Monaco hosts Lyon in round 1 of French Ligue 1. The match will be played on Friday, August 9th at Stade Louis II (Monaco)
Monaco held just a terrible previous season: at the very beginning, the team of Jardim was simply unlucky, then the Monegasques were a middle-class team in terms of game quality and an outsider in conversion and luck. Then Thierry Henry came to the team, and Monaco became an outsider in terms of both the game quality and conversion. Henry was often compared with Neville at that time, but there are a couple of points: 1) Neville did not insult his players after the defeats. Yes, I’m not talking about intense conversations but insults. 2) Neville is very cool in tactics, while Henry constantly just said general things on the same Sky Sports - many of his colleagues noted it. 3) Neville got in the most difficult and best league in the world, while Henry lost to everyone in Ligue 1, which many people already do not consider the top league. The return of Jardim was the only right decision - so Rybolovlev did. Now the Monegasques are doing well - everything is fine with finances, there is an excellent squad, plus the moral part of the team’s life is also in perfect order (remember Golovin’s phrase about refusing Real Madrid and Barcelona).
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Lyon had a great previous season - the team finished in the Champions League zone, and the Kids perfectly restrained formidable Manchester City (2-1 win and 2-2 draw), and the results reflected reality - Lyon was really very good in those matches. Now Lyon has three big problems: 1) resignation of head coach Bruno Genesio from the post; 2) Ferlan Mendy's departure to Real Madrid; 3) the departure of Nabil Fekir to Betis. Yes, the transfer of Fekir was beneficial to many - Nabil himself went to one of the best league in the world, Betis received not even the greatest but a cool player, and Lyon received considerable money. Again, considerable - for such a situation. And while Mendy’s departure to Real Madrid can be classified as the “traditional departure of one of the leaders in the summer,” the rearrangements on the coaching bridge cause less confidence - Lyon was great with Genesio (matches against Manchester City, second place in France in terms of xPTS, the same result - by pressure intensity). And his successor Sylvinho almost did not work on his own. Lyon may have problems in this season.
Before the start of the first round, the situation in Monaco seems even a little better than in Lyon - there is a normal coach at the helm of the team and a very good squad. Lyon does not seem great yet; I still think that Genesio’s leaving is a big mistake. But here it is necessary to note several important points for my prediction: both teams have very cool players both in attack and in midfield. In France, many goals are traditionally scored, but there is an even more important and convincing factor - two teams that play in the attacking style, and I think that they are unlikely to close and change something in their systems in the first round, so my forecast - Both to Score: Yes.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score - yes
