Five AS Monaco players featured in the opening round of World Cup games in Qatar, as Breel Embolo stole the headlines, netting for Switzerland against his country of birth, Cameroon.
Krépin Diatta and Ismaïl Jakobs were the first Monaco players to star in the tournament, with the latter’s preparation for the tie against the Netherlands hugely hampered.
Administrative banality almost ends Jakobs’ World Cup
Jakobs’ decision to switch international allegiance from Germany to Senegal was a relatively late one. Despite featuring for Aliou Cissé’s side in the last international break before the World Cup, FIFA still hadn’t processed his paperwork. Consequently, the full-back’s participation was thrown into doubt and only resolved hours before the game.
Given the all-clear, Jakobs had to settle for a place on the bench, but came on in the latter stages. Diatta played from the start, but couldn’t influence the outcome of the game as Senegal lost 2-0 against the Dutch.
France survive early Socceroos scare
Youssouf Fofana and his former teammate at AS Monaco, Aurélien Tchouaméni, both featured for Les Bleus as they came back from a goal down to beat Australia 4-1 on Tuesday. Tchouaméni featured from the start, as he often has in recent weeks, with his old midfield partner coming on in the final minutes.
Former Monaco forward Kylian Mbappé got himself on the scoresheet too as Didier Deschamps’ side got themselves off to a winning start. Axel Disasi didn’t play, but he could potentially start against Denmark on Saturday, with RMC Sport reporting that the former Reims defender is being tested as a right-back option ahead of the game.
A game-changing intervention
Takumi Minamio didn’t feature from the start against Germany, but he used his limited playing time to good effect. When he entered the fray in the 74th minute, Japan were 1-0 down. One minute later, and Japan drew level after the Monaco forward’s shot was parried into the path of Ritsu Doan, who couldn’t miss the rebound.
Japan shocked the Germans when they grabbed a late winner through Takuma Asano, with Minamino’s introduction proving a game-changing moment. Germany now face Spain in their next round, and they must win if they are to progress to the knockout rounds.
Embolo’s emotional goal
In a roundtable interview with Monaco Life prior to the tournament, Embolo spoke about the difficulty of choosing Switzerland over Cameroon.
“When I chose to play for Switzerland, there was always part of me that wanted to represent my country of birth. I am very happy with my choice and I’m Cameroon’s biggest fan,” he said.
The Monaco striker had the unusual sensation of facing his country of birth in a World Cup opener, and he marked the “emotional” occasion with the winning goal, which out of respect, he chose not to celebrate. He has now put Switzerland in a strong position to qualify from their group.
Sead Kolasinac scored a 98th-minute winner to break Monaco hearts at the Stade Louis II on Sunday (2-3) as Philippe Clement’s men head into the World Cup break on a sour note.
A win for Monaco would have seen them move into the top four, and for a large part of the match, they looked on course to do so, but a late collapse sees them drop to sixth.
AS Monaco’s supporters’ groups packed the stands of the Louis II on Sunday evening, whilst thousands of Marseille fans joined in to create a fantastic atmosphere.
The away side started the brighter and should have taken the lead. Nuno Tavares, Mattéo Guendouzi and Samuel Gigot all missed glaring chances early-on. Marseille did eventually take the lead through a sumptuous Alexis Sanchez free-kick.
However, Monaco hit back before the break. Krépin Diatta was brought down inside the box and Wissam Ben Yedder stepped up and calmly slotted a panenka penalty past Anthony Lopes to level the scores.
Monaco then carried their momentum in the second half, and they went ahead through Kevin Volland, who was slotted through on goal by Aleksandr Golovin. But the pendulum swung again the final stages.
Jordan Veretout showed some nimble footwork inside the box before blasting past Alexander Nübel to level the scores. Both sides then went for the win. As a result of a horrible injury to Amine Harit, there was a lengthy amount of stoppage time, and with the final kick of the game, Marseille broke Monaco hearts.
Dimitri Payet’s in-swinging cross was met by Kolasinac, with the glancing header making its way past Nübel and into the back of the net.
Clement’s comments
“The outcome was cruel… In the end, I am disappointed because my players didn’t get the result they deserved tonight,” said Clement.
