The target set for the 2011/12 champions by Louis Nicollin looked reasonable – top six, get third in their CL group, and “pourquoi pas une petite coupe?”. The start was disappointing; the opening matches in MHSC’s debut Champions League campaign were promising – a brave defeat to Arsenal and a braver draw at Schalke, down to ten men – but the league form was horrendous. After nine matches they sat in 16th, with eight points. There were injuries, suspensions, fallings out, new players not integrating well; something had to give.
The key match of the season came at this point – the third Champions League match, at home to Olympiakos. They lost 2-1. This summed up so much – despite looking comfortable and going 1-0 up, they failed to score a second goal; they conceded a sloppy equaliser, through defensive miscommunication; then a last-minute winner from the visitors. What should have been a win, in their easiest European match, and should have given them a chance of third place and a run in the Europa League, was a crushing blow.
The reaction to that defeat was also key, however – it was the start of a run from the end of October to the beginning of March in which they took 36 points from 17 matches, top of the form table for that period, and up to sixth place in the table. Their only league losses in that period were all to top teams, Lyon, Lille, OM and St Etienne. It wasn’t all plain sailing, with cup losses to Rennes (League Cup semi-final) and Sochaux (Coupe de France 16emes), but it was impressive. Things had started to click; even January transfer window mutterings about Belhanda and Utaka did not derail them. But then, it started to slip away. There were only two wins in the last 11 matches, at home to Valenciennes and Brest; there was another late winner conceded at home to Lyon, after dominating the match; there was the bizarre sight of Montpellier making Bordeaux look like ruthless goal machines.
The slide started around the same time that it was confirmed Rene Girard would leave the club at the end of the season. Montpellier hit relegation form (8 points, 18th over that period) but the gap between top and bottom half in the league was enough for them to hold onto 9th place. A new manager was announced, Jean Fernandez, while Girard was still insisting his team were still up for it; their final matches weren’t so much “on the beach”, as they didn’t seem to be having much fun, but frustrating displays of torpor enlivened by flashes of brilliance that only underlined what could have been.
Most of those flashes of brilliance were from Remy Cabella; chosen player of the year by the Montpellier faithful, and ranked their best player by L’Equipe with 5.80. Benjamin Stambouli’s season was derailed by long absence through injury, and he was badly missed, as was Jamel Saihi, out long-term. New promotees Jonas Martin, Bryan Dabo and Teddy Mezague all look good for the future, as did the return to the first team of Abdelhamid El-Kaoutari. And Belhanda … again, flashes of genius only served to stress how disappointing the season was – at the end, he was being cat-called by the crowd. He surely cannot stay.
The summer will be tense – the managerial situation may already have been sorted out, but Belhanda needs to be sold early to free up funds for much-needed reinforcements; back-up stalwarts Pitau and Jeunechamp are leaving, as is Utaka, at the end of his contract, and rumours swirl around Cabella’s future. The club really need to keep him (apart from being very good, when Belhanda goes he will be the only attacking midfielder who can comfortably play centrally), but with interest reported from Monaco and Marseille, they may not manage it. Fernandez’ job next year, according to the tifo at the final match, is “objectif l’Europe” – more realistically, it is consolidation.
FINAL POSITION: 9th
Review by @Philby1976