The injury of Sofia Jakobsson, a turning point in Montpellier's season? This is the question that everyone asks when the club Herault seemed in a position to come and invite themselves in the race to Europe, even to play the referees in the title race. From now on, everything seems to be questioned ...

Before the shock against Lyon, Montpellier seems to have already set aside his ambitions for the title and perhaps even for Europe. The year 2017 had started well with this win at home against PSG (2-1) after a turnaround favorable for the Héraultaises.

The draw against Juvisy, an accident?
But the result was less exciting for Montpellier, with this draw (0-0) conceded against Juvisy who makes Montpellier again in third place behind Lyon and Paris. In the wake, Montpellier came out with a hard-fought victory (2-1) against Bordeaux, a match where the Girondines could pull the draw.

These last two games, complicated for Montpellier were played without Sofia Jakobsson, top scorer of the championship (14 goals) before his injury in late January. Does her absence alone explain the difficulties of Montpellier on these two matches? No, but his influence in the game of his team makes it difficult to replace overnight, despite the qualities of the other attackers in the workforce of Jean-Louis Saez.

The match against Juvisy, first time of the season at home where Montpellier fails to score. Five days after Sofia Jakobsson's injury ...

Beyond the accounting aspect, we find Sofia Jakobsson at the conclusion on decisive goals. Recently, she equalized against Marseille in the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France, while OM seemed a time able to drop the MHSC. Against Paris, it is again Jakobsson who equalizes on a free kick of Sandie Toletti. Beyond the goals of Jakobsson, the common point of these two matches is notably in the capacity of Montpellier to go back to the score by finishing strong when the opposing teams draw physically.

Montpellier can play without Jakobsson but that changes the ambitions of the club this season. Undefeated at home, Montpellier can trike Lyon as PSG was able to do last December? A result against Lyon this weekend in Grammont is almost imperative in the race for Europe at the risk of seeing Lyon and Paris find themselves out of reach for the end of the season.

The "Jakobsson addiction"
When discussing the subject with Jean-Louis Saez, after the Cup match against Domont, the Montpellier coach acknowledges that the injury of the Swedish international was particularly disabling, especially against Juvisy where the injury occurred in the week of the match and took the Montpellier coach and his team by surprise.

A dependency that he believes was built during the season. The absence of Marie-Charlotte Léger and Valérie Gauvin for the period of the U20 World Cup has meant that the offensive-level automatisms were built around Sofia Jakobsson but also by Laëtitia Tonazzi, attacker on the first half of the season .

For Jean-Louis Saez, the influence of Sofia Jakobsson is not just a question of automatisms. The friendly last week against China (4-1 victory) reassured him from this point of view with for example Valérie Gauvin who scored a double in this meeting. Experienced player, Sofia Jakobsson takes more place in the game of Montpellier. Its activity, its races, its initiatives, makes that the rest of the team can tend to rely on it to propose solutions and to make differences. All these qualities that were missing during the match against Juvisy.

Trust young people?
According to him, it is difficult to ask so much to younger attackers like Marie-Charlotte Léger, Valérie Gauvin or Stina Blackstenius, who must still assert themselves and gain confidence in them on the ground. From this point of view, the role of Janyce Cayman could be all the more important in the Herault attack.

On the side of Montpellier's other winter rookie, this obstacle to experience can also be overcome. For Stina Blackstenius, scoring in a big match would not be a first. Goalkeeper against the United States and Germany at the Olympics, she had even been titularized in the semi-final against Brazil in place of ... Sofia Jakobsson.

Stina Blackstenius, an accelerated apprenticeship for the Swedish striker who has to replace her compatriot at the forefront of the Hérault attack

However, beyond the match against Lyon, we saw against Bordeaux that these difficulties could occur at all matches by the end of the season. But again, for Jean-Louis Saez, Jakobsson's injury does not explain everything. According to him, we must also take into account the choices made last year to change the game of the team based on fast play, vertical, based on the projection towards an alternation with more short game and possession.

An evolution that the Montpellier coach was already talking with us at the beginning of the season with sometimes a lack of efficiency, the collective losing sight of the primary goal of scoring. According to him, this is what happened against Bordeaux, a team against which Montpellier had already had difficulties in the first leg (victory 1-0), while Jakobsson was titular.

The other offensive assets of Montpellier
Yet face Lyon, difficult to think that his absence will not be a handicap for the Héraultaises. Despite everything, and we have seen in recent weeks, Jakobsson is not the only offensive asset of Montpellier. In the first leg at Décines, the goal from Hérault was scored by Anouk Dekker. At the start of the action, a mistake by the Lyon defense, but especially a collective pressing that had allowed the Dutch midfielder to dispossess Wendie Renard of the ball and score.

This ability to defend high and recover balloons out of his last thirty meters could be decisive. This is one of the keys to surprise a defense Lyon who this season has experienced brief passages empty with a few key goals avoidable (Marseille, Juvisy, Montpellier).

Montpellier can also rely on the quality of these sets of kicks. In the shadows of Camille Abily, who have made some great free-kicks this season, Sandie Toletti is becoming one of the best shot kicks in the D1. In front of PSG, the two goals of the victory are scored on set kick (free kick Toletti and corner Marion Torrent). In the first leg against Juvisy, it is a direct free kick from Toletti that allows the MHSC to open the scoring.

Toletti / Karchaoui: a growing influence in the Montpellier game
In important matches, Montpellier can now regularly rely on phases stopped to switch a meeting. And to provoke these set pieces, we saw the growing importance of a player like Sakina Karchaoui, especially against PSG.

In her left lane, facing Lyon, she is likely to face Pauline Bremer, currently in great shape. Already in front of Juvisy, the presence of Kadidiatou Diani in his corridor had limited the offensive radiation of Karchaoui, a contribution that will have to rely on Jean-Louis Saez to disrupt the defense Lyon.

All these elements show that Montpellier retains arguments not to suffer this match against Lyon. But the absence of Sofia Jakobsson also raises questions for the rest of the season. Behind, it is the goal for the Héraultaises to achieve a full season, where the last two editions saw a Montpellier with two faces, on the first and second parts of the season.