“Stay positive, believe in ourselves and our style of play”

Anxious to take the three points in Montpellier and restart a positive dynamic, the Monegasque technician was at a press conference on the eve of this meeting (Friday, 7 p.m.).

They want to regain confidence. Surprised on penalties in the Coupe de France on Tuesday against Reims, the Rouge et Blanc travel to Montpellier this Friday (7 p.m.) with the desire to take three points in order to prepare well for the return of the Champions League, four days later late, against Aston Villa. It is therefore with this in mind that Adi Hütter presented himself at a press conference. Excerpts. ????️

Current results

We have explanations for this more difficult situation, even if it can sometimes be seen as excuses. It can happen in a season, it is happening right now. When you look at the last match, we were unlucky in a few situations without VAR but we had 90 minutes to win the match. It is then difficult to explain what happened during the penalty session, it is not easy to accept.

We have suffered a lot of draws and narrow defeats recently. Sometimes it's better to get a big blow to the back of the neck and maybe take a 4-0. Instead of accumulating draws, it is for example better to lose once in order to bounce back better and win. We have to get up and win tomorrow, we know that. Montpellier is also in a difficult situation. But coming back to the question, we don't have excuses, just explanations.

Crisis, too strong a word?

You can call it a crisis if you want, I have already said that we are in a difficult situation. But I never used this word because the crisis has nothing to do with sport in my opinion. Of course, we are not satisfied and we know that we must do better. I know we are capable of this.

The differences between the start of the season and now

In the last match, we should have opened the score but Taki's goal was disallowed even though there was no offside in my opinion, that could have helped us a lot. In recent weeks, we haven't taken advantage of our opportunities to score at key moments, that's a problem.

Our opponents don't create many chances but I have the feeling that every dangerous situation ends in a goal. This needs to be changed immediately. I also find that we don't practice our style of play in the first halves, whereas it's much better in the second. We create several opportunities, it's our way of playing, and we have to believe in it in every match.

How to get out of this situation?

We will all get there together. As a coach, I think everyone at the Club can help us. Experienced players can do it on the pitch but it's also up to me to find solutions off it. We're not in the best situation on the pitch but we have to stay positive, communicate positively, believe in ourselves and in our style of play. It's nonsense to always talk about bad things.

We want to get out of this quickly, that’s clear. This is not the first time I have been in difficulty, my experience tells me that you have to stay positive. Now we have to get a victory. In this situation, it is not easy to win because each match is more difficult than when we have a string of good results. We have to fight against this more unfavorable series, and a victory could help us.

A scenario similar to last year

We cannot compare these two seasons. Firstly, a lot of players left the Club this summer and we had no international competitions, so we had the opportunity to train throughout the week to prepare for the weekend's match. Now we travel more, there are fewer opportunities to train. This makes the situation a little more difficult, so we cannot compare them.

Sur Eliesse Ben Seghir

I took him off at half-time in Reims because I wasn't satisfied with his performance, he was going back too much and wasn't making the best decisions. This can happen, he is only 19 years old. He's already brought us some fantastic moments since August, it's his first real season.

Sometimes you have to accept certain encounters where he is less good, that's why I replaced him. We have to help him, analyze with him and show certain situations that he could have done better. Eliesse is a player who wants to help the team and be decisive. In the times we're in, maybe sometimes it's better to play simpler.

The parallel between Maghnes Akliouche and Eliesse Ben Seghir

There is a reason that can explain Maghnes Akliouche's recent difficulties. When you look at his physical data and the way he has progressed over the last year and a half, it's fantastic. He didn't have a big break this summer with the Olympic Games, I repeat that a lot. It's normal that he's more tired, we have to protect him. Maghnes is a fantastic key player, it's his second season, he had a good performance last year.

Like Eliesse, he has the ability to play almost every game but we have to protect them, they are young players. I don't remember any bad matches from him. I talk to them all the time. Maghnes trained with us yesterday, we saw that he was able to play tomorrow, I'm happy with that. We can expect these young players to be key players in every match but they also need help from experienced players. In any case, we are proud of them.

The starting goalkeeper tomorrow

Tomorrow, Radoslaw Majecki will be our goalkeeper. It is a tradition in France to play the second goalkeeper most of the time in the Cup. Radek's injury was not very long and he was able to return quickly. We have a lot of games coming up, it's an opportunity for him to play. I would like to point out that I have no complaints about Philipp Köhn's performance.

L'entente Embolo-Biereth

I think they can play together. Breel Embolo played all the matches, Mika Biereth has just had a month without playing. For his first appearance with AS Monaco, he had a good match and was decisive in the equalizer, it's a promise for the future. We'll see if they'll both line up tomorrow.

The effectiveness of Breel Embolo

In my opinion, it would be more worrying if we didn't create chances. This is not the case, we often have the opportunity to score. In the last five Ligue 1 matches, Breel has scored three times. For him, it's frustrating to miss certain situations like his header at the last second in the Coupe de France.

For several weeks we should have scored more, it's a problem but that's football. Folarin Balogun, for example, managed to score three games in a row after unlocking his counter. You must always believe in him.