The Belgian coach also bemoaned some late refereeing decisions, which saw Payet awarded a late foul, when replays showed there was very minimal contact.
“Honestly, the foul was very slight. In any case, if this action deserved a foul, we must call for 100 like that per game. I am very disappointed, like my players,” he said.
Man of the match – Wissam Ben Yedder
The Frenchman showed a good reaction to being left out of Didier Deschamps’ World Cup squad. If Monaco are to reach their objectives this season, they will need a fully-firing Ben Yedder and one that isn’t affected by his World Cup disappointment. His panenka penalty was indicative of a player high on confidence. Perhaps a mid-season break for the 32-year-old striker will be a blessing in disguise for the former Sevilla man.
Monaco now goes into hibernation before returning to competitive action against Auxerre on 28th December.
AS Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev has joined the Executive Board of the Ligue de Football, succeeding Oleg Petrov in the role.
The Ligue de Football (LFP) made an announcement on Wednesday 9th November that during a meeting of the General Assembly earlier that day, a vote saw Rybolovlev join the Executive Board of the organisation, which runs France’s professional football leagues.
Rybolovlev replaces Petrov, who has vacated the role. However, this former member of the LFP Executive Board is still the Principality club’s representative on the European Association of Clubs and Petrov has recently diversified his sporting activities in the Principality, managing Fedcom Media, which is owned by AS Monaco Basketball owner Alexei Fedorichev. Consequently, Petrov is often present at the Roca Team’s fixtures, as was the case against Red Star Belgrade just last week.
Petrov had been on the board for over two years, having joined it in September 2020. As well as Rybolovlev’s significant investment in AS Monaco, including in the club’s brand new Performance Centre in La Turbie, the Russian owner’s latest move to join the LFP is another sign of his commitment to the club.
Photo source: AFP
Paul Mitchell reacts to AS Monaco’s “exciting” Europa League draw
AS Monaco have drawn German side Bayern Leverkusen in the first round of the Europa League knockout stages, in what sporting director Paul Mitchell has described as an “exciting game.”
Last Thursday’s comfortable victory over Red Star Belgrade consolidated Philippe Clement’s second place in their Europa League group, meaning that unlike last year, they will face against a dropout from this year’s Champions League competition.
During Monday’s draw, Monaco drew German side Bayern Leverkusen, who have been struggling in their domestic division so far this season.
“I think it’s an exciting draw. Their league position is a bit false, to be honest,” began Mitchell. “I spent time in Germany, and they were always a great rivals of ours at RB Leipzig (one of Mitchell’s former clubs). They were always fighting for the podium, fighting for the top four. I actually, fortunately, and maybe intuitively, was there last week for their game against Club Bruges so I have seen first-hand the quality that they have. They’ve just changed coach to Alonso, so they have someone implementing a different style and they’ve just had a massive win against Union Berlin at the weekend, who are having a fantastic season. It will be a tough challenge, but I think it will be an exciting game,” he continued.
Asked by Monaco Life whether Alonso’s recent arrival at the German club makes them a bit of an unknown entity, Mitchell replied, “Everyone is going to get this kind of micro pre-season again. That will give [Alonso] time on the grass with his team. Any new coach wants as much of that as they possibly can. I think we’ll see a different Leverkusen in the second half of the season when we play them. Seeing the quality of their squad list, the dynamism of their team, it’s going to be a tough challenge for us for sure.”
Monaco visit Leverkusen on 16th February, before hosting the return leg one week later, with Clement’s men looking to better last year’s performance in the competition.
Photo of Paul Mitchell by Monaco Life
Hat-trick hero Volland helps Monaco secure European qualification
Kevin Volland scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory for AS Monaco against Red Star Belgrade at the Stade Louis II on Thursday, ensuring their progression to the knockout stages.
Prior to the clash against Red Star, dubbed a “final,” Monaco manager Philippe Clement said that it was important not to “calculate” and think about the different scenarios that could play out on the night. Whatever happened elsewhere, a win for Monaco was enough to send them through to the knockout stages of the Europa League for consecutive seasons.
It was immediately clear that Clement’s players had received the message. They immediately sought to put Red Star under pressure, and the pressure quickly told.
