The first game of the Ligue 1 – round 3 on Friday night will see Metz, who are still yet to gain a point after losing 2:0 to Bordeaux, play host to reigning champions Monaco, who beat last week’s opponents Dijon 4:1 with a hat-trick from goal-machine Falcao. Metz will be yearning for their first points to help them avoid relegation, while Monaco will be aspiring to continue their perfect start and positive vibes before the potential loss of Mbappé unsettles the side.
Metz vs. Monaco
3-Way: 1: Metz +927; X: +483 Draw; 2: Monaco -238
Spread -1.5: Metz -101; Monaco +104
Total +3.5: Over +121; Under -128
Metz
Metz disappointed their fans again after they fell 2:0 to a Bordeaux side without posing much threat to their opponents and with their defensive woes continuing. Firstly, Les Grenats conceded through a great strike by Bordeaux midfielder Valentin Vada just before the end of a cagey first half; Metz was hard-done by to be down by a goal at that point of the match. Bordeaux added a second through Younousse Sankhare when Metz left-back Assou-Ekotto failed to keep up with Bordeaux winger Malcolm as he ran down the edge of the box to then proceed to put it on a plate for his teammate.
Metz was overrun in the 2nd half and was lucky not to lose by more if it weren’t for poor finishing from Bordeaux. Furthermore, throughout the game, Metz rarely threatened their opposition’s box, having made just one shot on target. One must say that Metz is lacking in creativity and may rightly wonder why new central-midfield signing Cafu has not yet been given a chance in the starting line-up, as he could be the missing puzzle in the first team, although, on recent evidence, the two-times Coupe de France winners are missing at least a few puzzles.
Further creativity issues seem to be as a result of the loss of 19-year-old winger Ismaila Sarr, who assisted 5 goals last season, and attackers Cheick Diabaté and Mevlut Erdinc who scored nineteen goals between the three of them last season.
Manager Philippe Hinschberger will surely be looking to add some creative and attacking force in the last few weeks of the transfer window, as another loss to make it three on the trot could spell a crisis. Despite this, Metz has not been very active in the transfer window over the last couple of weeks, but they did sell defensive midfielder Cheick Doukouré to Levant UD in a 1.6 million euro deal. One player who is rumored to join is centre-forward Emmanuel Riviere, who scored 10 in 30 league games the last time he played a full season in Ligue 1, which could prove vital to this Metz team if he came in and repeated the same number of goals.
Philippe Hinschberger will be with a full squad roster for the game this Friday.
Monaco
Monaco performed excellently against Dijon FCO as they beat them convincingly with a 4:1 scoreline; a significant improvement on their previous performance against Toulouse. An early first goal from a corner was knocked-on by Glik, threatening as always from set-pieces to Falcao who pushed it with his left-foot inside the post.
Another goal from a corner straight to Jemerson who executed an exquisite overhead kick into the bottom-left corner. Falcao then added his second when he took a pop from outside the box, which deflected off of a Dijon defender and looped into the top right corner. Dijon replied to make it 3:1 as Monaco failed to deal with a long ball over the top and Wesley Said’s pace got him in behind the defense to go 1-on-1 with the keeper.
Finally, Falcao got his hat-trick from another corner as he rose above his man to head into the top of the net. Consequently, Falcao is now the top scorer in Ligue 1 with four goals to his name in just two games.
Overall, it was a decent performance by Monaco, however, their defensive performance was still not that of champions as they let Dijon have 6 shots on target. Furthermore, three goals in their first two games against lower opposition will be a concern when it comes to playing the likes of Marseille and PSG, especially since they conceded just 31 goals last season. Perhaps giving new signing Terence Kongolo his first league start will help solidify their defense.
Nonetheless, it was an encouraging performance and certainly a step forward for last season’s champions. However, despite the step forward they may about take a few steps back as a club through the possible loss of Kylian Mbappé, speculating from his shock omission from the first XI to being an unused sub which, according to manager Leanardo Jardim, was the “the decision of the club”. The manager’s words seem to indicate that the club has conceded to the departure of Mbappé, as do the odds of him moving to Paris Saint-Germain which have been slashed.
The loss of the French starlet would be a huge loss for Monaco as he scored 26 goals and assisted 14 times in all competitions last season, but his sale would bring in funds that could amount to 120 million euros, which could then be used to invest in more than adequate replacements.
In recent days there have been some transfer developments, including the departure of winger Allan Saint-Maximin 10 million euros and the arrival of winger Rachid Ghezzal from Lyon on a free transfer, who may be seen as a partial replacement for Mbappé.
Leanardo Jardim will be without keeper Loic Badiashile (shoulder), Adama Traoré (knee), Jordi Mboula (muscular) and Kevin N’Doram (shoulder) through injury.
Metz vs. Monaco – MATCH PREDICTION
Monaco has made a good start to their league campaign, but by no means without errors or faults. Saying that they should have enough to win their next match with their attack firing on all cylinders, especially Falcao who is on fire.
Metz, on the other hand, are in poor form and are in real trouble after not getting any points from their first two games, especially when you consider their next three games are home to Monaco, away to Caen and home to PSG, and only Caen looks like the game where they can get points.
I fully expect Metz to continue their losing streak and concede quite a few goals as their defense has been dire so far. Also consider that Metz and Monaco’s last two meetings have seen 5:0 and 7:0 wins for Monaco. Therefore, I would suggest going for a Monaco win by a big margin.
MY PICK: Monaco AH -1.5 (+104)
