Reaction: Mistakes and wastefulness costly for AS Monaco in loss to Lille

On a night where unforced errors again haunted AS Monaco in their 2-1 loss to Lille, Adi Hutter, Lamine Camara and Eliesse Ben Seghir reflected on a match that was full of ups and downs.

Hutter’s recap

Despite the result, there was no doubting Monaco produced a showing that had many positives attached to it, which is illustrated by the fact they held the edge over Lille in terms of expected goals (2.36 to 1.16), total shots (13 to 9), big chances created (5 to 1), shots inside the box (9 to 7), passes in the opposition half (278 to 168) and touches in the opposition box (26 to 18).

“It’s a difficult defeat because Lille are direct competitors for qualification to the Champions League next season. Being led 2-0 here is always complicated to come back from, but I saw a team that fought until the end. We had opportunities, mainly in the first half, with Mika Biereth and Eliesse Ben Seghir. There was also a penalty on Takumi Minamino at the start of the match,” insisted the Austrian tactician.

“The result is not good, that’s for sure, and we weren’t decisive enough in both areas. But I think our football is better today than a few weeks ago. So that makes me positive even if the defeat is necessarily difficult to accept at this moment. We must also respect Lille, who defended very well, they are a top team in the French championship, who also finished in the top eight in the Champions League. We tried to find solutions until the end by creating a few opportunities.

“If we look at the statistics in more detail, we had more possession and more expected goals, but the final result is a defeat. I was not happy with the football played a few weeks ago, but I feel today that we are better. The position in the championship is not good at the moment, but the season is not over. We have to keep fighting and we will.”

Goals conceded

Hutter then addressed the two goals conceded in a measured manner, stating: “The first goal was conceded after a throw-in – we were not ready enough for that situation. The second one is more complicated to explain because we had the opportunity to clear two or three times. Haraldsson punished us twice, that is not acceptable. Of course, we will have to do better in the future.”

Mistakes costly

Camara offered an honest assessment of how the match unfolded in his post-match interview, aptly touching on the fine margins between success and failure.

“We are obviously very disappointed by this defeat, because we lost points today. But despite this result, I think we played well by dominating this match, which unfortunately did not turn out in our favor. We will now have to analyse our mistakes to rectify them and look forward to the next meeting against Reims,” said the Senegalese star.

“We are showing good things at the moment by applying the coach’s instructions. Unfortunately, we are making mistakes that we will have to erase for the rest of the season. Our goal remains to finish on the podium and qualify for the Champions League.”

Wastefulness

Even though their avoidable missteps proved costly once more, the many chances Monaco failed to convert was another major factor towards them losing this one as well.

“We had quite a few chances, so we knew how to be dangerous and smother them, like George Ilenikhena’s last chance stopped by Lucas Chevalier. Then, it’s certain that we lacked realism up front, so we’ll try to work on that and come back stronger,” stated exciting youngster Ben Seghir.

Struggles against the elite

Next on the agenda for the 55-year-old manager was speaking on his team’s poor form against the heavy hitters in Ligue 1.

“Every game is worth three points and when you look at the number of points taken, I am not happy to have only taken one against the top five teams. There are now 33 points to take until the end of the season, so we will have to do our best to collect as many as possible to qualify again for the Champions League because it is important for the club,” he asserted.

“It’s not the end of the season yet, but it’s also true that the results away from home are not enough. We are stronger at home, but we will have to bring back some points away, it’s very important for us. Today is a difficult defeat, but we won’t give up.”

Keep pushing

With plenty to ponder in a positive and negative sense, expect Monaco to come out swinging against Reims this Friday night after a full week of analysis, training and preparation.