Ligue 1: AS Monaco held to frustrating draw against Reims
AS Monaco played out a scoreless draw at the Stade Auguste-Delaune against Reims, as they missed a golden opportunity to move into outright second and put some pressure on Paris Saint-Germain.
The Match
Switching his system to what was essentially a 3-4-3, there were a host of changes made by Adi Hutter, as Philipp Kohn (in place of the injured Radoslaw Majecki), Christian Mawissa, Jordan Teze, Kassoum Ouattara, George Ilenikhena, Takumi Minamino and Wilfried Singo came in for this one.
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While the match started cautiously, the 900 ASM supporters who made the trip were given their first sighter on net when Aleksandr Golovin fired over in the 11th minute.
Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir backed this up with decent, yet unsuccessful efforts, as Les Monegasques were looking the more dangerous of the two outfits.
A flurry of chances then arose in the second half of the opening stanza, with the likes of Minamino, Marshall Munetsi, Keito Nakamura and Ben Seghir coming close.
The second half began with a bang when Oumar Diakite struck the bar. Recognising the need to introduce some fresh legs, Hutter brought on Breel Embolo, Maghnes Akliouche and Mohammed Salisu.
It wasn’t long until Les Rouge et Blanc had a terrific chance to take the lead through Minamono, but his attempt went wide.
While ASM created some promising openings in the dying embers of the clash, it just wasn’t to be, forcing Monaco to settle for a draw. This result sees ASM stay joint-second in Ligue 1 following Olympique de Marseille’s draw with Lille.
Hutter’s Debrief
“I think we dropped two points that would have allowed us to move up to second. That’s why we’re not happy with the result because we wanted to come away with the win. At kick-off, I made a big rotation with six new players (outfield) compared to Arsenal to bring some freshness because we came back late. We then didn’t have much time to train and work on this system with three defenders,” explained the Austrian tactician.
“If we look at the content of this match, we missed too many chances, we have to do better on that. This can be explained by the sequence of matches and the travel even if it should not be an excuse. The team is young, we learn a lot. Reims also had two big chances, including a huge one from Nakamura. After the defeat in London, the clean sheet is nevertheless positive. I am happy for Philipp. But if we look at the whole, I think we deserved to win.”
He then added this on altering his formation: “I always want to play flexibly, that also concerns the system and the structure. It was perhaps a surprise for Reims, who did not expect us to play with three at the back. But we have the players for it, even if for me, it is above all the style of play that is advocated and not the system, whether we play with two or three central defenders.”
Key Stats
By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of total shots (14 to 8), shots on target (3 to 0), shots inside the box (8 to 7), possession (64% to 36%), passes in the opposition half (240 to 106) and touches in the opposition box (36 to 19) underlined why ASM were frustrated not to take home all three points.
PSG Up Next
Having blown the chance to power themselves into second, ASM will have to put this disappointment behind them and focus on preparing for their colossal encounter with PSG, where a win would be the perfect way to bounce back after a difficult week.