ASM report: Two-sday numerology edition

By: Richard | January 20th, 2009

The photos above represent Monaco’s current home and away form, respectively. Can you spot the difference?

Caen 2 (Savidan 73, Nivet 90)
AS Monaco 2 (Pino 6, Alonso 24)

AS Monaco gave away 2 points by surrendering a 2-goal lead at Caen Sunday. This will no doubt give fans of Ligue 1 a sense of déjà vu, as just 2 rounds ago, Monaco self-destructed in an even more epic fashion, losing to Bordeaux 3-4 after being 3-0 up. That match was of course played at the Stade Louis II (see 2 posts ago).

Juan Pablo Pino opened the scoring with an outrageous goal after just 6 minutes. He evaded two defenders with a nifty turn near the halfway line and then sprinted towards goal, eventually shooting across Plante and into the net from outside the box. Brilliant.
Monaco made it 2-0 when Mollo’s cross fell at the feet of Alonso, who was left with a relatively easy chance and made no mistake.
Of course, no lead is safe with Monaco, and when Savidan out-jumped Muratori (knocking him over in humiliating fashion–the equivalent of an NBA slam-dunk facial) to head over Yohann Thuram-Ulien, you could feel that sinking feeling starting again.
I must confess that I thought ASM were going to get away with it this time, as Caen didn’t seem particularly threatening in the final 15 minutes. However, the match ended as it had to end 2 minutes into stoppage time; Nivet got hold of a ball just inside the box and Thuram-Ulien could not claw out his weak shot, 2 points lost. I wanted to be angry at our keeper, but then again, he is only playing because our first 2 keepers are injured.

Ricardo got the vote of confidence earlier this week, but surely there must only be a few grains of sand left in his hourglass. He must be replaced immediately or ASM will end up in Ligue 2.

Oh, and Leandro Cufre wants to leave us for AEK Athens, reportedly. That would be the 2nd Argentine to leave ASM in 2 weeks.

Next week: Round 22. Grenoble come to town.