How much longer will Monaco be a mid table team?

AS Monaco are the only Ligue 1 club not based in France as they are actually based in the principality of Monaco. They are, nevertheless, one of the most successful clubs in the country but Les Rouge et Blanc have struggled to return to the big stage ever since losing the Champions League final to Porto in 2004. One would thought the club would only progress further seeing it was the biggest success in Monaco’s history but that simply didn’t happen and they have been struggling to escape mediocrity over the last five years. The start of the current season has been very promising but we are yet to see if Guy Lacombe can take this team to another level.

As I have already mentioned, Monaco had a lot of success in its history, which was capped with the Champions League final in 2004, but the club’s downtrend started from the season that followed the big success as president Pierre Svara failed to hold on to the star players in the team. Ever since, Monaco have been one of the most boring teams in France as they were only restricted to mid table finishes.

The club management didn’t have a lot of money to spend this summer and they were forced to mostly rely on young but very talented players from their youth academy, like Nimani, Mollo, Thuram, Gakpe, Mongongu and N’Koulou. They, nevertheless, managed to bring a very good coach in Guy Lacombe, who has plenty of experience of working with young players, having had led Rennes, the club with the best youth academy in France, for three years. Lacombe’s reputation seems to have been enough to attract players like Gudjohnsen, Puygrenier and Coutadeur, who are expected to be of big help to the younger players.

As a result, Monaco are sitting fourth in Ligue 1 with 15 points from 8 games, after the memorable win over Marseille at Velodrome. The win over the title contenders could be just what they needed to kick-start this season and finally mount a serious challenge for the European places. Even though this is a very young team, even the youngsters have at least one season of Ligue 1 football behind them and will definitely get even better as they gain more experience. While it seems early for this team to shine this term and challenge the top 5 finish, next season could be the season Monaco fans will have been waiting for six years.

Popularity: 2% [?]