Friendly: AS Monaco suffer defeat to Servette

AS Monaco began their preparations for the new season with a 0-1 loss against Swiss side Servette in a friendly under the watchful eyes of President Dmitry Rybolovlev and General Manager Thiago Scuro at the Performance Centre.

The Match

Selecting a squad containing a nice blend of youth and experience that featured the likes of Aleksandr Golovin, Thilo Kehrer, Wilfried Singo, Mohamed Camara, Radoslaw Majecki, Felix Lemarechal and Kassoum Ouattara, Adi Hutter’s team was full of quality for this first hit-out.

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Getting off to a solid start by enjoying some positive stages of possession and creating a handful of chances, all the early signs were encouraging for Les Monegasques, who were playing in an offensively-minded 4-2-3-1.

Last term’s Swiss Cup winners then came to life, unleashing some decent efforts on goal, as the match began to take shape.

The dangerous Ouattara continued to pose a huge threat with his marauding runs and crafty passing, but ASM were unable to convert their opportunities, with the match scoreless at the interval.

The second stanza saw Hutter bring on a host of talents from the Elite Group such as Jules Béry, Samuel Nibombé, Aurélien Platret, Ritchy Valme, Aladji Bamba, Romaric Etonde and Sandro Bertolucci. Keen to give the youngsters some vital professional experience, it was great to see many of them hold their own even though tiredness eventually kicked in for some.

Both teams continued to trade chances as the half progressed, but it was the away team that took the lead through Jérémy Guillemenot.

Unable to level the ledger and ultimately falling to a narrow loss, there was still plenty of upside for Hutter and his coaching staff to extract despite the result.

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Hutter’s Debrief

“It’s always the same at the start of the preparations where there is fatigue, it’s normal. I’m obviously a little disappointed with the result, but we’re not stopping there and we want to continue to progress in our style of play. We have a lot of talented young players, who are still struggling with their conditioning, but they are progressing well. They are fighting for their place and, as a coach, I like that,” insisted the Austrian tactician.

Scuro on the transfer market

“The transfer market is just beginning. We are still looking for a goalscorer to give Adi Hutter more options, but it is important to emphasise that we already have several very good players for this role. International competitions have confirmed this in recent weeks. We are already very happy,” explained Scuro.

On the horizon

Up next for ASM is a friendly against Cercle Bruges, scheduled for Saturday the 13th of July at 10:30 am at the Performance Centre, where Hutter and his squad will be eager to keep building momentum ahead of what looms as a hugely exciting 2024/2025 campaign.