Montpellier, dominating throughout the match, lost on Saturday due to its only mistake at Saint-Etienne (1-0), which was more realistic.
The party is over. Forgotten the victory against Brest and the club's 50th anniversary, Montpellier fell again on Saturday evening at Saint-Etienne (1-0). A setback with serious consequences since the Montpellier residents are still last and now six points behind a direct competitor for maintenance. A regrettable defeat because there was plenty of room to bring back points for the still incandescent Geoffroy-Guichard. An enclosure that the 300 pailladin supporters only saw from the outside, prevented by the prefect of the Loire from entering due to pre-match incidents with the Saint-Etienne fans.
67% possession…
They would therefore perhaps have left even more frustrated because the MHSC lost after having had 67% of possession. And overall domination during most of the match but in football and especially in the situation in which Montpellier is, it is important to be realistic. And the Montpellier residents were not despite 11 shots but only 3 on target. Including the first after two minutes of play for the former Stéphanois Arnaud Nordin, who successfully returned to his training club, but whose right shot was repelled by Larsonneur.
A fatal start to the 2nd half
As much as the Héraultais had succeeded in their start to the match, they missed that of the second period since after Sagnan intervened in front of Sissoko (46th), a missed clearance from Nzingoula was exploited by Bouchouari for what will be the only goal of the meeting (47th). And practically the only opportunities for Saint-Etienne apart from Sissoko's miss (9th).
The rest, a long Montpellier hold but a lack of precision in the centers like Tchato (37th, 50th) who found no one, the missed shots in a good position from Savanier (66th) and Khazri (68th), those of Tchato (78th) and Nordin (79th) pushed back by Larsonneur.
These opportunities and the penalties denied to Montpellier are too much when you are playing your part. “It would have been important to open the score in a tight match between two teams who play with fear. Efficiency in football cannot be bought,” lamented coach Jean-Louis Gasset, obviously frustrated after the meeting. The coach could not be satisfied with the good performance of his men because it did not earn any points. After the party, the defeat hurts.
