MHSC – Nantes: Kouyaté and Maaama absent, Chotard and Tamari still there, Fayad and Sylla back, Nzingoula in the group

Mousa Tamari toujours là pour le moment. Midi Libre – Alexandre Dimou

À un jour de la fin du mercato, beaucoup d’incertitudes dans le groupe montpelliérain qui sera aligné contre Nantes, samedi 31 août, à 19 h.

Light atmosphere, Thursday morning, in Grammont, for the training of the Montpellier team two days before the reception of Nantes and especially on the eve of the end of the transfer window. A deadline that if it worries the directors and the staff does not seem to have an effect on the players.

The market values ​​of Montpellier and could be sold as Joris Chotard and Mousa Tamari trained normally. And Michel Der Zakarian, the coach is counting on them. “Players who will no longer be there ? I don't know anything about it. For now, Joris is fit to play and be in the squad. We'll see until tomorrow night. We're used to it with the transfer window, it's the same for all clubs."

Another midfielder expected

The coach is currently content with the midfielder on loan from Strasbourg, Rabby Nzingoula. “He's a young player from Strasbourg, from the Paris region, who has a lot of running, who plays box-to-box. We wanted another one too (Edimilson Fernandes, Editor's note), but we'll see. He is fit to play on Saturday." Other certainties for MDZ, the return to the squad after injuries of midfielder Khalil Fayad (thigh) and left-back Issiaga Sylla (calf).

Three players returning but unfortunately three players absent for the reception of Nantes with the suspension of Arnaud Nordin, the injuries of Kiki Kouyaté, who has pain in his knee again and Othmane Maama injured in the thigh during the reserve team's match, last Saturday, against OM (1-1). Yanis Issoufou, also injured during this match, is finally available. Lucas Mincarelli “worked all week with the physios” but will be too short for Saturday's match.

Expected reaction after Paris

A match that the Montpellier coach wants to win. “We're going to play to win it, because it's been a while since we won at La Mosson. Let's please our fans a little and let's please ourselves, to snatch a victory. It's important to get back to winning ways to catch Nantes, who are three points ahead of us."

The MHSC coach is also expecting a reaction from his men after the heavy defeat in Paris (6-0) last weekend. "Everyone got back to work. We took a good beating, but we have to use it to bounce back. The executives, they were like everyone else. We weren't good collectively, the whole team. We tried to remobilize everyone, so that everyone would perform well."