In today’s episode, we’re discussing a very unique place in the north of France that is pretty synonymous with the development of football superstars, as well as the place to best evade paying your taxes… AS Monaco are considered one of the powerhouses within French football due to their longevity within the top league in France (Ligue 1), as well as their recent success on the pitch, off the pitch, and in producing some of the best players that our game has ever seen. Thanks to Monaco, we lovers of the beautiful game have been blessed with a crop of EXTREMELEY talented ballers with names being railed off like Fabinho, Benjamin Mendy (before the sentence lol), Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Ferland Mendy, and of course the cream of the crop, Monsieur Kylian Mbappe (Chairman of Paris, lol). If we go back in the archives, they’ve produced another crop of talented players such as Emmanuel Petit, David Trezeguet, George Weah, Patrice Evra, and this average player by the name of Thierry Henry all building their foundations within the AS Monaco youth set up.
Not only have they been one of the drivers of producing brilliant footballers, Monaco have always been a team that participates within the European competitions (up until this season. We will explain what happened in a bit), and with 8 French league titles to their name (which puts them 4th on the overall list), they can definitely be considered one of the strongest teams that France has within their roster.
If we take a look at the above league table, we can see that Monaco literally had the top 4 in their control, but a poor run of form that saw them only win 1 in their last 6 meant that they “Bottled” it…If it’s one thing we should know about French players is that they are EXTREMLEY fit! AS Monaco had this eleven play in a very intense manner, playing to their strengths by using the explosive nature of majority of their players to out run, out pace, andsimply out play their opposition using all of their attacking power on the field, as well as on the bench with the likes of Alexander Golovin, Kevin Volland and Myron Boadou waiting on the bench...Whenever a team is playing in a 4-4-2, it is best that the flanks get used as much as possible and we see this via the players that Monaco have chosen as well as the best role that they play. But, starting from the back, they had Alex Nubel (the German Shot Stopper) who is on loan from Bayern Munich and is a pretty solid GK at stopping balls going into their net. Axel Disasi (who I mentioned last season when going over the “Scouting page”) is alongside Maripan who form a solid combination of 2 no nonsense D(C)’s. The Wingbacks aid the Wingers in front of them in ensuring that Monaco has the ability to dominate the flanks as much as possible. In the center of the park, we have the top baller Youssouf Fofana who, although operating as a Box to Box Midfielder, has the passing ability to pull the strings within the midfield. He is alongside the robust Camara who protects both Centre Backs when the Wingbacks are bombing forward. In the Forward area, Monaco are blessed with 2 top F(C)’s in Brelle Embolo and Yassim Ben Yedder who are as sharp as they come and with soo many balls coming in from the wide areas, it’s no wonder Monaco were in pole position to finish within the top 4
STRATEGY
Since this Monaco team was filled with quality outside, their tactical strategy was to get as much overloads as possible down both flanks ij an attempt to stretch their opponents, in addition to taking the burden odd of thie 2 M(C)’s from having to do a lot of the heavy listing creatively
INSTRUCTIONS
GENERAL
Width was the name of Monaco’s game. They used it as much as they can by stretching the opposition as wide as they possibly could while implementing a fast, attack minded style that meant they were always a threat. Due to the players within the X1, there was no need for any form of extra fluidity (aka roaming around) which meant each player maintained their position but used their individual brilliance to take on their opponent in an explosive way. Of course this does not mean that they did not take risks on the ball which is indicated with their ‘bold’ creativity.
ATTACK
Their explosive style of play was complemented by playing in a direct passing style, mixing things up which gave both ballers on the flanks the opportunity to showcase their skills, while not wasting any opportunities whenever they were within the attacking third by shooting on sight rather than aiming to work the ball into the box
DEFENDING
Defensively, Monaco applied a high and heavy press which stopped their opposition within their tracks, actively negating their build up play in the meantime
Monaco is a place that many of the extreme financially elite tend to call their home and it would’ve been such the experience to see them within either the Champions League or Europa league campaigns of the 23/24 season. Unfortunately, that will not be the case this time around, but who knows, maybe it’s for the best as they attempt to get things in order and maybe the lack of distraction from Europe could get them back on track in terms of competing with P.S.G for next season’s Ligue 1 title.
We’re heading to Italy to finish off this mini series alongside our completion of season 6. You don’t want to miss it!
The Soccermanager Experience 