Montpellier Hérault SC

[Teemu]

TELLEMENT MA VILLE EST BELLE​

ET MOI JE CHANTE POUR ELLE​

MAIS CE QU'ELLE A DE PLUS BEAU​

C'EST LE MONTPELLIER HERAULT!!!​

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French league champions having finished 14th last season, and having only spent €1.5m on a left-back, setting a new record for the number of points won at home in a season, with a team whose core is made up of home-grown academy players, 5 youngsters all coming through the academy at the same time to become top players, and, best of all, wiping the smug smile off the PSG fans (largely disgusting people) who thought the season was a foregone conclusion. My family is from Montpellier and despite what happened last night in the Champions League I'm proud to be an MHSC fan, showing that football isn't all about money and playing the game the right way. The only slight shame is that none of my friends care as they're too busy revising so I'm having to have a little party on my own in my room...​

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Discuss.​

 

[HappySpur]

It's a great story and one you might have expected out of Rennes or Tolouse who have good academies. Lots to be said for having the right system and coach in place. And we could learn quite a bit about how to challenge the petro clubs via them and say BVB. Neithers system could be replicated 100% here, but you pick and choose and figure out a way to challenge bigger clubs via a system/ethos and a belief that you can win with kids.

 

[Dare!]

Big congrats to Montpellier. PSG can fuck off.

 

[mpickard2087]

Well done to MHSC, great to see the underdogs prevail.

With the events of this weekend though, kills off any chance of us getting Giroud now

 

[Spurrific]

Very happy for them, thoroughly deserved and incredible how little they had spent. I hope vultures don't surround them and try to strip them of their assets.

 

[Leo]

Cool team, well done. Giroud is clearly mustard.

 

[tobi]

Nice to see them not lose their focus given all the distractions tonight, congrats.

 

[TheGreenLily]

Nice one Montpelier, My dad lived near Le Vegan which is about 45 mins north of Montpelier near Ganges.

Excellent stuff, love it when the underdog does well and PSG can sod off, I hate Paris.

 

[Teemu]

Great to see everyone glad Montpellier won, literally everyone in France and indeed in Europe hates PSG, pathetic behaviour from their fans (like Auxerre's for that matter) getting their game suspended temporarily when they started throwing flares as soon as they conceded. They've had money for one season and think they've got a god given right to win everything, so seeing them go the whole season empty-handed will hopefull shut them up.

As for Giroud, he's a great player and for the first half of the season almost carried the team single-handed, but having watched almost every game I'm still not entirely convinced he'd have what it takes go to any of the top clubs in England or Spain and expect to be first choice. He's been making noises about going to Bayern but personally I think it'd be a terrible choice as he's got exactly the same attributes as Gomez and for that reason would hardly get a game. He's only 25 and I honestly think he'd be best served staying one more season, playing in the Champions League of course, to show he can be this good on a regular basis before making a big move.

On the other hand I think Belhanda is absolutely brilliant, I'm slightly loathe to say this as I've got divided loyalties here but if Modric was to go, I seriously think we should get this guy in. His vision and ball retention maybe isn't yet quite as good as Modric but he's 3 or 4 years younger and not far off, and he's more direct in terms of a goal threat, having scored 12 goals this season. Benjamin Stambouli has also got everything it takes to be a top defensive midfielder.

The president has said that none of the top players would leave and from what the players themselves have been saying, now they're in the Champions League they'd be happy to stay a bit longer, although clearly money talks (and the president is absolutely mental too). Even though I think Belhanda has more potential than Giroud, Giroud would be a greater loss if he did go as he's absolutely fundamental as the fulcrum of the team's attacking movement and Montpellier have no one to replace him, whilst players like Dernis, Camara, Cabella and Ait-Fana have done well in Belhanda's absence despite not playing the exact same role.

 

[nightgoat]

Glad to see PSG didn't buy the league, then. Presumably Pardew will be hovering around Montpellier with Ashley's chequebook.

 

[thinktank]

Allez MP!

 

[Kingellesar]

Great achievement for them. PSG must be seething that they can't even buy Ligue 1.

Can't see anyone knocking Man City and Man United off the top two for a few years

 

[dav3j]

Wow, hadn't been keeping up with Ligue 1 this year, I had made the assumption PSG were just "Man City"ing it. Big congratulations to Montpellier, jolly nice place as far as I remember too!

 

[ShelfSide18]

With Chelsea winning the Champions League, this story is a tiny grain of comfort. I don't have the first clue about the French Ligue 1, I will try and keep up next season.

Cheers Teemu.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I was keeping an eye on this in the past few weeks, glad to see MontP won. I have no idea how they've been playing as we don't get the French league here but either way it's great to see the underdog topple the cash-rich psg. Hope they can keep the team together for the CL next season.

 

[kishman]

From 14th to Champions. Amazing story. If only all leagues could be like that.

 

[Teemu]

I have no idea how they've been playing as we don't get the French league here.

They actually play fairly similarly to how we lined up at certain points of the season, in a sort of 4-2-3-1. They have two midfielders playing deep, usually Saihi in a holding role and Estrada as a deep-lying playmaker (Parker and Modric, although Estrada is much less mobile), with Belhanda being the link between the midfield and attack, and getting forward to score goals (VdV). They then play Giroud up front as a target man, (similar to Adebayor although Giroud tends to stay more central and is a better finisher, whilst Adebayor contributes more to the all-round team play) with two wingers, although the Montpellier wingers (Utaka/Camara/Cabella/Ait-Fana/Dernis) play more like inside forwards à la Barcelona rather than out and out wingers like Bale and Lennon, and all score their fair share of goals. The full backs (Bedimo and Bocaly) also offer a lot in attack with Bedimo especially constantly bombing forward to create the overlap a bit like Assou-Ekotto when Bale drifts inside...

 

[liam17oi]

My family are all Parisians so all support PSG and so, are my French team. Well played to Montpellier, though. Very well done.

 

[SugarRay]

It's certainly restored a little faith in the "sport" for me given City have bought the title over here and Chelsea have now managed to buy every trophy available to them.

Great stuff.

 

[Locotoro]

Belhanda is a wonderful talent and will continue to be the centre piece of the Moroccan National team for years to come.

Now if only we can stop France (Kaboul, Rami) and Belgium (Chadli, Fellaini) nicking all our players we could have a very strong side.

Being Spanish Moroccan I just need an ACN win to complete the set of International cups!