It's already hot for Monaco.
First led by a goal from Veerman, the Monegasques managed to equalize against PSV Eindhoven thanks to a late goal from Disasi to snatch the draw at the Louis II stadium a week ago.
With this result (1-1), the princely club goes on an unfavorable waiver before the return leg in the Netherlands, this Tuesday (8:30 p.m.).
To hope to join the European gratin, the men of Philippe Clement are therefore obliged to obtain a victory, even on penalties, on Dutch soil.
A possibility considered by Philippe Clement, who remembers the penalty shootout against Nantes in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France last season: “
I saw players who had scored all the penalties in training not succeed on D-Day. I spoke to the players a lot about this experience.
There are small details to settle, so that it works this time
.
But if AS Monaco shows physical virtues at the start of the season thanks to early preparation, the Monegasque attack purrs a little.
With the sequence of matches over this month of August, the Belgian tactician has decided to rotate his XI, and more particularly his line of attack.
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Calendar and results Ligue 1
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Ben Yedder did not find the flaw against PSV.
Panoramic
The Ben Yedder-Volland duo expected at the turn
The French international and his German attacking partner will be closely scrutinized this Tuesday at Philips Stadium.
The two men must allow ASM to access the Champions League play-offs.
During the reception of PSV on the Rock, Wissam Ben Yedder and Kevin Volland suffered a lot against the Dutch defense without managing to make any real difference.
It is no coincidence that Monaco managed to equalize at the end of the match, thanks to the contribution of its entrants.
If Ben Yedder managed to score a goal against Portimonense and one against Inter Milan in a friendly, this is not the case for Kevin Volland, who did not find the net.
During the victory of the Red and White against Strasbourg (2-1) for the resumption of Ligue 1 on Saturday, neither one nor the
no one else came into play. With one of the busiest calendars in August, Philippe Clement decided to start Diop and Embolo at the forefront.
The first has also made the break after the opening of Diatta.
A positive result and two goals scored without the two attacking leaders.
Clement has several strings to his bow
The case of Minamino also raises questions.
Recruited from Liverpool, the Japanese is struggling to find his feet in his new formation and missed his match against the Dutch.
But Philippe Clement has several offensive solutions to approach the return match with optimism as he declared in a press conference: “
There are a lot of options up front, it's true.
It's very hard for me to choose a starting XI, but I like having problems like that
.
Against Strasbourg, Sofiane Diop and Krépin Diatta showed great things.
The two players also allowed the Monegasques to garner their first three points by each scoring a goal.
Against Strasbourg, ASM also set a personal record by shooting 24 times on goal.
A first for the club during a trip to Ligue 1 since Opta collected this data (2006-2007).
New recruit Breel Embolo, who arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach, entered the game against PSV, and started against RCA.
The Swiss international still needs time to adapt to his new partners but to show interesting things in sequence.
Monaco must reap the fruits of its preparation
If the Monegasque attack is still in the run-in, the Asemists can rely on millimeter preparation to win the physical challenge against their opponents.
In the pre-match press conference, Philippe Clement also recognized this physical superiority: “
I am sure that physically we are better.
But we have to prove on the field.
We want to show that we were the better team in both games
.
With his rotation in his team's last two games, the Belgian coach demonstrates that he is counting on a whole group and not on an eleven guy as he had indicated to Le Figaro at the beginning of the month: "
these friendly matches have above all served us to prepare all the players, not only for this match but for the following months.
I wanted to give the rookies some game time, try out different systems and animations that can be used against PSV
.”
The possibilities are therefore numerous for the former coach of Club Brugge KV, who will have to make the right choices on Tuesday for his team to qualify for the Champions League play-offs in which Monaco would face the winner of the double confrontation between Union St Gallen and Glasgow Rangers.