HBC Nantes – MHB: “We have nothing to lose, but everything to gain”, Montpellier has a golden opportunity to assume its ambitions in Starligue

Aymeric Minne et les Nantais reçoivent Karl Konan et les Montpelliérains ce dimanche. MAXPPP/Midi Libre – Zsolt Czegledi et Dorian Cayuela

Le MHB peut envoyer un très gros message et prendre ses distances en cas de victoire à Nantes, ce dimanche (17 h), lors du choc au sommet de la quatrième journée de Starligue. 

On Friday, during a final training session at the FDI Stadium, Érick Mathé stopped everything. After a few turnovers, the MHB coach scolded everyone, insisting that the decision could be made at the end of the game.

Where the air is thin and the tension is at its highest. It's an understatement to say that his players know it, having lost on a goal in the last second from midfield the last time they went to Nantes.

Read also: HBC Nantes – MHB: at what time and on which channel to watch the first big clash of the season in Starligue ?

This Sunday, they return to the “H”, a club they have not beaten in nine league games (!). A club that many people already saw as French champions even before the first goals of the season. A club that has surpassed the MHB in many areas – except the track record, it must be admitted.

Montpellier still undefeated

But a club that is probably a little sick at the start of the season, shaken by a thrashing received in Toulouse (35-29) in Starligue, then another defeat in Szeged (33-32) in the Champions League, when victory was within reach, Thursday.

“If they were to have two defeats in the championship from the fourth day, it would start very badly compared to their claim to the title”, says a mischievous person Érick Mathé. His team is far from all that. First, it has not yet started its “small” European campaign and its frenetic pace that goes with it, unlike Nantes.

Starligue: the ranking and all the results of the 4th day

Above all, Montpellier is still undefeated in the championship. Apart from the little scare at Tremblay (31-34), where they took half-time to find their marks, Valentin Porte's teammates were impressively in control against Saint-Raphaël (31-18) and Limoges (32-26).

Defense is the mother of safety

The recipe ? Nothing new under the Montpellier sun : an iron defense around Karl Konan, Arthur Lenne and the others, as well as a lethal wide-open game. While Yanis Lenne, back this Sunday, wasn't even there yet. That's to say…

"We didn't do the physical preparation all together, even if we know each other, we had to find the automatisms again. That can sometimes lead to problems in attack. That's why we need to rely on a big defense, it's the safe bet and it will be the key", explains Valentin Porte.

The captain and his team have a golden opportunity here, they who shout to anyone who will listen that they must also be counted on this season, to get this message across a little more and put the “H” two defeats apart.

A new message to get across

“That would be a big blow to everyone, adds Kyllian Villeminot, who has been excellent since his return from injury. To say that Montpellier is still there and that we are aiming for the title, too." "We have to go with our strengths. We have nothing to lose, but everything to gain", Porte sums up again.

Read also: Villeminot before HBC Nantes – MHB: "All that strengthened me mentally", his serious injury, the French team, his duel with Minne… the kid is back

For his part, Érick Mathé is not panicking and is steering his ship with a certain serenity. “We will only be at the end of the fourth day after this match, we will not have won anything at the end of this encounter, whatever happens, tempers the Hérault coach. It is certain that the perfect path to winning titles is to be undefeated. But the long quiet river does not exist.”

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