Inside Sébastien Pocognoli’s meticulous Monaco revival | OneFootball

Sébastien Pocognoli has hauled Monaco back into the Champions League race after a bleak autumn, his meticulous approach underpinning a nine-match unbeaten run capped by a 2-1 win at Lyon before the international break. That result left ASM one point behind OL and three off third-placed Marseille, who they face on Sunday at 20.45.

Two months earlier, after matchday 19, they trailed Lyon and Marseille by 12 and 14 points and their season looked adrift. L'Équipe notes that Adi Hütter was dismissed after seven games and Pocognoli then took 10 points from his first eight league matches, the poorest start by a Monaco coach since Thierry Henry’s seven in 2018-2019.

Appointed in October and relatively little-known beyond a fine year at Union Saint-Gilloise, the 38-year-old kept an upbeat message even amid seven defeats in eight between November and mid-January. Midfielder Lamine Camara reflected after the 1-0 loss at Brest on 5 December that the team needed to apply the coach’s ideas more sharply.

Pocognoli’s reset has centred on repeat running for an intense press and a collective mindset. Players describe greater intensity, longer sessions and varied, game-based work that builds cardio, helping Monaco finish stronger than opponents.

Standards are the same for everyone. Even Ansu Fati, initially reluctant to commit to the defensive work, has bought in, and Monaco’s substitutes have delivered 10 league goals since Pocognoli arrived, the joint-highest tally over that spell alongside PSG.

With assistants Kevin Mirallas, Damien Perrinelle and Artur Kopyt, he is often on site two hours early to set up and test drills, and the staff hold detailed meetings on opponent weaknesses. There have been mis-steps, notably the 1-6 in Madrid on 20 January, but a similar bold plan in Paris later yielded a 2-2 in the Champions League and a 3-1 in Ligue 1. Individuals have surged too, from Folarin Balogun and Maghnes Akliouche to Denis Zakaria, Camara and Wout Faes, while team-bonding dinners and thalasso afternoons after Europe have tightened the group.

Source: L'Équipe