Ligue 1 betting tip: AS Monaco- Nantes
We also have ownership of a team in Belgium, Cercle Brugge, and my role is to support both teams. Cercle Brugge take their own decisions, but with recruitment we have a relationship and I help them. We aim to recruit and work in the same way and have similarity of concept across both teams.
Cercle Brugge gives a good opportunity for player development and growth and we see a lot of high-value players coming out of the Belgian league. We have a number of players on loan there this season and they’re the second youngest team in Belgium in terms of on-pitch minutes.
It’s the beauty of a multi-club model - you can put those principles in all your clubs and speed up the learning of your players if they move between clubs.
That is a little similar to the Brentford-FC Midtjylland set up.
When we arrived we tried to understand the current processes, the ways of working and the individuals, and then went about formulating how that aligned with the way we wanted to work, where it differed and what steps we could take.
We made investment in certain areas - scouts, performance analysis, the tools we use, data, information - to be able to work in the way we wanted.
There are many different ways to do this role. I have a certain history and have been on a certain personal development, so I have had more exposure to certain principles, like data, right back from my performance analysis days. I am very comfortable with understanding data and also its weaknesses, so where are the blind spots, so you don’t fall into any traps.
There are certain things you’re also weaker in and you support yourself with good people who can deliver some of those topics for you. It’s about being open-minded to understanding where and how certain things can be used.
We also want to be a technically skilled team and protagonists with the ball, because we will face a lot of matches where we are ball dominant and need players that can deal with those situations. We want to carry some of these principles over to Cercle Brugge as well, so there is similarity of play.
Organisations and teams have different playing styles, which is what makes football exciting.
One thing that will naturally happen is that the game will get quicker. If you look at most elite sports, they’re increasing in speed, tempo, collisions and impacts, and that’s because of the heightened athleticism of the players.
So much of that could be one of the Brentford DOF's talking and ASM and the Bees are two very modern thinking innovative teams and I can only see more improvement to come and to be honest, I would be surprised were Monaco not to win something this season, or at least go very close.
Nantes are definitely better than last season's 18th place suggests and were mid-table for all "expected" numbers , they have lost midfielder Imran Louza to Watford and are winless in the seven games he has sat out over the last two years, losing all four on the road. He has yet to be replaced, although Nantes have upgraded in the goalkeeping department. We will know a little more after today, but I have to favour the greater match fitness of Monaco to prove decisive.
They are circa 17.0 to win Ligue 1, there is 21.0 in a place but I doubt anyone can bet much there, so that should not put you off taking the 16-1 if you fancy it ,as 1.17 or so about PSG winning just feels like a silly price (regardless of where Messi goes and he has made his wishes clear, see photo) !
1.75 units AS Monaco -1.5 goals 2.18 asian line.
Monaco were a very strong second half team last season, scoring 48 goals after the break (29 at home) and were the #1 ranked home team after the break, with an 11-5-3 record and +19 goal difference. They also played in "waves" (not sure how else to describe it) and were at their best between the 16th-30th min ( 13-5 goal difference), 46th-60th (17-5) and 19-7 after the 76th minute, the last two of which make them a very interesting "in play" option in games and their second goal in Prague in midweek came in the 59th minute.
Good luck !