Adi Hütter: "We don't have to think about Barcelona yet"

Eager to get off to a good start after the first international break, the Monaco coach spoke at a press conference on the eve of the trip to Auxerre (Saturday, 7 p.m.).

Back to league action! After an international break over the last week, the players of AS Monaco are back in Ligue 1 this Saturday (19h), away to Auxerre. Having been held by Lens two weeks ago, the Rouge et Blanc want to get  three points again in order to best prepare for the clash against Barcelona. It was with this in mind that coach Adi Hütter spoke at a press conference. 🎙️

We have to focus only on the match against AJA tomorrow because the league is our main focus. So we must not think about Barcelona yet because we will have plenty of time to prepare afterwards.

Preparing for the trip to Auxerre

Certain players like Folarin Balogun, Wilfried Singo and Takumi Minamino only are coming back from their national teams today. I will talk to them to see if they are available because they have travelled a long way and only played three days ago. We have to focus only on the match against AJA tomorrow because the league is our main focus. So we must not think about Barcelona yet because we will have plenty of time to prepare afterwards.

On the key elements of AJA

This is a team that beat Nice in the last minute and that conceded two defeats due to playing a man down. In France, all teams are challenging to play away because they are pushed on by their fans. It will be particularly necessary limit Theo Bair. He is a big striker (he is 1m91 tall, editor’s note) and Auxerre is a team that crosses a lot. After three games, they are in fact the team that crosses the most.

Squad management

This week, we will play two league games against Auxerre and Le Havre, as well as the match against Barcelona in midweek. It is our job, with the technical staff, to find the right formula for each of these games. Tomorrow, you may see players you haven’t thought of but as I said two weeks ago, we have to prepare the team so that everyone is ready to play. This is also the case tomorrow.

With the technical staff and with the support of the analysts, we have good discussions in order to decide on a line-up that we are fully convinced of. For example, do we play with one or two attackers or with three or four defenders? We have the quality for that and the players in question. It depends on the opponents but I don’t want to reveal too much about the starting 11.

The next six matches in three weeks

Each match is different, the opponents are too. We will face Auxerre away before hosting Barcelona in five days. In my opinion, the league is our focus. Last year too, I said that we wanted to qualify for the Champions League.

Every time we travel, all the away ends are full. We love seeing many Monaco supporters come to encourage us, as is also the case at home. We are happy to know that there will be nearly 1000 to support us tomorrow in Auxerre.

Now that we are, we want to be good and do well in this new format, whose objective is first to get pass the first round. But I repeat, our daily focus is the league and tomorrow’s match is very, very important. And overall, this week is too. So we have to negotiate it well before thinking about the following ones.

The form of Caio Henrique

Ismail Jakobs left the club at the end of the transfer window. Now we have two players at left-back: Kassoum Ouattara and Caio Henrique. Caio is very close to being 100%, as is Golo’. The break was a good opportunity for them to work and train. As I said before, we need all the players because our challenge is great this season.

The away end in Auxerre

Every time we travel, all the away ends are full. We love seeing many Monaco supporters come to encourage us, as is also the case at home. We are happy to know that there will be nearly 1000 to support us tomorrow in Auxerre.