Montpellier was humiliated at Le Puy (4-0) in the 32nd final, Saturday December 21, after a match unworthy of a Ligue 1 team.
The fall will be harder, but where will it stop? Last in Ligue 1, Montpellier was eliminated from the Coupe de France by LePuy (4-0), a National 2 team which plays three divisions below it. Worse, the Montpellier residents were humiliated by the Ponots in the second half. So much so that the public shouted “Olé, olé” at each pass from their players, while the Pailladins ran after it. There was also “And one, and two, and three zeros”.
Except that the bill got even heavier. And it was with heads hung low that the MHSC left the pitch. As in 2020 in Belfort, where the Montpellier residents had already been eliminated by an N2 team (0-0, 5 to 4 tab). “This one is going to hurt us. We were eaten, we were swept away”made no secret of coach Jean-Louis Gasset.
Mental bankruptcy
Who had nevertheless warned his players about the quality of this Puy team, which had already beaten professional teams, including two from Ligue 2, last year. Proof of this distrust, the man with the cap had almost fielded his best team, since he had only made three changes compared to the one which had kept Nice in check (2-2), with Falaye Sacko and Stefan Dzodic who replaced Enzo Tchato and Nikola Maksimovic, Bertaud replacing Lecomte in goal.
But it was offensively that it failed at first, with Adams alone at six meters who only found the arms of Carvalho (5th), then Ferri whose shot was repelled by the crossbar (7th). There were then rushes from Mousa Tamari but the Jordanian striker found the former Hérault goalkeeper on his way (24th, 32nd). It was practically the last opportunity of the match for Montpellier, who conceded the opener after a free kick from Pays, a deflection of Soualhia's head and the conclusion from Zogba (43rd).
MHSC never recovered from the first goal
A first goal from which the Pailladins never recovered, who collapsed in the second half. “We gave up. Mentally, we don’t have the right to give up,” underlined Jean-Louis Gasset, whose tactical reorganization to go all out definitively condemned his team since Pays hit the nail on the head (75th), before Diebold (78th) and Mayela (90th) closed the tomb.
Proof of Montpellier's impotence away from home, as its coach pointed out: “Since I arrived, we have played many away matches, we have not taken a point, we have not scored a goal. I hoped that in another competition, we could show more mental qualities …”
Disillusioned with the work ahead of him and the unknowns of the transfer window, the MHSC coach knows that he “is not going to sleep for hours until January 31”. Hoping he gets out of this nightmare.
