The fear of losing outweighed the desire to win as Champions League-chasing AS Monaco and Strasbourg saw out a tepid 0-0 draw at the Stade Louis II on Saturday.
Monaco, off the back of home victories against OGC Nice and Marseille at home, were looking to extend their winning run at home to seven matches. However, this was a much more closed affair than those that preceded it. There wasn’t a lack of ambition from Strasbourg, simply a different game plan, and one based on exploiting the Principality club in transitions. It is a play style that has them well in the race for Champions League football.
Chances limited at Stade Louis II
It was the visitors who had the first big chance of the match but it was squandered by Emanuel Emegha, whose touch was loose, allowing Christian Mawissa to recover and get in a potentially goal-saving block.
Chelsea loanee Djordje Petrovic, in front of BlueCo’s Behdad Eghbali, then made a big stop for Strasbourg, palming away Maghnes Akliouche’s effort from outside the box. Monaco then thought that they had taken the lead through the prolific Mika Biereth on the stroke of half-time.
However, the Dane was denied a 13th goal in as many Ligue 1 games by the offside flag with Caio Henrique found to have been in an offside position in the build-up.
The game did not open up after the break. “We defended really well as a team to prevent Strasbourg from creating any real chances from the start to the end of the match,” said Adi Hütter post-match. The best chance fell to Valentín Barco midway through the second-half but he could only fire over with his first-time effort from inside the box.
Eliesse Ben Seghir came on in the 70th minute and added a fresh and much-needed impetus. He headed over, whilst amid a push to score a late winner, Folarin Balogun forced a save from Petrovic.
Hütter and Rosenior involved in altercation
However, it was Strasbourg who thought that they had nicked an opportune winner. Emegha popped up at the back post to head into the empty net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
Neither side truly did enough to warrant the win and as the full-time whistle went, there was frustration, at least from Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior, who was involved in a minor altercation with Hütter at full-time.
Rosenior said that his issue with Hütter began during the first meeting between the pair. “There is a code that I live by: you respect your opposition, you respect the people that you play against. I felt that code was broken. I felt that code was broken in the first game (against Monaco earlier in the season). When I have to wait five minutes to wear the opposition manager’s (Hütter) hand, that says a lot about other people […] I am here to win matches, not to make friends,” said Rosenior in reaction to the minor spat at the full-time whistle.
Hütter, in response, said that he had not seen Rosenior. “It is the first time in my 16 years as a manager that I’ve heard things like this. I have managed in many countries, managed 650 matches. I have been coaching two years in France and no coach has ever said to me that I have disappointed them,” added the Monaco manager.
“Every match is a final” – Hütter
Turning focus back to the match, Hütter said that he was “happy with the point taken”. He added, “It isn’t a negative result. We obviously wanted to win and take the three points but I feel that we had the better chances in the match.”
Monaco have now ceded second place to Marseille, who won later on Saturday evening. As Akliouche highlighted, this point may be important come the end of the season. “Every match is a final,” added Hütter as the race for Champions League football hots up.
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Photo source: AS Monaco