Montpellier Women are having a very positive season in a battle with the Division 1 Féminine giants Olympique Lyonnais, PSG and Paris FC. They currently occupy fourth spot in the league, and following the most recent changes in the league system, this position will qualify its holder for the playoffs (the final phase) alongside the holders of the three top places.

Those four teams will play two semi-finals before the winners face off in the playoff final a week later to become the French league champions. Both finalists, alongside the winner of a third-place play-off, will qualify for the following season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.

There is a massive opportunity for a team like Montpellier to challenge the top three for a UWCL qualification ticket since they will have the chance to battle these teams in a knockout system if they succeed in preserving their fourth-place position until the end of the regular phase of D1 Arkema.

With six wins, four draws and five losses so far this term, Montpellier have been doing quite well. Finishing this first phase in the fourth position would represent a progression compared to the last two seasons, in which the team finished fifth.

It is important to note that Montpellier were rather French champions in the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons, afterwards finishing as runners-up in 2005/06, 2006/07, 2008/09 and finally in 2016/17. They were also able to lift the Coupe de France on three occasions and participate in the UWCL four times, the last being in 2017/2018.

Montpellier Hérault Sport Club Féminines have a very respectable history in the UWCL, too, as they reached the semi-finals in the 2005/06 edition and the quarter-finals both in the 2009/10 and the 2017/18 editions, knowing that their last exit from the tournament took place due to a heavy loss against Chelsea.

In this tactical analysis scout report, we will provide a thorough team analysis on Montpellier, exploring how positive their first part of the season was and what they need to do from the perspective of their tactics to preserve this position and exploit the new system change of Division 1 Féminine.

Yannick Chandioux’s preferred tactics

Yannick Chandioux took charge of Montpellier starting in 2021 and got the team to the fifth spot twice after Montpellier finished seventh in 2020/2021.

Chandioux relied mainly on the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-1-4-1 formations this season while resorting to the 4-4-2 and the 3-4-1-2 in complex games (like the ones against Olympique Lyonnais, for instance). This means that Chandioux is never afraid to experiment with new formations and movements, and the same applies to players’ positioning.

In other words, he alternates some players’ positions quite often depending on the game plan and tactics as well as on the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. We saw him using former Milan and Serie A’s Celeste Boureille as a defender at times and as a central midfielder at other times, as he often uses Nérilia Mondésir as a striker but as a right or left-winger at other times, too. The same applies to Faustine Robert, who is exploited as a right winger at times and a left winger at other times.

Another efficient aspect Chandioux relies on is set pieces, knowing that his playing style focuses mainly on crosses or penetrations from the wings and exploiting set pieces in the best possible way. Also, Montpellier were able to become excellent regarding the exploitation of second balls since they scored numerous goals this season thanks to being first on these second balls.

This graphic highlights Montpellier usage of crosses from the wings with an alternation between early crosses and crosses near the corner line. Moreover, the orange buttons show the times when wingers were able to successfully penetrate inside the box thanks to their pace and dribbling capacities, which is another essential aspect that Chandioux tried to improve and rely on in addition to having a clinical finisher like Nérilia Mondésir upfront to facilitate the finishing process, knowing that she is also good with headers and in collecting second balls as well.

Montpellier’s positive start to the season

What is remarkable with Montpellier is that players from different positions have participated in scoring the team’s goals so far this season, which highlights the team’s positive mentality and the freedom Mendy gave to the players to contribute to goalscoring whenever possible.

One perfect example that highlights this collective goalscoring mentality is that centre-back Océane Deslandes was already able to score numerous goals this season, including a crucial goal against the most formidable opponent in the league, Olympique Lyonnais.

This example highlights Deslandes’ ability to get away from marking and be dangerous against any defence when advancing towards the box and, especially during set-pieces. In this goal action against Olympique Lyonnais, she was able to escape from her direct marker in order to get to the second ball before anyone else and make sure that the goal is scored.

In addition to the exploitation of corner kicks and second balls, Montpellier have proven that they are extremely dangerous in free kicks, and both Léa Khelifi and Faustine Robert were able to score free kicks this season.

They will most likely be scoring new ones, too. Having two clinical set-piece specialists in the starting line-up, with Robert being right-footed and Khelifi being left-footed, adds concrete goalscoring options per match for the team, which can be decisive for Montpellier on the long run.

