Ligue 1: AS Monaco held to 1-1 draw by Le Havre at home
Despite dominating large portions of their clash with Le Havre, AS Monaco could only manage a draw at the Stade Louis II under the eyes of Prince Albert II and Dmitry Rybolovlev.
The Match
Looking for their first Ligue 1 win of the new year, Adi Hutter chose an exciting eleven for this encounter, which notably featured Ismail Jakobs, who had recently returned from AFCON, and gifted youngster Eliesse Ben Seghir.
ASM were quickly under pressure, as Le Havre raced out to a strong start by firing off some decent sighters. It was then Les Monegasques’ turn to get some shots off, with Maghnes Akliouche and Ben Seghir putting up attempts.
The match went through a period short on goalmouth action while ASM controlled proceedings, but things heated up prior to the interval, for both outfits had an unsuccessful shot apiece to end the first half.
Enter the second stanza, and the two teams enjoyed some decent efforts in their quest to break the deadlock. It would be Les Rouge et Blanc who struck first, though, through Wissam Ben Yedder in the 63rd minute.
Their lead didn’t last long, however, with Christopher Operi’s free-kick that deflected off Youssouf Fofana levelling the ledger for the away side.
Although Monaco pushed hard for the victory in the remainder of the match and constructed plenty of promising openings, it just wasn’t to be, thus meaning they had to settle for a disappointing draw to extend their winless run in the league to three.
Hutter’s Debrief
“This equaliser hurt the minds of my players, who then did not find the solution to get back in front against a team, which was playing in a low block. It’s an own goal, it can’t happen. There was a disagreement between Youssouf and Philipp, they were easy mistakes, especially just after the opening the score, which we had difficulty doing,” insisted the frustrated Austrian.
“We can always talk about our defence or the goals conceded, but we created several situations during the first 45 minutes. At the start of the season, for example, we managed to convert them. We were the better team today and we are very dissatisfied and disappointed with this result.”
Key Stats
By the numbers, the fact ASM held the ascendancy in terms of expected goals (1.40 to 0.10), total shots (17 to 3) shots on target (5 to 0), shots inside the box (14 to 1), passes in the opposition half (270 to 128), overall duels won (65 to 54) and corners (9 to 4) illustrated their supremacy.
Cup Clash Awaits
Up next for Monaco is a Coupe de France contest with Rouen, where they’ll be eager to forget this result quickly by obtaining a vital victory.
The Tribute: Jean Petit Forever in our Hearts
“Legend of AS Monaco, rest in peace Jeannot.” “Jean Petit, Munegu per tugiu.” These were some of the messages stated on the many banners to honour Jean Petit, who left us on Tuesday, January 23, as the fans offered a wonderful tribute in the stands at the Louis-II stadium this Sunday.
After a poignant minute of applause just before kick-off, the AS Monaco supporters did so again in the seventh minute of play, in a mark of respect to the legendary number of the ASM legend, whose name was placed on all of the AS Monaco players’ jerseys for this special and moving meeting.
