This Saturday (7pm), AS Monaco faces a promoted team, AJ Auxerre, its second in just four Ligue 1 games after Saint-Étienne in the championship round. An opponent against whom it will be necessary to confirm the good form seen in August and which could allow its attackers to come out of their silence.
International breaks are often quiet on the Rock. It must be said that the many absences due to selections skim a large part of the locker room. For this time, a majority of the group was still there, but among the attackers, George Ilenikhena must have felt a little alone, no doubt, with Folarin Balogun having crossed the Atlantic to play in the United States while Breel Embolo made a shorter trip to join Switzerland. The young Nigerian, who celebrated his 18th birthday in August, will probably not have taken offense for too long at these two absences. Even if the competition pulls the group upwards, Ilenikhena will have taken advantage of it to perfect his automatisms and strengthen his bonds with his new teammates, whom he only discovered in July.
To help him fit in, he can count on Kassoum Ouattara. The left-back, who saw the path clear somewhat at his position with the departure of Ismail Jakobs, explained that he takes this role to heart in the service of his former Amiens teammate: ” I think I have to play this big brother role with him so that he can integrate well into the group. » For now, Ilenikhena is like that goldfish won at the funfair still in its plastic bag and that you dip in the aquarium water to allow it to get used to the temperature of its future habitat. Despite a transfer estimated at 20 million euros, bonuses included, Adi Hütter has used him sparingly since the start of the season. 9 minutes against Saint-Étienne, 26 against Lyon then 25 against Lens, or one hour of play in three matches. The Austrian preferred to trust those who were already there last year to start the matches, Embolo and Balogun.
And Ilenikhena’s appearances have not necessarily been very conclusive, even if he could probably have opened his scoring in the competition against Lyon, beaten by Lamine Camara to cut off Ouattara’s cross. The former Royal Antwerp player must for the moment be content with bits of matches and his two goals scored in friendlies, against Feyenoord Rotterdam and against Genoa. But it is not impossible that the situation could change in Auxerre. Tomorrow (Saturday) you may see players you haven’t thought of. “, Hütter trumpeted at a press conference on Friday. The group’s announcement did not reveal a surprise guest, so it is with more or less the same men that the technician could concoct a cocktail a little different from the one served for the last three matches.
There are several reasons for this. After 270 minutes of play but 373 minutes in total for the three attackers, neither Balogun, nor Embolo nor Ilenikhena have yet managed to find the back of the net. The Red and Whites have struggled to score in the first three matches (4 goals) given the many chances they have created, particularly against Saint-Étienne and Lyon, and Balogun and Embolo have each had their share of missed chances, forcing us to note that this team lacks a cold-blooded killer. The former continues to drag his big lack of confidence while the latter remains irregular. This is where the third thief in the attack can step in and seize his chance, also so as not to start regretting too much a Wissam Ben Yedder and his twenty goals per season minimum. Against Auxerre, breaking the silence would not be a bad thing, especially before Barcelona and the Champions League. Scoring regularly is a way of ensuring that you continue to go around the jar in complete peace and quiet without becoming agitated. Serenity, everything an attacker is looking for.
