Adi Hütter: "We have no excuses after this performance" | OneFootball

Very disappointed by his players' start to the Champions League against Club Bruges (4-1), the Monaco coach tried to analyze the scenario of the match in front of the media.

They had dreamed of a completely different start. Facing the Belgian runners-up on the first matchday of the Champions League, the players of AS Monaco could do little against a side that was clinical on the break (4-1). It was clearly a bitter defeat, which the coach Adi Hütter analyzed in the post-match press-conference. 🎙️

Good evening, coach. How do you explain the differences between the two teams tonight?

It’s not just a defeat, it’s a heavy defeat! Congratulations to Club Bruges, who fully deserve their victory. We weren’t at Champions League level tonight, and we lost this match on the pitch. We weren’t well organized, even if the penalty could have changed things slightly early in the match.

What we saw tonight is not AS Monaco's style of play, and I first want to apologize to our fans who were more than 600 tonight to cheer us on! We now have to analyze this performance as quickly as possible, because our next match is on Sunday.

But then Club Bruges had a lot of chances for 30 minutes and we were almost lucky to be only 3-0 down at half-time. What we saw tonight is not AS Monaco’s style of play, and I first want to apologize to our fans who were more than 600 tonight to cheer us on! We now have to analyze this performance as quickly as possible, because our next match is on Sunday.

Do you think the trip affected the team?

It wasn’t ideal for preparing for the match, but that’s no reason to make excuses. The players slept at home, and we traveled today, as we had done last week-end going to Auxerre, where we played just a few hours after our arrival. Obviously, we can’t compare the two matches, but that can happen in football.

That’s definitely the only positive thing to take away from this evening. We saw his qualities in this decisive appearance with a goal to his name. I also want to highlight the performance of Philipp Köhn was at a Champions League level tonight, unlike all the other players.

Are you worried after tonight?

I’m not. I’m rather angry, disappointed with what we put forward tonight. We were unlucky with Denis Zakaria’s injury yesterday, and Aladji Bamba, who was fantastic against Auxerre, had to replace him. He’s a young player, and like everyone else, he experiences ups and downs in his development, but I like to support these talented players. Tonight, Bruges were simply stronger in every area. And let’s not forget the contribution of our new signings: Ansu Fati, who scored after just 30 minutes, Paul Pogba, who will soon join us, and Stanis Idumbo, in whom we also have a lot of faith.

Maghnes Akliouche is the designated taker for penalties?

I saw Mika Biereth was also ready to take it, but I like it when the players decide for themselves on the pitch, it shows that they take responsibility. Maghnes has already scored two goals this season, is now a French international and is very confident at the moment. We hoped he could convert this penalty, which could have put us on the right track, unfortunately it was not the case.

We don't have much time, since our next match is in three days. We must take our form into consideration, as we're not at our best at the moment. But we must conduct a thorough analysis with my staff to bounce back in the best possible way as quickly as possible.

Beyond this incident, the 30 minutes we displayed afterward were unacceptable and did not represent what we demonstrated last year in this competition. We must now analyze this match and quickly turn our attention to the match against Metz on Sunday.

How can we recover from this defeat?

We don’t have much time, since our next match is in three days. We must take our form into consideration, as we’re not at our best at the moment. But we must conduct a thorough analysis with my staff to bounce back in the best possible way as quickly as possible.

Were you surprised by the quality of this Club Bruges team?

No, it didn’t surprise me. The Belgian league has many very good players, and Bruges has shown great consistency, qualifying for the Champions League eight times in the last ten seasons. Last year, they even reached the round of 16 of the competition, notably beating Atalanta, proof that there are some very good teams in Belgium.

How do you explain the fact that the team hasn’t yet managed to keep a clean sheet this season?

It’s true, failing to keep a clean sheet in five matches is unacceptable. We need to reflect on this, especially since we’ve lost our style of play a little, in my opinion. We weren’t aggressive enough and lost too many duels on the pitch, in addition to being too far behind our opponents. We weren’t stable in our organization, and the players were too far apart. Once again, we weren’t competitive enough tonight, but we’ll bounce back!