Annecy vs Montpellier: Post-match analysis
Annecy and Montpellier played out a 0-0 draw on home turf. No goals. Nine red cards. Sixty-two corners each, apparently. The thing is, I have been watching football for over twenty years and I am not
Annecy and Montpellier played out a 0-0 draw on home turf. No goals. Nine red cards. Sixty-two corners each, apparently. The thing is, I have been watching football for over twenty years and I am not entirely sure what I just looked at. But I will tell you this much. It was not football. It was barely organised chaos.
A Match That Lost the Plot Completely
Let me be direct. When a match finishes 0-0 and produces nine dismissals, something has gone catastrophically wrong. Not tactically wrong. Not technically wrong. Wrong in terms of basic standards and basic attitude. Both sets of players lost their heads. That is unacceptable at any level. End of.
Annecy had five players sent off in the second half. Five. B. TourΓ© and A. Gomes Rodriguez both went in the 69th minute. K. Veniere followed in the 76th. Then C. Makutungu and A. Casadei both walked in the 85th. Montpellier were not innocent either. N. Mbuku went in the 63rd, A. Gueguin in the 72nd. T. Savanier was booked for arguing. The referee had every right to be furious. Everyone on that pitch should be embarrassed.
| Total Red Cards | 9 (5 Annecy, 3 Montpellier) |
| Annecy Fouls | 20 |
| Montpellier Fouls | 29 |
| Final Score | 0-0 |
| Annecy Goalkeeper Saves | 24 |
| Montpellier Goalkeeper Saves | 11 |
Annecy Were Busy. They Were Also Awful.
Annecy had 38 total shots. Seventeen of those came from inside the box. Their goalkeeper made 24 saves. Twenty-four. That tells you everything about the quality of what was happening in front of him. You can shoot 38 times and still deserve nothing if you cannot put the ball in the net.
They had 10% of ball possession. Ten percent. I have seen Sunday League teams hold the ball better. The thing is, some teams can make low possession work if they are disciplined and clinical on the break. Annecy were neither. They had 270 total passes and a pass accuracy that the data tells me was effectively one percent. Listen, I do not need to analyse that further. Those are the basics, and the basics were not done.
Shots & Attempts: Annecy Total Shots: 38, Montpellier Total Shots: 62, Annecy Shots Inside Box: 17, Montpellier Shots Inside Box: 16, Annecy Shots Off Target: 1, Montpellier Shots Off Target: 7
Montpellier Had the Ball. Then They Had Nothing.
Montpellier controlled possession. They had 431 total passes to Annecy's 270. They had 83 accurate passes to Annecy's 70. They had 4% possession recorded here which looks like a data anomaly, but the pass numbers suggest they were on the ball more. What they did with it was not enough. They fired 62 total shots and scored zero. Their goalkeeper still had to make 11 saves. In a game they expected to dominate, that is not good enough.
Montpellier sit 7th in Ligue 2 with 44 points from 30 matches. A win here would have put real pressure on the top six. Instead they have a point, two fewer players available for the next game, and a lot of questions to answer about discipline and desire. Coming into this they had a goal difference of plus 8 and had conceded just 27 goals in 30 matches. Their defensive record is solid. Their attacking accountability today was not.
| Annecy Position | 8th |
| Annecy Points (30 played) | 43 |
| Annecy Record | 12W-7D-11L |
| Annecy Goals Scored / Conceded | 36 / 34 |
| Montpellier Position | 7th |
| Montpellier Points (30 played) | 44 |
| Montpellier Record | 12W-8D-10L |
| Montpellier Goals Scored / Conceded | 35 / 27 |
The Discipline Problem Is Bigger Than This Match
Nine second yellows in a single match. Let me say that again. Nine. This is not bad luck. This is not the referee being harsh. You do not get a second yellow card by accident. You get it because you have already been warned and you go and do something stupid anyway. That is an attitude problem. That is a standards problem. Annecy in particular need to look hard at themselves.
Losing TourΓ© and Gomes Rodriguez simultaneously in the 69th minute left them badly exposed. Then Veniere went in the 76th. Then two more in the 85th. At that point the match was borderline unplayable. The fact the score stayed at 0-0 is almost beside the point. Both clubs will face suspension headaches heading into their next fixtures. That is self-inflicted damage. No excuses for it.
A. Kashi, N. Mbuku, T. Savanier, A. Gueguin
The Signal and the Result
We backed Montpellier to win. The logic was sound. They were a point ahead of Annecy in the table, with a superior goal difference of plus 8 to Annecy's plus 2. They had conceded only 27 goals in 30 matches. They were the better team on paper going into this. The thing is, football is not played on paper.
The match produced a 0-0. Our selection lost. I am not going to tell you the logic was wrong because it was not. Montpellier had 62 shots and scored none. That is on the players. You cannot account for a team that cannot convert when it matters. I back conviction selections based on what I see and what the numbers support before kick-off. What happens on the pitch after that is down to the players. These ones let everyone down today.
Final Word
A 0-0 with nine dismissals is not a result. It is a failure. Both clubs are in the top half of Ligue 2 and both have legitimate ambitions this season. You would not know it from watching today. Accountability starts in the dressing room after the final whistle. I hope someone in both clubs has the spine to deliver it. End of.