Hope or not, levers, atmosphere: and now what should the MHSC do, more than ever on the road to Ligue 2 ?

Exclu dimanche, le capitaine Jordan Ferri a symbolisé la faillite d’un MHSC plus que jamais en difficulté. MAXPPP – JEAN MICHEL MART

Beaten by Angers (1-3) on Sunday January 12, MHSC finished the first half of the season in last place in Ligue 1. With 17 matches to go until the end of the season, the prospect of relegation is more relevant than ever. And the questions are numerous.

In La Mosson, the words were spoken. “The mission was very difficult. Today, it's mission impossible”, breathed Jean-Louis Gasset on Sunday evening, the dejected coach of a Montpellier HSC beaten by Angers (1-3) in a turning point not to be missed. La Paillade has plunged into the ditch and, with this one too many lapses, Ligue 2 is more looming than ever. However, there are 17 matches and four months of competition left. What for? ? That is THE question. Which is accompanied by a procession of subsidiary questions.

Hope, are you there?

Listening to the Montpellier technician, the answer is no. “There's half a championship left. There are a lot of points at stake, but we lost at Le Havre, we lost at Saint-Étienne and we lost at home against Angers. So, we're going to need a small miracle”, Gasset said.

An implacable observation. But how can we hope that a team that has picked up 9 points in 17 matches will collect at least 23 more in as many upcoming matches ? Difficult to imagine, even more so when the statistics are against MHSC: among the 17 teams to have totaled less than 10 points at this stage of a season in the elite, only two have managed to save themselves (Sète in 1947-48 and Ajaccio in 2011-12) according to Opta.

The Ligue 1 ranking

Except that mathematically, Montpellier is not doomed. The seven-point deficit over the play-off team (16th), Saint-Étienne, is not insurmountable this far from the finish line. Provided that they win the pivotal matches, the home games against Les Verts and Le Havre in March-April, but also hope for success in Angers and Nantes coupled with performances against teams beyond 15th place. All the while praying to the football gods that the competitors continue to advance slowly.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

What levers for Gasset ?

The match against Angers did nothing for Jean-Louis Gasset's white hair. And what comes next is not going to help matters. How, indeed, can we still concern a group that knows it is almost doomed ?

“Pride”, hammered the Hérault coach. “We still have to keep a minimum of pride, ego, respect also for this club and its history”, added Joris Chotard. Enough to stop the fall ? Not easy since even the executives, put back in the saddle by Gasset, are abandoning the ship, like the red card of captain Jordan Ferri on Sunday.

Should the coach, who relegated the ghost of Wahbi Khazri to the bench, to break the statutes again, that only Benjamin Lecomte seems to assume among the elders ? Who could raise the level while the solutions are lacking, young people included ?

The qualities of Becir Omeragic, Rabby Nzingoula or Arnaud Nordin and “Kiki” Kouyaté, when he is not excluded, are indisputable. But in this bleak context, we still have to succeed in expressing them.

An influence on the transfer window ?

Nzingoula loaned, Birama Touré free – and now gone –: this summer, Montpellier did not regenerate its squad with only two recruits. The winter was supposed to be its salvation. Almost halfway through the transfer window (January 1-February 3), nothing has changed, due to a lack of sales.

Can the situation at mid-championship impact market values ​​(Chotard, Tamari, etc.) and push interested clubs to drag their feet? The question of the relevance of recruiting can also be raised. Or, on the contrary, encourage them to do so by thinking about the future, by preparing a relegation that management has already planned.

What climate around the team ?

More than anger, the silence of La Mosson was astonishing on Sunday. As if, after long months of falling, the Pailladin public was discouraged, resigned. A state of mind that does not bode well except for a form of indifference and deserted stands in a stadium that is already far from being full.

The banner unfurled by the Ultras of Butte Paillade, Sunday at the end of the match. MAXPPP – JEAN MICHEL MART

The annoyance is still there. After Angers, the Ultras gave a glimpse of it, with banners and insults. Will they go and express it at the Grammont training center, after a first visit in October? ? It is feared. Like the reception that will be reserved, Friday (7 p.m.), when Monaco arrives. The match after.

I subscribe to read the rest