Monaco brings down Nice and returns to the podium

Monaco took third place on the Ligue 1 podium after its victory, at the end of a crazy match in Nice (3-2), which was until now undefeated at home, but which remains runner-up to Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday February 11 at the end of the 21^e daytime.

Adi Hütter, Monaco coach, was under pressure before this meeting. And his team responded with its weapons and weaknesses. The Principality team was generous, playful, talented, but also mentally deficient while leading and playing in numerical superiority.

In the Monaco parking lot the enormous banner “Get off your ass” was certainly translated to Dmitri Rybolovlev. Accompanied by his daughter, the Russian billionaire was present at his club’s match for the third time in a row; a first in nearly thirteen years of presidency. He suffered but won.

Because Monaco had to lead three times to succeed in winning. Denis Zakaria, author of a magnificent double, and Aleksandr Golovin allowed the Principality team, in bad shape recently, to put themselves back in the race for the Champions League. With 38 points, the club is now one step behind Nice. And it’s Paris Saint-Germain – 11 points ahead of the Aiglons – who have had the very good operation of the day.

Double from Zakaria

As Nice played to stand up to its opponent, the start of the match was intense and high level. Even without having yet struck on goal, Wissam Ben Yedder and his team showed a capacity for destabilization rarely seen in recent outings. Also when Denis Zakaria planted, from 25 meters, the first Monegasque shot on target in the top corner, the Rouge et Blanc took a logical advantage (1-0, 16^e).

From then on, as often this season. Monaco has backed down. And, above all, Nice did not deviate from its principles: suck in its opponent and hit behind their back. Cornered on its right side, Monaco ended up faltering. Launched deep by Dante, young Tom Louchet passed Kehrer before collapsing in the area. Gaëtan Laborde converted the penalty from the left and offered a deserved equalizer to the Aiglons (1-1, 37^e).

In the second half, Nice came back strong, but it was again Zakaria who projected himself, giving the Monegasques the lead again (1-2, 50^e). In the process, Dante was excluded after the intervention of the VAR (55^e). Nice, however, did not give up. From a Sanson corner, Guessand dominated Salisu with a header to equalize and make the match one of the great matches of the season.

Nice, capable of winning, pushed again, and again. But it was Monaco in a classy action that knocked them out. his opponent. Bulka had nevertheless released Jakobs’ first strike. But Golovin followed well to give a victory (2-3, 77^e), which Nice contested until the end of seven minutes of added time.

Lyon takes a deep breath

Brest, down to 4^e place, on the other hand looks gloomy after having broken his teeth against Clermont (1-1), good last and very happy not to bow to one of the best formations of the elite. Rennes, qualified on Tuesday for the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France, continued its momentum in L1 thanks to a goal from Benjamin Bourigeaud which allowed Julien Stéphan’s team to point in 7^e position. Enough to prepare with the greatest serenity for the trip to the AC Milan pitch on Thursday, in the first leg of the Europa League play-off.

In the race to maintain, Lyon almost plunged again and fell back into its failings against Montpellier in a duel of poorly classified, but the Rhone club was saved at the end of the match, first by its providential scorer Alexandre Lacazette, then by Maxence Caqueret (2-1), author of a nice shot under the crossbar. The improvement seen in recent weeks under the direction of Pierre Sage is confirmed for OL, which also benefits from the contribution of its numerous winter recruits. Now 13^eLyon takes a deep breath.

Lorient also performed well by beating Reims (9^e) at Moustoir (2-0) and gives itself some fresh air with this second success in a row (16^e and dam operator). On the Reims side, Japanese international Junya Ito, accused of sexual assault by two women in Japan, was started by Will Still after returning to France following the elimination of his national team in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup in Qatar. Nantes (12^e) for its part, brought back a precious victory for Toulouse (2-1), which eased some of the pressure around the coach, Jocelyn Gourvennec.

Recognizing the efforts of VPF as well as the referee team in accessing technology, but until now, only matches in the Central region have applied VAR, leading to imbalance.

Therefore, a lot of controversy still occurs. Even matches with VAR are not lacking in controversy, so hopefully the referees will be more drastic, decisive and clear in their decisions.

That forces the players to adapt, because statistics show that the national team has poor results in international matches with VAR because it still carries “bad habits” in the V.League.

Coach Philippe Troussier needs to give the national men’s soccer team as well as the U23 team a fresher, more effective image. Photo: VFF

National team and U23

What happens in 2023 and the first month of 2024 helps Vietnamese football truly realize where it is. Maybe, under coach Park Hang-seo there is glory and victories, but for the higher goal of a continental playground or finding a World Cup ticket, all we need is a change in style and attitude. In terms of philosophy and thinking, Vietnamese football is once again affirmed that it is not ready.

In fact, the lack of a solid foundation has been talked about for a long time, but regional victories, a few successes at youth level, a few good matches of the national team against strong opponents are easy to understand. gives rise to illusion.

Since taking on the position of coach of the national team and the U23 team, Mr. Troussier has talked about the “thorny journey” and “hopes for everyone’s companionship.” But the majority of demanding fans – as Mr. Troussier concluded, 80%, seem to not want to go along because the team and U23 failed.

So, hopefully in 2024, there will be more support for Mr. Troussier. But in return, the French coach also needs to make the team’s face more positive. It’s still the same style of play, but the efficiency must be higher, the tactics and pieces sharper. Still the same philosophy, but hopefully Mr. Troussier will be more flexible and improvise better on personnel issues. That’s because of Vietnamese football and it can also help make the chair he sits in less hot.