MHSC: “When the leaders are at this level…”, against Monaco La Paillade found executives who will have to confirm

Déjà performant contre Angers, Lecomte avait été désigné capitaine contre Monaco et a réussi dix arrêts. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

À l’image de Benjamin Lecomte et Téji Savanier, le MHSC a retrouvé ses cadres, vendredi 17 janvier, pour se sortir de la nasse, dominer Monaco (2-1) et retrouver un peu d’espoir.

On Friday, La Mosson turned the sound back on. Five days after being lost in cathedral silence and a shock at the height of its team's fall against Angers (1-3), the Montpellier stadium vibrated like rarely this season, during the victory against Monaco (2-1). And not only because its Ultras de la Butte Paillade innovated by playing techno music to express their weariness. If the stadium capsized, it is also because he found the MHSC, the idea he has of it and the executives he thought were disconnected and moved on.

“From the outside, you might think that we're giving up because of course, we're not winning a match. It's easier to say that we're training badly, that we're playing badly, etc. Now, I've never seen a group that was defeated, I've never seen a group that gave up and said: “That's it, let's go, too bad”. We showed it tonight”, swept away Benjamin Lecomte, symbol of this recovery.

“Now, we have a team”

In ninety minutes – and even 99 after a stifling injury time – the goalkeeper and Téji Savanier demonstrated the complete opposite of what was feared. With ten saves for the former, who was inducted as captain, and real activity and desire for the latter, their performance confirmed that the two players had not given up. Even if the rumors of departure continue to surround them, in a club in need of finances and departures.

The Ligue 1 ranking

“When the leaders are at this level, when I see Wahbi (Khazri) defend, when I see Téji (Savanier) reposition himself and Benjamin (Lecomte) reassure us… That's the role of the leaders. In all groups, it's like that. When they are at this level of involvement, then, we have a team”, a underlined their coach, Jean-Louis Gasset.

A contagious radiance

The observation inevitably recalls its opposite: when these executives are not at this level of involvement, the entire Pailladin edifice collapses. Before the current Hérault coach, his predecessors had regularly pointed the finger at him, regretting this fluctuating investment or this way of not fully assuming responsibility. Five days before Monaco, the rout against Angers had been yet another reminder of this, from Jordan Ferri's red card to Savanier's performance. Only Lecomte, heroic in the storm, had been spared.

On Sunday, the latter recovered an armband which “doesn't change anything”, according to him, and everyone was in tune. For an energy expenditure inversely proportional to the ranking, a recovery to be supervised and a contagious impact on their teammates. Like the young defender Yaël Mouanga, 19 years old and very solid for his second start in L1.

“I live with a yo-yo”

“It's not the youngster who will make the difference, it's the executives who must set an example, Gasset noted. Benjamin Lecomte, today, and Téji Savanier showed that they were pushing themselves to the limit. When it's like that, the youngsters around them can play with confidence and we can interchange them.”

ASM paid the price for this turnaround. “Now, it's all well and good to say that if next weekend, we don't show this face again…”, Lecomte was quick to warn. Who knows that his MHSC too rarely does continuity. “Today, it was yes. Against Angers, it was no. In Lyon (1-0), it was yes. In Le Puy (4-0), it was no. I'm yo-yoing. I live with a yo-yo”, compared Gasset. Who will expect no less, next Sunday, in Toulouse. Since his executives, like his team, have shown him in a big way that they can still bend over backwards.

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