AS Monaco continued their excellent run in Ligue 1 with a controlled 2-0 win over Brest on Saturday night, a result that lifts the Principality club into the European places.Â
As Sébastien Pocognoli said at the midway point of the season, the club’s disastrous first half of the campaign left a big margin for improvement in the second. The turnaround in recent weeks has bordered on the miraculous when you consider what came before. Les Monégasques are now unbeaten in their last eight games in the league, have won their last five, and have taken 20 points from a possible 24.
These matches are the ones that have often tripped Monaco up. There was understandable euphoria last Friday when Pocognoli’s men stormed the Parc des Princes, scoring three goals and taking all three points away to reigning European champions PSG. But backing that up at the Stade Louis II against a side that they are ‘expected’ to beat has been a shortcoming for this Monaco side, not just this year.
Balogun and Monaco clinical
Perhaps that undersells Saturday night’s clash. Pocognoli sought to highlight that the game was “the headliner of the gameweek”, one contested between Ligue 1’s two most in-form sides. He was right. No teams have registered more points than Monaco and Brest over the past six gameweeks. Even if they still linger in midtable, Brest’s confidence showed in the opening exchanges. “We started the match in the way that we wanted,” reacted Eric Roy.
Consequently, it took Monaco time to play themselves into this match, but once they did, the reward was immediate. After 15 minutes of being hassled and harried into errors by a high-pressing Brest side, the Principality club built their first period of pressure and netted at the end of it. It was Balogun who continued his hot streak, netting in his fourth consecutive game in Ligue 1, after pouncing onto a loose ball inside the Brest box.
A second could have followed had Maghnes Akliouche done better with a sumptuous inswinger from Aladji Bamba, but he clumsily kneed wide. When Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe failed to convert a glorious chance moments later, it was a reminder of how fragile their lead was. It remained that way and incited Pocognoli to make attacking changes around the hour mark, despite his side defending a lead. His choice was justified when Aleksandr Golovin rifled into the roof of the net following a move involving two of Pocognoli’s substitutes, Mika Biereth and Mamadou Coulibaly.
Roy regretted that his side didn’t shoot enough, despite creating the conditions to do so, and it took until the 82nd minute for Brest to register their first shot on target. They didn’t do enough to take any points back to Brittany, quite simply, relative to a Monaco side that, even when leading, chased another goal.
“We want to climb up the table” – Faes
“In the 60th minute, we felt that there were signs that we needed to add some fresh legs,” said Pocognoli, and it was his defensive substitutions after the second goal that helped “kill all hope for Brest,” added the Monaco manager, who was once again grateful for Balogun’s contribution. “He is simply reaping the fruit of his hard work. He is ambitious, focused, professional… he has a lot to play for between now and the end of the season, and in the summer [at the World Cup],” he said.
Pocognoli repeated the “feet on the ground” mantra, despite the run. “We are coming from a long way back,” he said. “We know where we’ve come from,” added Wout Faes, who nonetheless added that Monaco can now “be ambitious.”
“We want to climb up the table; that is clear. We haven’t set ourselves an objective, but we are looking at ourselves first and foremost,” said the Belgian. With matches against direct rivals Lyon and Marseille coming up, Monaco’s fate is in their own hands, a scenario that felt improbable just a matter of weeks ago.
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Photo source: AS Monaco