This blog has been unmanned for months now. It appears that my Danish blogging counterpart has found better things to do with life, and who can blame him? While I said years ago that the Champions League glory years are long gone for this club, I wasn’t quite prepared for the psychological torture that watching AS Monaco has become.

For those who haven’t kept up, let me briefly sum up the past five or so years at the Stade Louis II. Adebayor, Evra, Yaya Toure, Menez, Nene…all ancient memories. Their replacements? Steve Savidan (who retired before playing a game for Monaco), Eidur Gudjohnsen (who should have retired before playing a game for Monaco, and a combination of 30-something Ligue 1 journeymen and various young ‘rising stars’ from Africa and South America who have watched their careers rot as the club slowly sinks towards Ligue 2.

But enough negativity for the moment…Monaco stays above the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw against PSG yesterday. We almost always do well against them, but I wasn’t expecting much with our top scorer Park and our captain and super goalie Ruffier both out.

What a performance by Ruffier’s deputy in goal, Sebastien Chabbert. PSG (especially Erding) were all over us in the second half, even though Banide played with an 11-man defense for most of the match. Ruffier has been rumored to leave for a long time now, and you know he’s not going to hang around forever…he deserves to play for a team with a viable shot for CL football. If Chabbert can play like this, maybe it won’t hurt so much when Ruffier jumps ship.

Photos, better analysis, etc later…just wanted to blow the cobwebs off this blog for now…

Who have surprised so far? Who has disappointed? So far the Ligue 1 has presented us with a lot surprises. Unknown players stepping up, and showing that they could be the future of the french league, while star players seem to fade away.

So far the three top favorites(Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux) still have yet to gain a victory this season, and according to history a team that has not won a game within the first 2 have never won the league. So maybe we will have a surprise winner this season! Lyon have drawn with us, and lost to Caen. Bordeaux has lost to Montpellier and Toulouse while Marseille has disappointed the most, by loosing to Caen and Valenciennes. Note the surprise team of the season Caen has beaten two of the three favorites. That is mostly due to young starlet Sambou Yatabaré. Yatabaré is leading the group of young players stepping up this year. The other two players being our very own Nampalys Mendy, and Sochaux player Marvin Martin. If thees players can keep the level up they could be the faces of Ligue 1 this year. Mendy is a defensive midfielder delivering manly performances, and never allowing the opposition to settle, while Martin is more of a playmaker. Yatabaré has the technique to dribble the other team, but also the creativity, and skill to make the tough passes, he will attract great interest when this season is over! That is a short review of the surprises and revelations of the Ligue 1 this far! See ya soon when we play Lens this saturday on their homefield. Allez L’ASM!

Monaco 0
Montpellier 0

So in a match where it could have gone either way we shared all the points. Despite both teams having enough chances to score at least 2 goals each. Both teams came up with some impressive offensive showings but when it came to finish it, the keeper was in the way or the shot was way off. This game leaves me the question if constant draws are good or bad?

We have played two of last years top 5 teams, and come away with 2 points. That is fine right? But I’m not really sure, cause we are showing an iron defense with some surprise players stepping up(Nampalys Mendy), but despite us actually showing some offensive firepower we really need to improve on finishing. Park had several big chances to put us in front, but just missed. That was due to great keeping from the Montpellier keeper but still those chances are supposed to put away safely. That may be why we brought in striker Dieumerci Mbokani, who by the way was given a two day suspension, which he had with him from the belgian league. Mbokani will sit over against Lens on saturday and after that make his debut. That’s it for this time! Allez L’ASM!

Our match against Montpellier was supposed to be played yesterday, but due to rain it has been cancelled. The new date is set to be on tuesday same time!

So I have a childhood friend currently playing for the Football Club Copenhagen! He is a rotational player, and has played european football before. Not sure if you know the team, but they participated in the Champions League a couple of years ago, and beat teams as Manchester United and Celtic. Anyways my childhood friend has drawn interest from my favorite team! That’s right. Monaco.

