Monaco (AFP)
"If we think we can't win, we stay here": Robert Moreno, new Monaco coach, says he will tackle the summit in Sunday in Paris to compete with the leader of L1 (21:00). An ambitious communication for a technician still in the seduction phase.
Moreno knows he is expected before this perilous trip to the Parc des Princes, where his team challenges an opponent who has just scored 29 goals in his last six games. But the 42-year-old Spanish coach has mastered the art of "com". Smile on the lips, he has a sense of distributed.
In French in the text, he first highlights some obvious facts: "Paris is a great team, favorite to win the L1. At home, the reference team in France has the pressure of victory".
Or again: "They are very strong but we are also very strong. Each match is different. Otherwise, we play Ligue 1 at 19, and we give the trophy to Paris. Anything can happen. We are aiming for victory".
Keita Baldé follows him. He is ready for "a war, a battle". "They are very good," he said of the PSG players. "But we can win. The fear in football does not exist. They are people like us."
- trivialize the event -
Gradually, the former assistant of Luis Enrique, who was on the bench during the famous "Ascension" successful by FC Barcelona against Paris in 2017, broadcasts his speech. Questions about Neymar, the "Ascendada" or Paris are eliminated. To focus on his team, able to look the French champion in the eye. Otherwise "we stay here", he retorts. "We take 3-0 (package, editor's note) and the club does not spend money on the trip".
In order to trivialize the event, he even ensures that it will not be his first big moment with Monaco. "For me, Reims was my first big match and it will be for all the time," he says.
At the back of the press room, Marc Sellarès takes notes. After each of his coach's conferences, this 39-year-old Spaniard, psychological trainer officially appointed "coordinator and head of technical staff" by the club, analyzes Moreno's performance with the interested party.
Before this trip to Paris, the young technician plays on velvet. Its players are ready to do battle. Cesc Fabregas explains: "We start from scratch with a new trainer. So intensity and behavior are very good".
Baldé, author of four goals in his last four tenure, continues: "He brought his dynamism, his ideas. He entered the group very well. He explained well what he wanted to do, his basics. We are trying to put them in place. "
- "Always the same intentions" -
Moreno can thus sprinkle his principles on the game: possession, high pressing, ability to defend collectively.
"The game identity will not be seen in a single game, he says. I will set it up for each game. If you change everything at the first problem, it is that you do not believe in what you said. Our intentions are always the same. But the opponent can also control the game. "
Tactical variants, adjustments, work on set kicks or intense pressing and harassment areas of the opponent? All of this, Moreno was silent.
"I prefer to say interesting things instead of pretending, he emphasizes. Otherwise, we are wasting our time. But if I think it is better for the team not to mention a subject, I say clearly that I don't answer ".
Besides, unless Monaco explodes in Paris - which the Spanish technician does not even imagine - its impact on Monaco's game will not be judged after this trip. Management intends to give him time.
However, there is a very ambitious internal accounting objective: to collect 22 points on the 9 meetings to come before the derby against Nice (28th day). That's seven wins, a draw and a loss. Very little room for error ...
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