Caio Henrique’s sumptuous, pin-point delivery was met perfectly by the head of Kevin Volland, who nodded into an empty net with the goalkeeper caught in no man’s land.
A flurry of half-chances followed, Krépin Diatta had a shot saved, whilst Wissam Ben Yedder had the ball in the back of the net, only for the offside flag to deny the Frenchman.
Photo by Monaco Life.
The lead was doubled, and it was Volland again with the finish. Found on the edge of the box, his curling effort nestled into the bottom corner, the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
There was no let-up after the break. Aleksandr Golovin, arguably Monaco’s most consistent and improved player this season, dribbled around the Red Star defence, before putting a shot across goal, which was diverted into the goal by the recovering Milan Rodić.
A rash Benoît Badiashile challenge in the box gave Red Star an unlikely route back into the match with Guélor Kanga stepping up to convert the resulting penalty. The Serbian side almost got a second, but VAR ruled out Aleksandar Pesić’s sliding finish.
After the Red Star scare, Monaco shored up their defence and thereafter looked unthreatened. The night was perfectly capped by Volland who secured his hat trick in the latter stages, his first in Monaco colours.
Clement’s comments
“There were those who said my team had problems in big matches. I’m happy my team showed otherwise. They were ready, and started with a good tempo, created chances, and played collectively and with aggression. The first half was very good, one of the best first halves during my time as manager here,” said Clement post-match.
He was also happy with his side’s mentality after conceding the goal that gave Red Star an unlikely route back into the match. “It was dangerous at this moment. We continued to play to score goals and create chances. It’s important with a young squad, who have received setbacks in the past months, to show that they have grown. I see a team that is growing every week,” Clement told Monaco Life.
Man of the match – Kevin Volland
The German has been a support act for much of the season so far, playing second-fiddle to Breel Embolo, who has hit the ground running. However, Volland made his case to start more regularly on Thursday. He met Henrique’s pin-point cross well, before doubling his account on the night with a technically adept, curling finish from the edge of the box.
His return to form is potentially pivotal not only for club, but also for country. Timo Werner’s injury gives Volland a glimmer of hope of making Germany’s World Cup squad. His performance against Red Star will certainly have caught the attention of his Hansi Flick.
Monaco next face Toulouse in Ligue 1 on Sunday in the penultimate match before the World Cup break.
Photo by AS Monaco
Interview: ASM director of performance James Bunce on the psychology of football
Once again, AS Monaco is at the forefront of evolution. Possessors of an avant-garde performance centre and recruiters of the first nutritionist in the Ligue 1, the club is now harnessing the “under-tapped” psychology of football.
“Everyone looks at sport from the neck down,” AS Monaco director of performance James Bunce told Monaco Life. The Principality club are taking steps to change that. Through recruiting two full-time psychologists – Emilie Thienot and Sophie Huguet, the club is harnessing “one of the most under-tapped advantages in football and even in the wider sporting environment,” says Bunce.
Whilst this almost certainly won’t remain the case for long, no other Ligue 1 club is currently innovating in this way by challenging the status quo of how health and sporting performance is perceived. Following Paris Saint-Germain’s dramatic capitulation against Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League, there was talk of the club recruiting a psychologist, although no arrival was ever officialised.
But Monaco’s approach, in line with the societal shift towards an increased focus on mental health, is based not on reacting to an issue, but on optimising and revolutionising an “under-tapped” facet of the game. Questioned by Monaco Life on whether the mental aspect of the game has been overlooked in the past, Bunce replied:
“I wouldn’t say that [physical well-being] is favoured deliberately over [mental wellbeing]. Everyone concentrates on the neck down and looks at sport from the neck down. We have become very good at monitoring the neck down: physical outputs, training loads, accelerations, sprinting, duels won. We’re really good at looking at that. Not deliberately, but I think we often overlook the mental side because it’s really hard to evaluate. It’s really hard to train and to teach, and to have objective moments in that.”
