A point taken in two meetings ... This is the very meager record of AS Monaco at the start of the Ligue 1 season. After a disappointing draw against Nantes (1-1), Niko Kovac's men experienced another setback , this Friday in Lorient (1-0), opening the second day of the championship.
“Once again, as against Nantes, we dominated but we were not effective, lamented the Monegasque coach.
We had two or three clear chances and we can't afford to miss them.
My players also gave everything, but we only have one point after two games and that is not our ambition.
"
Our Monegasques bow to the Moustoir.
We will have to bounce back on Tuesday with the reception of Shakhtar for the first leg of the Preliminary Round of # UCL.
1⃣-0⃣ #FCLASM pic.twitter.com/wvi3Gp0mxZ
- AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) August 13, 2021
Despite a large domination and 73% possession of the ball, the players of the Rock stumbled on an impenetrable Breton block, without ever finding the opening, and were surprised on a penalty obtained and transformed by Terem Moffi, who had already scored 3 goals against Monaco last season.
Golovin affected in the thigh
A disappointment all the more important, for the 3rd of last season, that Kovac hoped to "fold the match as soon as possible" to be able to turn his workforce for the first leg of the Champions League on Tuesday against Shakhtar Donetsk. This delay in switching on in L1 is therefore neither good for the balance sheet, nor for confidence, while this crucial European deadline looms.
And to make matters worse, the Red and Whites lost Aleksandr Golovin, who was injured at the Moustoir. "He took a big blow to the thigh, we'll see, we won't take a risk against Shakhtar, but it doesn't look good," Kovac said. With or without the Russian midfielder, ASM will have to show Louis-II another face on Tuesday against the Ukrainians. “We worked hard all last season to play Europe. Now, we have the opportunity, ”said the Croatian technician before the meeting against the Merlus. It is now a matter of not spoiling everything. Otherwise, this false start will quickly take on the air of a nightmare.
