Pair of Milo Longhorned
Published 5 hours ago, Updated 5 hours ago
Benjamin Lecomte (left) was decisive for his team unlike Gaëtan Laborde (right). Norbert Scanella / Panoramic / Norbert Scanella / AFP / VALERY HACHE
On the lawn of the Allianz Riviera, the Montpellier residents won three very valuable points in this race to maintain (2-1) against the Niçois who are stalling once again.
TOPS
Lecomte unsinkable…
The MHSC goalkeeper is one of the main reasons why the Paillade players brought back three points from Nice (1-2) this Friday evening. Benjamin Lecomte had a rather quiet first period. On Boga’s goal from close range, the Frenchman can do nothing except watch the leather lodge in his small net. Then, he was imperial on his line but not only. First in a more aerial role, the 32-year-old goalkeeper reassured his entire block during his outings. With his good reading of the trajectories, he always prevailed to capture the leather with both hands, serenely. At the end of the match, he had to work from close range, particularly against Guessand (90+3). With his four saves, Lecomte was an essential part of this away victory.
…just like Kouyaté
The Malian defender was an almost impassable bulwark. Boubakar Kouyaté was impressively precise in his interventions, often risky for the most part. In the second period when Nice tried to come back to the score, the central defender was impressive in his duels (6/8). Not often outpaced, he mainly came to help his teammates in one-on-one situations. In his reading of the depths, he was also excellent covering Nice’s runs perfectly, not hesitating to tackle even in his area (3/4 successful). In his restarts, Kouyaté was also very precise (16/17) to try to launch his midfielders and attackers.
Bard disgusted the opposing wingers
The Nice side gave the Montpellier attackers a very bad evening. Melvin Bard was impressive in his management of depth as well but even more so in his duels against Arnaud Nordin. Often opposed to the French winger on his left side, the young full-back has always won his duels against his opponent. Very clean in his restarts too (50/59), he did not hesitate to also plan to bring extra numbers in attack. Unfortunately, he lacked success on the other side of the field.
FLOPS
Laborde started well before falling
The Nice striker brought too little to the Aiglons. Yet on his feet during the first period, Gaëtan Laborde tried to outrun his opponent numerous times. Often precise in his crosses, he was even a decisive passer in the Gym’s equalizer. But after this ball placed on Boga’s head, Laborde disappeared. With only 32 balls touched in this meeting, the 29-year-old winger will not have carried enough weight against his former club. Too often stuck to his line, he did not dare to come and get the ball at his feet. He missed his only shot of this meeting before being replaced relatively early (73rd) by Evann Guessand who brought percussion unlike him. In the duel with Wahbi Khazri just before the break, it was he who scored the penalty which allowed the visitors to regain control of this game (1-2, 43rd).
Todibo made too many mistakes
The French defender will also have hurt his team too much. From the start of the match, on a rather innocuous corner, he completely gets confused and clears into his goal. Marcin Bulka can do nothing and Nice is trailing from the first minutes of this meeting (0-1, 9th). Jean-Clair Todibo did not have the opportunity to redeem himself in defense during the rest of this meeting because the Montpellier residents did not create a lot of chances. In attack, he had a chance to get back to the supporters but he missed his recovery which ended up in the gloves of Benjamin Lecomte. He also lost 10 balls during this game.
