Akor Adams estime être revenu à 100% de ses capacités et devrait débuter à la pointe du MHSC. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART
Montpellier is playing a match that looks like a trap, Saturday, December 21, at 6 p.m. at the Massot stadium. Jean-Louis Gasset has warned his players.
Montpellier will not be able to say that it was not warned. This 32nd round of the Coupe de France in Puy-en-Velay, played just before the holidays, seems to be the very definition of an ambush. An opponent, who plays three divisions below (N2), a specialist in the event with seven 32nd rounds in eight years and especially a quarter-final last year, lost against Rennes (1-3).
Even if the Le Puy team has evolved a lot in the off-season, the Cup is in the DNA of this club. This did not escape the attention of coach Jean-Louis Gasset. “We will surely play to a sold-out crowd. The players opposite are waiting for this match. There are young players who have been through Montpellier (Carvalho, Ghalem, Sakho is suspended). The coach is from MHSC (Stéphane Dief, winner of the Gambardella in 1996). They will not be seeking revenge but they will want to show that they exist”, anticipated the coach from Pailladin.
Who also knows that the match will be played in difficult conditions. “We're going to a region where the weather is sometimes complicated. We've seen snow, ice. If it thaws, we can see mud. We have to know how to adapt to all these conditions and play like a Ligue 1 club.”
A motivation test
If the championship is precisely Montpellier's priority, there is no question of the Hérault coach taking this Cup match lightly. On Thursday, during a traditionally à la carte training session the day before the match, everyone was on the pitch apart from Enzo Tchato (suspended at Le Puy) and Nikola Maksimovic, who has a calf injury.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000“We were kind of waiting to see everyone's motivation. It was a bit of a special week in the context. We played a lot of games, fun sessions, sessions in front of goal”, explains the man with the cap. A slightly lighter week than usual, but the holidays will have to wait and Jean-Louis Gasset only wants to think about qualifying.
With his staff, they studied their opponent like a Ligue 1 team. “Since the draw, we have spied on them professionally to try to give the players as much information as possible and to know the match that had to be played to avoid the trap.”
A way out of a complicated season
Especially since we must not forget, and its coach better than anyone else, the history that links the MHSC and the Coupe de France. “When Montpellier won in 1990. The first round had been very complicated in Châteaurenard against Istres. We had to wait until the last minute and a goal from Kader Ferhaoui.” That year, La Paillade was also struggling in the championship.
“You have to play hard, not calculate. It's an adventure for a group of players who can suffer on a daily basis but find an escape in a competition like this.” Gasset gave the way forward. It was up to his players to chart their course and not fall into Le Puy.
With Coulibaly, without Lecomte ?
Will it play or not? Before this 32nd round of the Cup in Le Puy-en-Velay, Jean-Louis Gasset wanted to gauge the motivation to compose the MHSC eleven. Nikola Maksimovic, who has a calf injury, will be absent and will be replaced by Dzodic or Mouanga. The coach, on the other hand, will recover Coulibaly after his two-match suspension. On the Ponot side, the former Concarneau player, Lebeau, was preferred to Esmel.
LE PUY: Carvalho – Zogba, Ghalem, Soualhia – Bouleghcha, Xhemo (cap.), Lebeau, Faty – Pays – Adélaïde, Diebold. Substitutes: Boulamoy (l.), Maronne (l.), Abergel, Diarra, Esmel, Maurin, Lassablière, Darnaud, Mayela.
MONTPELLIER: Bertaud – Sacko, Maksimovic or Dzodic, Omeragic, Sylla – Ferri or Chotard, Nzingoula – Nordin, Savanier (cap.), Coulibaly – Adams. Substitutes: Lecomte (l.), Dzodic or Maksimovic, Sainte-Luce, Chotard or Ferri, Fayad, Barès, Khazri, Tamari, Gueguin.
Referee: M. Pignard.
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