Adi Hütter: "It is important to keep your feet on the ground" | OneFootball

Two days before the Derby against Nice (Sunday, 5 p.m.), for the 9th round of Ligue 1, the Monegasque manager spoke at a press conference to discuss the stakes of the match.

Continuing the current unbeaten streak with a match like no other. This will be the objective of the AS Monaco players, when they travel to the Allianz Riviera (Sunday, 5pm) to face Les Aiglons. This is in any case what Adi Hütter expressed to the media, while being aware that the Derby is always a match apart. 🎙️

On the timing of the Derby

I can’t say that we’re going into this game with an advantage, because a Derby is always special. I’ve played a lot of them during my career as a player and then as a coach, so from experience, it’s a special encounter. It’s not an advantage to play it at this time, in a good period for us. Both teams will play to win, and I hope we’ll be ready for this duel.

I watched the Nice game yesterday in Budapest, but we expect to face a very different team in terms of the starting eleven on Sunday. For our part, we must continue our run, continue to develop our style of football and follow our process. Nice is a very good team with a great coach, Franck Haise. It is a Derby, I repeat, so it remains a big challenge for us.

On Nice

We are in a very good run of form at the moment, everyone knows that. I watched the Nice game yesterday in Budapest, but we expect to face a very different team in terms of the starting eleven on Sunday. For our part, we must continue our run, continue to develop our style of football and follow our process. Nice is a very good team with a great coach, Franck Haise. It is a Derby, I repeat, so it remains a big challenge for us.

On the loss last year

It’s true that it’s a bit of the same context, because we had started last season well before playing this Derby at home. We had an unlucky match, dominating and missing two penalties, before conceding a goal to Jérémie Boga in the final moments.

As for the return match, it was certainly a sort of motivation, a tipping point in our second part of the season. We played a fantastic match, which was foundational! The fans were very happy. Today is a different story, and each team will want to win again.

The Belgrade coach’s praise

It gives us a lot of confidence to hear this kind of thing. Especially since I know Vladan Milojevic well, who was a coach at Cukaricki (Belgrade) when I was in Salzburg, and he came to do an internship with us. In the second half we played a fantastic game, modern and intense football.

It’s normal when you have success that confidence grows. But you have to be careful not to think about it too much and not get carried away. The players have accumulated a lot of wins recently, but today all the teams, whether in Ligue 1 or the Champions League, want to beat us.

I showed my players what we did well and what we can improve on, but we really played a good game. The fact that people are talking about our way of playing is important to me. When we play this kind of football, we can only be successful. There is a lot of intensity in our play and I want to see that all the time, including Sunday, and against top teams.

Confidence level

It’s normal when you have success that confidence grows. But you have to be careful not to think about it too much and not get carried away. The players have accumulated a lot of wins recently, but today all the teams, whether in Ligue 1 or the Champions League, want to beat us.

Our last defeat was in Lyon last April, which makes me very proud, but we have to be careful. Every three days a new team wants to take us down, so we have to be very vigilant this weekend.

On the maturity of a young squad

I think it’s really important to keep your feet on the ground. I’m responsible for the players continuing to work, and not starting to get carried away and not touch the ground. We’re very strong at the moment, but we have to be very careful. It’s not easy to fight, but I think at the moment we have a very good mix of young talent and experienced players.

On Folarin Balogun

He resumed small games with the group during the warm-up, but for the moment it is limited to that. We must be very vigilant, and he cannot participate in exercises with contact, in relation to his shoulder. He could come back a little earlier, but we are very careful not to take any risks with him, as always when players return from injury.

The most important thing for me is that everyone is ready to play and show their qualities, whether in the starting eleven or coming on during the match. This is what Aleksandr Golovin and Krépin Diatta showed, who showed great things. Everyone is involved, which is perhaps why we are so strong at the moment.

On the fixture list

When I look at the calendar, we had five days of recovery between the victory against Belgrade and this match in Nice, which is enough in my opinion. It will be the same before Angers next week, so we will see who will be on the pitch.

The most important thing for me is that everyone is ready to play and show their qualities, whether in the starting eleven or coming on during the match. This is what Aleksandr Golovin and Krépin Diatta showed, who showed great things. Everyone is involved, which is perhaps why we are so strong at the moment.

On Eliesse Ben Seghir

First of all, we are happy with his development. But we have to pay attention to the number of games played, because he also plays with the Moroccan national team. So we have to pay attention to the level of fatigue, because he is still a young player and he thinks he can play every minute. It is my responsibility to pay attention to him. Against Belgrade it was not his best performance, even if he was involved in the second goal, but we are very happy with his development.

On the duo of Akliouche/Ben Seghir

We are very happy to have these two players from the Academy in the team. They are key players in our squad, even if I can’t forget Soungoutou Magassa, Yann Lienard, Mamadou Coulibaly, Edan Diop, Saïmon Bouabré… There are many young talents trained at La Diagonale among us, with Maghnes and Eliesse the standard-bearers.

Maghnes had a fantastic development last season, scoring a double against Marseille. Eliesse was not very lucky last year with injuries, but he shows this season that he is very important and that he is a very strong player one on one. While Maghnes is more of a “playmaker”. They are both big talents and we are happy to have them with us.

The importance of La Diagonale

Monaco has always produced great players from its Academy, as Lille has been able to do more recently for example. It is crucial to be able to train future talents in your training center. It is part of the job of a coach here, to support them at the highest level, and I love that as a coach. We are once again very happy to have them among us. Even if we do not forget the elements of experience, because the most important thing is to have a good mix.

On set pieces

When you see the quality of our set pieces, we should have scored two or three times in these phases against Belgrade. What I like about this team is that we are capable of scoring in all situations, on individual actions, set pieces, no matter the position of the player.

I was very happy to see Breel Embolo score again and Takumi Minamino score twice. It is important to be able to adapt according to the type of match, and that is why I like to have several options to be dangerous. Sometimes a set piece can change the face of a match.

I am happy that he is showing very good performances here in Monaco, and that he is one of the leaders of this team with Denis Zakaria and Breel Embolo, to name but a few. Then, it is not my role to talk about the national team of one of my players, in this case Germany. In any case what I can say is that we are very satisfied with Thilo’s performances.