not decide to cut its coach on Saturday evening and gives him the benefit of the doubtit is obvious that Olivier Dall’Oglio will start the next exercise with maximum pressure.
It is also indisputable, and he knows it, that he and his staff will not have no room for error and that the patience of the club, especially if it makes the necessary and desired adjustments, can no longer be tested.
The coach has indeed exhausted all his credits, by accumulating counter-performances, accentuated by a very ambitious game project, which ultimately only involved a dozen players and which was no doubt no longer in line with the physical and mental capacities of the return phase, he who claims to have tried everything to raise the bar with the group in place.
This point is, moreover, perhaps the most worrying, in the end. For several weeks, the technician has confided that he has multiplied the attempts and the changes of tone, on the form as on the substance, from the rant to the outburst, through sympathetic explanations, without having noticed the slightest reaction. He even ends up, and La Mosson with it, by wondering about his own ability to regain control, without giving up, until then.
A new impetus?
Hope, as meager as it is, in fact, and rightly so, lies in the reshuffle which has just begun and in the transfer window which starts on June 10. This is where the coach, but also the club, place their hopes. Objective: to eliminate the sheep considered to be a little scabby, to break up clans resistant to the idea of going around, and to breathe new life into them, thanks to the contribution and the mental and physical freshness of several reinforcements.
All this, based on the positive: the satisfaction of having launched a lot of young people, while other formations have not been able to do so without imploding, or exploding. Because if the darkness of the second part of the season cannot legitimately prevent certain supporters from fearing a gloomy future, it must all the same be recognized that the presence of coach Dall’Oglio helped to shed light on part of the club’s futurewhether through the confirmation of Elye Wahi, but also with the emergence of Maxime Estève, the rise of Léo Leroy and the first promising steps of Sacha Delaye.
And then, if the former Brestois wishes to rely on a revisited and reinflated workforce, he also aims to reorganize its staff. While Selim Errif, one of the three video analysts at MHSC, is given the direction of video in Toulouse, and is not expected to be replaced, a second physical trainer should join the team in place and complete the work of Benjamin Guy. Unavoidable, no doubt, in the face of a workforce affected by numerous injuries this year.
New faces, new discourse, minds washed and rested, this is how La Paillade will approach its fourteenth season in Ligue 1, on August 6th. With the ambition to put the pieces back together and repair a toy that hasn’t been fun for too long, but that everyone wishes, deep down, that it wasn’t broken for good.