19th placed AS Monaco received 16th ranked Dijon at the Stade Louis-II Saturday evening. It was Monaco’s first home match with new coach Thierry Henry at the helm. The result was a 2-2 draw.
Monaco-Dijon 2-2
Monaco: Henrichs (30th), Glik (78th)
Dijon: Alphonse (34th), Abeid (57th)
Call a medic
Going into the match at the Stade Louis II, which represented the 11th Ligue 1 fixture this season, Thierry Henry called on “all available players” to fill the pitch for embattled AS Monaco. Unfortunately, the list of absentees was nearly as long as the list of players who could perform. The team was short of Almamy Touré (personal reasons), Rony Lopes, Willem Geubbels, Pietro Pellegri, Diego Benaglio, Kevin N’Doram, Danijel Subasic, Radamel Falcao, Stevan Jovetic, Andrea Raggi, Samuel Grandsir, and Djibril Sidibé.
AS Monaco’s active players were as follows:
Sy, Glik, Badiashile, Jemerson, Henrichs, Aït-Bennasser, Chadli, Golovin, Pelé, Aholou, Tielemans, Traoré, Diop-Mboula and Sylla.
The match
FC Dijon’s general control of the match‘s tempo gave the impression that they were free to do as they pleased. They moved the ball easily around the Stade Louis-II field even beneath a steady deluge of rain. Their efforts were no doubt in relation to their position on the table, as they work to stay above the red zone and ahead of Amiens. When Mehdi Abeid’s shot slipped past Diego Benaglio for the second Dijonnais goal of the match in the 57th minute, it appeared that all was lost again for the Rouges et Blancs.
That said, the result could have been worse as Henry’s men would have lost the match were it not for an enigmatic header from the defender Glik in the 78th minute. Beyond this moment of grace, AS Monaco did not seem any more dangerous nor organized than we have seen them all season. In a way, their late goal to tie the match felt unmerited but did prove that the team has a pulse.
In short, the match did not display any significant progress from the Monégasque side since their difficult start to the 2018-19 campaign. The team remains winless in all Ligue 1 action, and despite changing managers, has yet to find a spark to light their collective fire. Henry’s group will continue chasing their first victory of the season. One of the skipper’s main challenges will be to get this young team healthy enough to compete.