It is also fair to note that most of Montpellier’s attacking actions develop from the wings while waiting for Nérilia Mondésir and Léa Khelifi to advance inside the box and receive the crosses, with Khelifi always ready to get the second balls as she did in this example when the cross was intercepted by the goalkeeper.

Her reactions and reflexes on such occasions are helping Montpellier a lot, as she often succeeds in scoring from such opportunities while being an advanced playmaker behind Mondésir. Getting to exploit second balls with a high success rate means that the choice of playing Khelifi in that position is intelligent since the player proved her abilities to finish these second-ball chances with headers and first-time shots.

In addition, it is essential to take into consideration the recurrent change of positions within the team during games, especially inside the final third, where Mondésir often moves to the wings to both wings in order to get more passes and pave the way for players like Robert and Khelifi to position themselves inside the box and exploit the confusion and the spaces left within the opposing defences.

This goal example against Bordeaux highlights the team’s tactical flexibility when in possession and shows that Chandioux works a lot with the players on movements without the ball and on momentary changes of positions to create alternative attacking actions that might lead to more concrete goalscoring chances.

Needed improvements to keep the fourth spot

Although Montepellier’s season has been relatively positive so far, there are some aspects that the team needs to address during the second part of the season to avoid losing important points in the long run.

First of all, the squad looks in need of one or two additional attacking players to reinforce the team, especially in case of injuries. Chandioux stressed previously the importance of having an additional striker to make up for the reduced number of attacking players within the team, to avoid getting into trouble whenever the team faces cases of injuries.

More importantly, having one or two additional quality players in the attack would guarantee scoring more goals in the second half of the season and, therefore, confirm the fourth spot. Why not challenge for the third one, too?

Moreover, addressing the team’s defensive issues is necessary because the team has conceded numerous goals, with 22 goals against and 19 for, which means that the balance is negative.

Although Montpellier were able to get a draw against PSG in a pre-season friendly game, they were not able to defend well against the same team in the D1 Arkema and lost 4-1, in addition to losing 4-0 against Lyon in the Coupe de France, 1-4 against Paris FC, and 5-0 against Lyon. These heavy losses are not useful at all for the team’s morale and can affect their defensive performances more deeply for the rest of the season.

What is needed at the moment is to try and fix some of the recurrent errors to concede fewer goals per match and make the team’s defence more organised and able to resist powerful attacking attempts.

In order to achieve this complicated objective, Montpellier will have to concede less than 45.8% of shots against on-target in the rest of the season, unlike the first part. Defensive duels’ statistics are positive for Montpellier so far, with 66.5% of duels won, while aerial duels require more attention since the team wins 50.5% on average.

One of the aspects that can be fixed quickly is passing from the back and concentrating in this regard in order to avoid fatal passing mistakes, especially when such mistakes are made by the last defender. Montpellier’s defenders fell into this trap occasionally this season, and these mistakes cost them points. Specific and extensive training on passing and on when to avoid passing towards the middle, when to opt for long passes, and when to prioritise short passes will be necessary for the players to have fewer passing errors that lead to dangerous attacks/goals.

This utterly wrong pass against PSG from Maëlle Lakrar while being the last defender was the source of PSG’s goal, knowing that she followed her initial passing mistake by an anticipatory approach in an attempt to intercept the ball from the opponent. But since she failed to intercept the ball, her action led to leaving a lot of space for the opponent, who was able to score a goal.

In addition to passing mistakes in defence, the team needs to pay a lot more attention to the movements of the defensive line in general in order to avoid leaving gaps behind, as they did in the following goal action against Olympique Lyonnais. Avoiding high defensive blocks against teams with quick attacking players is necessary. Chandioux needs to heed such instructions to prevent heavy losses due to a lack of collective organisation in defence.

Conclusion

Montpellier Women have got a strong chance to reach the playoffs of the D1 Arkema and challenge the top three teams for a UWCL ticket. Although their mission seems rather complicated, Montpellier can make a surprise and snatch a third spot in the final phase if they fix their recurrent defensive errors and be consistent in their attacking performances, knowing that they have the potential to perform better than during the first part of the season.