Sport
A page will soon turn on the side of the Principality.
Arrived in June 2020 to restructure Monaco after several difficult seasons, Paul Mitchell will leave the Rock club in the coming months. In an interview given to The Team this Thursday, the British sporting director confirmed his upcoming departure while assuring that he would first find the one to whom he will pass the baton: “I came to the conclusion that I had done everything I came for three years ago. The reconstruction is complete. My story will be written elsewhere, but I also have to give us time to find the right successor, so that the club continues to work with the same philosophy. » The Briton already claims to be working on the next transfer window and does not want to leave “leaving everyone in uncertainty”.
On the sporting strategy side, the leader defends his balance sheet and highlights the confidence placed in young people: “We have to develop young people, so we have to give them playing time. If we had bought two midfielders three years ago, Aurélien(Tchouaméni)et Youssouf(breath) wouldn’t be the players they are today. […] We have to adapt to financial fair play and new constraints. Between 2018 and 2020, the club were among the top five spenders in the world and they came close to being relegated. Now the team is fighting for the podium, spending a lot less and developing a lot more players.» While waiting to find out where their team will end the season, the Monegasque club is therefore embarking on a transition that they will have to negotiate well to get back on track next year.
In this interview, he also evokes the European disillusionment of his training (reversed in the Europa League, out of his group, but eliminated in the play-offs), with a good dose of bitterness: “We were really unlucky against Leverkusen. We have long been the best team, the closest to winning. Penalties are the lottery. It’s hard to find any logic there. When you deserve qualification and you are eliminated, there is like a hangover. […] Against Donetsk, we had a lot more expected-goals than them and we conceded an own goal like I had never seen. Everyone will agree that it’s bad luck. PSV is a lesson in learning how to manage the end of matches at this level. And when Leverkusen score five out of five shots against us after missing seven out of eight this season, that’s lucky for them. (On penalty shootout) I read a lot about it, especially after the World Cup. It’s hard to find a logic, because hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off in this area. We try to control everything we can, the way the opponents shoot, the goalkeeper’s dives, the side our shooters have to choose, but there is something more to take into account, the pressure of D-Day, the part of irrationality which complicates the preparation. »
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