In full preparation for one of the most dangerous trips of the season, the Monegasque technician spoke to the media 48 hours before the clash against Olympique Lyonnais at the Groupama Stadium (Saturday 17:00).
A mountain stage. AS Monaco won in their first McDonald’s Ligue 1 match at home last weekend against Saint-Etienne (1-0) and this time AS Monaco go to Lyon for a high-flying duel on Saturday (broadcast coup 17:00). A beautiful poster, which historically gives the red and whites a hard time, as Adi Hütter would like to remind the press. Excerpt 🎙️
I think he can play in several positions, right back or piston, but also right center back in a three way defense because he has the physical qualities for that. He really has an interesting profile, especially since his integration is very fast with mastery of the language.
About Jordan Tese
About Jordan Tese
I think he can play in several positions, right back or piston, but also right center back in a three way defense because he has the physical qualities for that. He really has an interesting profile, especially since his integration is very fast with mastery of the language.
Looking at his statistics at Eindhoven, he is a player capable of providing assists and scoring. He is also capable of playing as a defensive midfielder in my opinion. He’s versatile, he’s the kind of player I like as a coach.
A look at our new number 4⃣🎥#WelcomeTeze pic.twitter.com/7OlctGHxtP
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) 20 August 2024
The transfer window
I think we had a very good transfer window because we added talented young players to the club with the arrivals of Christian Mawissa, Lamine Camara and George Ilenikhena. It is also one of the facets of AS Monaco’s project to develop young players to help them reach new levels.
This was the case for Youssouf who came from Strasbourg and is now at AC Milan. So we changed our squad a bit and I think it was necessary. There is a good intensity and positive energy in training at the moment. We will have to show the same on the pitch every weekend.
The return of Wilfried Singo
His return gives us more options and we have the possibility to play with three or two centre-backs. The last two games we played with a 4-man defense and got two clean sheets, but I don’t want to give too many clues about the future composition.
Philipp Köhn’s last matches
I am very happy for him and his last two clean sheets against Barcelona and Saint-Etienne. He had some very good performances, but I don’t want to talk about the future and number one. At the moment we are focused on the Lyon game on Saturday.
Of course, the game against Lyon is a shock for us because they also have the ambition to qualify for the Champions League. They have the squad for it and were the second best team in the return leg last season. We will face a big team with a lot of experience. Lyon at home is very strong, but we are ready for this challenge. I hope that we will bring back a better result than last spring.
The match in Lyon
The offensive sector
It is true that we lost Wissam, who was a pure finisher, but we saw during our friendlies that George could also score. Breel did a fantastic job at Barcelona and against Saint-Etienne. Balo’ is a bit unlucky, but we believe in him a lot and we hope he gets the ball rolling because he gets chances and does a good job for the team. I know he is capable of scoring many goals.
Takumi can also play as a striker. Behind them we have players who are threats to the opponents like Eliesse, Maghnes or Golo’. We are therefore well supplied in the offensive sector.
First goal of the season for Rouge & Blanc signed @takumina0116 🌟🔝
‣ #ASMASS pic.twitter.com/Zg3QmFqZMY
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) 19 August 2024
Lyon, the first shock of the season
Of course, the game against Lyon is a shock for us because they also have the ambition to qualify for the Champions League. They have the squad for it and were the second best team in the return leg last season. We will face a big team with a lot of experience. The defeat in Rennes was a bit surprising, although Rennes are also a very good team. Lyon at home is very strong, but we are ready for this challenge. I hope that we will bring back a better result than last spring.
Last season’s second game
It was a really good game with two teams that wanted to win. At the time, it was our third game of the week after two important and difficult games against Brest and Lille. We started well before struggling more in the first half.
The second half was good and we could have taken the lead if Wissam hadn’t been offside by a few centimeters. Unfortunately in the last moments we made a defensive error and conceded a goal by Fofana. We must not make silly mistakes, be aware of counter-attacks and one-on-ones if we want to come away with something.
Competition for the left-back position
Caio is now available, but once you’re gone for a while, it’s not easy to come back. Of course we know his strengths and we know how important he is, but at the moment “Izo” deserves to be in the starting XI because he had good games against Saint-Etienne, Barcelona and last season. With Kassoum, Ismail and Caio I have three quality players in this position and after the international break everyone will have their chance as we will play a lot of games.
