“There is still a long way to go”: Montpellier coach Erick Mathé is wary before MHB-Limoges

Cikusa apprend vite pour le plus grand bonheur du MHB. JEAN MICHEL MART

Montpellier, toujours invaincu, reçoit l’équipe qui monte en Starligue, samedi à 20 h 45, au FDI Stadium.

Times are tough. Even for Montpellier Handball. MHB-Limoges, the poster for the third day of Starligue, was not a full house. Things could still change between now and Saturday night and the kick-off scheduled for 8:45 p.m. at the FDI Stadium.

There is no shortage of reasons to hope for a surge from the supporters. There is the opponent to start with. Limoges is the nouveau riche of the first division, the fourth budget (6.10 M€ including 2.1 of payroll), just behind Montpellier (8.90 M€, 3.80 M€) and ahead of Usam Nîmes (6 M€, 2.10 M€).

This is the club that is on the rise, fifth last year and European this season for the first time in its history. A meteorite founded in 2005 that now fills the Palais des sports Beaublanc instead of the basketball players, the only heroes of the city for decades.

This is the team that is titillating the best – Paris last week (29-30) – with a few French players, Croatians, Spaniards and the Ukrainian Ihor Turchenko (20 goals in two matches). This left-back with an ordinary physique for a handball player (1.93 m – 90 kg) will once again be the attraction against the Héraultais.

Cikusa “understands things quickly”

There is the opponent… there is especially the MHB to wake up the community of its fans. Undefeated in three games (one in the Cup, two in the championship), Erick Mathé's group, even without two key players (Skube and Yanis Lenne), sails its boat without rocking. The big weather is coming, of course. Limoges this Saturday evening. Nantes next Sunday. We'll talk about it again.

The coach says nothing else. If his team is well born, "there is still a long way to go", underlines the former assistant of Guillaume Gille at the head of the Blues. Kyllian Villeminot perfectly symbolizes this quest. Ten months after rupturing his left Achilles tendon, the Montpellier center half is getting back into the game. "Things are starting to get better in terms of rhythm. He needs to play", explains Erick Mathé.

Erick Mathé, Montpellier's coach. JEAN MICHEL MART

Djordje Cikusa discovers the MHB. It's something else again. He has everything to learn about his new club even though the young man arrives from Barcelona. “He understands things quickly. He had a very good start last week at Tremblay and was able to unblock the situation", insists the technician. Villeminot-Cikusa same fight. So why miss that ? Why do without what is best today in France and maybe even in Europe ?

Baptiste Nicot's secrets

Erick Mathé leaves all that aside for the moment. He has enough with the field, his boys to progress and an opponent to figure out. Concerning Limoges, he did not lack information. Beyond the images of beIN Sports, Baptiste Nicot, his assistant, worked for a long time in the opposing camp. He knows all the secrets, all the cogs, all the connections.

“That was the trap (to avoid), Erick Mathé interrupts. I did not want to ask him more than that. I did not want to give too much information without diluting it. I experienced this when I was in Chambéry and I found Montpellier…" Erick Mathé can always turn to his bench if, unfortunately for him, things go badly.

The group: Bolzinger, Desbonnet. Karlsson, Simonet, Villeminot, Pellas, Cikusa, Hesham, Fernandez, A. Lenne, Prat, Konan, Guigon, Monte, Porte (cap.), Nacinovic. I subscribe to read the rest