If you’d have offered me a point before the game, well…I’d have probably taken it. The way things turned out, well…what a point. Fears that the arrival of Jean Fernandez would lead to a more defensive approach went out the window as Montpellier launched a full-on attack from the start, Cabella causing chaos in the centre and Anthony Mounier, whose recent transfer situation has been delicate, starting like a man with a serious point to prove, flying into tackles, haring past his marker, and fighting for everything.
Only ten minutes in, and the home side were ahead; Herrera stumbled over the ball, and pulled his shot, and Cabella was there to pounce on the rebound, showing wonderful composure to lift it over Sirugu. The place erupted; now the hard work began. Joris Marveaux was a key player for MHSC, tasked with nullifying the threat from Ibrahimovic; the size of that threat is perhaps indicated by the fact that I assumed, watching them go toe-to-toe, that Marveaux is around my height. He’s 5’10″, but that is still made to look stupidly small by Zlatan. Despite that, Marveaux put in a wonderful smothering performance, even managing a shoulder barge at one point (to reprise the ‘small dog picking on a big dog’ riff from last season).
Mosson by night…
So, first goal to Cabella, and first yellow, equally unsurprisingly, to Verratti, for a shirt-tug on Mounier. His duel with the two Montpellier attackers was shaping up to be very interesting indeed. PSG seemed unnerved by the ferocity of the attack they were facing, as the Montpellier defence stood up well to the chances that the champions, inevitably, put together. They held on to half-time for the 1-0 lead, with only two weak links in the chain. One, that Siaka Tiene is not the languid, louche presence that Henri Bedimo was – he was muscular and functional, but occasionally got stranded upfield. Fortunately Abdelhamid El-Kaoutari could come left cover and Benjamin Stambouli drop back into central defence as needed. Two, that Emmanuel Herrera was struggling; his involvement in the goal was largely an error, and his positioning was uniformly poor. Montpellier were holding the champions without a functioning centre-forward. They compensated for that by not bothering to cover Christophe Jallet, an approach that turned out to be riskier in theory than in practice, but barring a mildly worrying brief switch to a 4-4-2 to put Souleymane Camara in a central role, there was frequently nobody available for the midfielders to aim at.
At the restart, PSG looked more together, although Pastore was mostly hopeless in a central role and Ibrahimovic was dropping deeper and deeper to try to recover it. In a slightly surprising move, Montpellier made the first change, Mounier out for Martin – some height in attack was a good idea, but Mounier seemed to be in his groove. At the hour mark, PSG levelled it, Pastore crossing, Ibrahimovic deflecting, and Maxwell roofing it. The away fans went crazy; the home fans clenched.
Shortly after this, a booking for El-Kaoutari for nothing much on Ibrahimovic. Shortly after that, Herrera, having done little in the second half to improve on the first, was replaced by Victor Hugo Montano. Tactically sensible, but in terms of politics, very clever – Montano was Montpellier’s key striker in the promotion season 2008/9, and after three years at Rennes, where he had fallen out of favour, is now back at Mosson. The ovation to greet him was awesome – and he of course already has his song. With the atmosphere becoming increasingly tense, there was the first sub for Paris. Lavezzi off, Cavani on.
Now – it can be seen as a slight victory to force the introduction of a new signing earlier than planned, but if that means €64 millions-worth of Edinson Cavani trotting onto the pitch, that’s a new definition of Pyrrhic. Particularly when the next thing that happens is a second yellow for El-Kaoutari; it was a bad tackle, and possibly a straight red in its own right (not seen a replay yet, yes, I am massively biased, so make of that what you will). Montpellier now had to hang on for twenty minutes against PSG, a man down.
Camara was taken off for Teddy Mezague, impressive last season in his few starts, but still a bit of a risk, and then as the crowd howled for Verratti to get his marching orders too, after a very bad challenge on Martin, Blanc sensibly took him off for Hervin Ongenda, star of pre-season. With Camara gone, the route to Montano was further compromised, and while Cabella and Martin did their best to push on, the need to protect that precious point meant conservatism finally came to the fore. Lucas, strangely ineffectual, was then replaced with Adrien Rabiot, but it was too late to make the difference.
Ibrahimovic was caught offside three, four times in that final twenty minutes; all of them marginal calls. Cavani’s pace meant that Montpellier’s defence were forced into ever more desperate clearances, each welcomed with huge cheers from the home faithful. Corner after corner swung in, and nerves were ragged, but Montpellier held firm, Geoffrey Jourdren with a superb save from Rabiot in the dying seconds.
Thanking the fans
So, a point. For an hour, Montpellier were ahead, and with a functioning centre-forward, could have got a second. There was something inevitable about PSG’s equaliser, but also about the winner that never came. The reaction of the crowd at full-time was marked – standing in recognition of the collective shift put in. It was a good point. For PSG, from here, there will be a title race; for Montpellier, a trip to Monaco, in a crazy double-header to open the season. But, as in 2011/12, and that opening draw last season, the capital club know they aren’t going to get everything their own way.