He continued, “However, even if you anecdotally look back and listen to players and coaches speak after games, a lot of them will talk about a mental attribute that either helped them or caused the problem. “We switched off, we weren’t at it, we didn’t put the effort in, we weren’t motivated”, and so it’s a really ironic situation where we talk about struggling with mentality, but we don’t train it to anywhere near the same extent as we do other things. So that’s why psychology for me is one of the most under-tapped advantages in football and even in the wider sporting environment. I speak a lot about this topic, and how we try and get this right.”
Innovation is engrained into the DNA of the Principality club, and the prioritisation of the mental side of the game is the latest manifestation of that. “Prior to my arrival, but also since Paul’s (Mitchell) and my arrival, we as a club have been trying to innovate and push forward. We were the first to get a full-time nutritionist, so we were breaking new ground there, and one of the first to invest in the performance and medical department. So, psychology for us is about getting a competitive advantage but also trying to develop our players to be the best they can be, that means on and off the pitch, trying to develop champions, trying to develop French national team and international standard players, and we know the mind has to be a part of that,” said Bunce.
Last season, it was manager Philippe Clement who took on the mantle to provide mental support to his young squad. Whilst it was a role that he gladly assumed, he is happy to be relieved of his duties with the arrivals of Thienot and Huguet.
Photo of Emilie Thienot and Sophie Huguet, source AS Monaco
“[The psychologists] are very important. I spoke with Paul and the president after the season and I said I thought it was important to grow as a club, for the players, for the staff, for everyone [to have them]. For me, it’s very important to have psychological help here, because last year I was the psychologist here, but in the end, I am also the man who decides. It’s important, because these are young players who were all big stars during their formative years but they weren’t really in competition, and now they come here and there is a lot of competition. That can have a mental impact, and an impact on confidence as well. We have to help the players, give them tools to channel their emotions,” said Clement in a pre-match press conference at the end of September.
Giving players the “tools to channel their emotions” is the key to this shift, as Bunce explained in greater detail. Asked how the club’s latest advancement would manifest itself on the pitch, he replied:
“To get an objective marker is really difficult. We speak to the players about their mental fatigue, about their emotions and things like that, but it’s not like a blood sample; it’s not like a metric that we measure like running speed. If we do a fitness programme we can say that they’ve increased lifting weight from 100kg to 150kg – that’s a 50% increase, they’ve gone from that speed to this speed. There isn’t a concrete, objective marker. However, what we hope manifests in the building is that the playing group begin to develop attributes that they didn’t have, that they might then use. So it’s not about seeing that in every moment they are using a mental skill, but about giving them a tool case full of ways to handle different situations.”
“If we are in a moment where we are 1-0 up and it’s the 90th minute and we need to see out the results, we have the mental skills to deal with that adversity, or with the motivation, or with the capacity to manage the game in a better way. What the psychologists are always trying to do is give the players the tools to cope with scenarios, and when they come to those scenarios, they are better equipped than they previously were to deal with them,” Bunce continued.
The in-house psychologists aren’t restricted to who they work with. “The way we have built the department of psychology is that it doesn’t only extend itself to players. Obviously, the players are hugely important and we want to develop their psychological characteristics, abilities, and traits, but we also wanted to develop the staff within the building,” Bunce told Monaco Life.
The sessions themselves will be specifically tailored to the individuals and their pathways and put on a level footing with physical conditioning. “The players can visit them any time they want. Being players, they aren’t here until 9pm. Some do it at different periods, some like to have conversations before matches to focus, some are working on different long-term strategies, imagery, motivation, leadership, and things like that. So those will be structured into their working week like a gym session is. It is no different than physical conditioning. Then we build the team aspects into the programme like we would an analysis meeting,” said Bunce.
Whilst the benefits of the club’s latest innovative approach will naturally be difficult to quantify, centre-back Guillermo Maripán believes that it will allow him and his teammates to “express [themselves] better”.
“Personally, I think that psychology is very important, not just in football. I think it will be a plus for the team, to allow us to be better, to think better, to express ourselves better. I think the two professionals will be very important for us and will help us a lot,” said the player.
The capacity to “be better, think better and express [oneself] better” would constitute a significant competitive advantage in a sport where success or failure hinges on such minor details. By tapping into the psychology of football, the Principality club are at the forefront of change. They may be an outlier for now, but they are unlikely to remain so for too long.
Photo by AS Monaco
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