His name is Mathias Jørgensen. Better known as Zanka here in Denmark. Anyway we were in Denmark 2 weeks ago to watch him in action. He was on the bench, but his agent has confirmed interest from Les Monegasques. Apparently we have been following for a year, and maybe he could be the replacement for Petter Hansson after this season is over. Zanka is a very smart defender with great physical abilities, he can and will try to participate in the offensive part of the game and he does it well for a defender. He should not be very expensive and the deal shouldn’t cost much more than 3€ million. In other news Lacombe has stated a new wing is needed, and that he was very impressed with young Nampalys Mendys performance against Lyon this past weekend. He intend to use him more in the future. Now that’s it for this time! Allez L’ASM

Monaco 0
Lyon 0

So despite not having Haruna and Perez back from the world cup, we put on a good performance against Lyon on the Stade Gerland. We surprised quite a lot in our starting line up. We started Nampalys Mendy ahead of Nkoulou next to Mangani, while Bulot also made his debut on the wing. Aubameyang was quite dangerous during this game with some nice dribbles, and crosses to Park. It was Hugo Lloris who saved Lyon from starting out the season with no points, and based on the number of chances we got maybe we should have won the game. But this is a great result against heavily favored Lyon. We proved that we can perform against the big teams, and maybe now that Lacombe has formed this team to his kind of squad we may be able to return to Europe! I have big hopes for this season! But I always have that. We’ll see. Allez L’ASM

It is official! We have gotten the reinforcement we needed for the attack! The amount is set to be around 7€ million. Mbokani turned down the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Bordeaux to play for Les Monegasques.

According to Dieumerci Mbokani’s agent, the transfer from Standard Liege to Monaco is only a few details away from happening.

The price is set to be around 7-8€ million, and with some bonuses it could rise to around 8,5€. Getting Mbokani will reinforce the attack greatly, as he is a goal getter whom Park could set up for a lot of goals. He may not be in the squad for the game against Lyon on saturday, but maybe in the next game after against Montpellier. In other rumors we are hunting a reinforcement for the midfield, primarily for depth. Therefore Guy Lacombe has looked at Anderlecht midfielder Thomas Chatelle. Chatelle is a versatile midfielder who can play just about every position on the midfield, and will be great depth if an injury is to occur. Anderlecht is said to be willing to part ways with the midfielder if the price is right. He will not be expensive, and therefore even though we are using a load of money on Mbokani he could still be affordable. In other news Stephane Ruffier has been called up for the France national team squad! He will start as the first team keeper in the game against Norway on wednesday. This could be the start of something great for our keeper! Starting ahead of the likes of Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda and Sebastian Frey. We should be very proud of our young starlet. That’s it for this time everyone. See ya soon. Allez L’ASM!

Sebastien Puygrenier has packed his bags and will be staying in Monaco for at least another year. The deal is a loan with an option to purchase. Hopefully the option given to us this time, is less than last time.

Puygrenier was the rock and the captain of the defense last season, and we expect to take the same role for the team this year. Him, Petter Hansson and Cedric Mongongu will be an excellent rotation in the center of the defense. In an interview he stated that he was unsure if he would start immediately for the team, since he missed preseason preparations, but he felt that he could. He was also very impressed with the quality recruits we brought in. So great news for the team. Now we “only” need an attacker, a right back and a wing. It looks like the attacker will be Diumerci Mbokani from Standard Liege, and the deal is only details from being finalized. Loïc Perrin could still be the right back for this team, depending if Saint Etienne accept our still standing offer on 2,5€ million. Perrin has stated that he wants to move on from Saint Etienne. His deal with Etienne runs out after this forthcoming season, and therefore we are trying to negotiate a deal with him stating that we get him as off next season, making us have to loan a right back for this season. Who it will be is not knowing. The wing may not be needed, now that young hot shot Frederic Bulot has stepped his game up these last couple of friendly matches. He has impressed Guy Lacombe, and ensured him that he deserves a spot in the first team. There is really not much more to tell about now. The season kicks off this saturday against Olympique Lyon at the Stade Gerland. Allez L’ASM!

Monaco 1 – Park(6)
Olympiakos 0

This team looks like it is ready to start the season! We showed an explosive attack, and an iron defense. The attack was led by emerging wing Frederic Bulot who has displayed some impressive skills these last couple of games. It was his finish that set up Park to knock it in, and put us ahead. The rest of the game was a dominate performance by Monaco, and with the near return of Diego Perez, Lukman Haruna and Nicolas Nkoulou from the World Cup we look set to start out this years Ligue 1. Sebastien Puygrenier was at the Stade Louis ll as he is supposed to be loaned to us for another season, and Dieumerci Mbokani deal could also be official very soon. We will set off against Lyon on the 7th on Stade Gerland. Look forward to a possible surprise if we keep can keep this level? Maybe but we’ll see! That’s it for this time. Allez L’ASM!