MHSC: The melancholy overwhelms Montpellier at the Océane stadium and plunges it even lower

Modibo Sagnan et les Montpelliérains ont longtemps tenu bon défensivement avant de concéder un cruel penalty. MAXPPP – EMMANUEL LELAIDIER

Montpellier s'enfonce à la dernière place après sa défaite au Havre, dans le duel des mal classés.

The melancholy overwhelms Montpellier at the Stade Océane. It plunges it into abysmal disarray after this eighth defeat. In Le Havre, at the penultimate team. It ruins its party spirit on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the creation of La Paillade.
This morning, Montpellier is a little alone. Alone last, but also alone in the wake of Ligue 1. It is not far away from it yet, but it is far from the other candidates for survival. It is digging a six-point gap with the play-off team. And it knows that a brilliant move will not be enough to get out of the impasse.

Read also: “He is the player we needed” : Nikola Maksimovic did his best for his debut with MHSC

On this All Saints' Sunday, Montpellier lost the match that should not have been lost while everyone, in the Ligue 1 cellar, won. Angers, Saint-Etienne, Auxerre, Toulouse and HAC: all these clubs bounced back. The defeat at Le Havre, a week after the one against Toulouse, condemned it a little. It punished its level of play, its shortcomings, the weight of the absences especially, the sloppiness at the start of the season. These two defeats against direct opponents consumed the hope of a comeback, hindering redemption.

Sixteen years after its comeback, the fourth relegation in history is a worst-case scenario, but also real.
“We must not get down even if the ranking is going to be hard to watch. Now, there is the gap. If we have this state of mind, if we recover our injured and suspended players, there will be better days”, positive Jean-Louis Gasset.

MHSC's bad hand

Sunday, in this Océane stadium, Montpellier, with its defense remodeled around the recruit Nikola Maksimovic did not take waves, but it sank on an unintentional misconduct. The worst attack in Ligue 1 undermined the worst defense. “It was the match of fear. It was obvious that it would be decided on a detail. On a well-constructed action, on a set piece or on a penalty”, sums up the Montpellier coach.

Read also:“When you're in a period like this, nothing is going well”, “I saw a serene team”: Jean-Louis Gasset reacts to MHSC's defeat in Le Havre

In this match, neither side wanted to lose, neither side wanted to concede a goal. Each side did little with the other's scraps. In this game of poker, Le Havre picked up the stakes following a mistake by Falaye Sacko. Guilty of a handball on a header from André Ayew. Guilty of a penalty in the 72nd minute and at fault every time he played in the middle. Goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte, who made two or three decisive saves, did not pull off a miracle on the penalty kick by Le Havre captain Touré.

The cold that had fallen on Normandy had spread to the game and two teams with frozen audacity. And Montpellier, without its playmaker Téji Savanier, was too insignificant in the game to respond in the last quarter of an hour. It waited for a brilliant move from Khazri or Nordin, who did not come. This morning, the cold invaded Montpellier. Like winter before its time.

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