Sébastien Pocognoli’s breakdown of AS Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Toulouse FC offered no shortage of talking points, with the result serving as another blow to their Champions League push.
Debrief
In the wake of this draw with Toulouse, the Monaco boss delivered an assertive debrief when asked on the tie, as he outlined where Monaco fell short and that the outcome left him full of frustration.
“Disappointment! I don’t want to say anger, because that would imply we’re losing control, but I’m being quite objective about this performance. The positive thing is that we started well this time, with 30 minutes of very high quality, the best we’ve had in quite a while, I think. We stuck to the game plan, focusing on exploiting their weaknesses, so that was quite positive. Then we gradually stopped playing football and became much less intense in what had been our strength at the start,” Pocognoli insisted.
“So the second half was disappointing because we continued in the same vein, whereas the message at half-time was to pick up right where we left off in the first half. We didn’t do that; on the contrary, we made a lot of technical errors and played too much backwards, which meant our creative players were less involved. We started to struggle and had to rely on our substitutes to try and solidify our defence, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it, and that’s quite disappointing!”
Consistency chat
When the discussion turned to Monaco’s inconsistency over the 90 minutes, it was clear to see what a source of annoyance this was for Pocognoli.
“We have a group that I’m trying to get the most out of to find solutions. It’s clear that what I pointed out regarding our poor starts to the last three matches – not defending forward, not being compact enough and not being courageous enough on the ball – has been heeded, because when we do all that, regardless of the starting eleven, we’re formidable. This is a first collective approach in terms of mindset and something we need to see consistently, as we’ve shown over the last three months,” he told the media.
“Why are we so inconsistent? We have a mental approach to the match that sometimes doesn’t align with what I want. It’s something I need to get a handle on for these last three matches, even though we tried to bring in experience and leadership to reduce the gaps and be more structured, but it didn’t work, and that’s frustrating! I’ll still take some positives from the match to build on for the final games.”
Champions League hopes
Now without a win in three, next on the agenda was Pocognoli being posed the question on how he sees Monaco’s hopes of securing Champions League qualification following this latest setback.
“Fourth place is still within reach, even if it’s going to be very difficult, but I want us to finish well and with as many points as possible! If we can secure a European spot, given how the season has gone, that could be something significant. And it would also mean we’ve had a good second half of the season, even if these last three matches have left a bitter taste. But it’s up to us to decide how we want to finish the season. So I’m going to keep pushing the players, finish with those who show the most consistency and the expected attitude, and if we play like we did in the first 30 minutes tonight, there won’t be a problem. Otherwise, we’ll have to correct a lot of things,” asserted the 38-year-old.
Second half
Pocognoli was then invited to address the team’s flat second-half display, as the Belgian tactician was honest and insightful regarding where his team went wrong.
“When you want to do what you want to do throughout an entire match, you sometimes need to be able to recharge your batteries, and unfortunately, we don’t have that option in every position. For that, you need a well-oiled machine of a team with a solid tactical foundation, like the one we implemented at the start of the match, which worked very well. The two goals we conceded were actually the opposite of what we produced at the beginning, because we opened up the lines, there was an infiltration down the wing, and yet we still conceded two goals from crosses, a point we had emphasised during the week. It’s clear that we lack the quality to manage these situations, because if we work on it and still can’t control it. That’s what bothers me the most today,” acknowledged the former Union Saint-Gilloise coach.
Adingra and Fati
Ending on a more positive note, there was some nice detail to be extracted from his thoughts on the bright exchanges and the understanding evident between Ansu Fati and Simon Adingra, with him stating: “The starting players had a very good game, which gives the feeling that we began the match the way we should have. They created a lot of danger, we had some good transitions thanks to them, and we also had some good spells on the ball. But when our intensity dropped, we had to make the necessary changes, and I’m simply disappointed with this second half.”
Bounce back
All focus now shifts to their upcoming clash vs bottom‑placed FC Metz, where Monaco will need to snap their winless streak and claim a vital victory if they’re to keep their European ambitions intact.
