Team Focus: Hantz Return Worth the Wait for Montpellier

All things come to those who wait. The 2015/2016 season has been, thus far, the season of the coaching comeback in France. Following the return of the popular Frédéric Antonetti to Ligue 1 with Lille after a two-and-a-half year absence, it was the turn of another much-missed entraîneur to get back in the saddle this week.  

The last time we saw Frédéric Hantz was at the end of the 2013/14 campaign, when he quit as Bastia coach after four hugely successful years, which took in a Ligue 2 title-winning season and Corsica’s biggest club re-establishing itself among the elite. It was emotional for Hantz, something that he was unable to hide at the time, despite having taken the club as far as he thought he could - history seems to have proved him right. 

In the circumstances he was wise to take his time, and nearly two years, to choose the right opportunity to return. Not that it was everybody’s dream job. Former boss René Girard, who led MHSC to an improbable title win at Paris Saint-Germain’s expense in 2012, rejected the chance to come back, perhaps fearing the possibility of sullying his legacy. 

Hantz hasn’t had the same problem. He, like Antonetti, has entered his new job with energy and realism, and accordingly has engineered a quick upturn. He only took the job on Tuesday, and by Saturday night his team were flying back from his former stomping ground of Corsica with three precious points after a handsome 4-0 win over Gazélec. After Reims’ loss at Lorient, it meant La Paillade moved out of the bottom three and, perhaps almost as crucially, five points clear of second-bottom Toulouse.  

The change was desperately needed. The long-serving Pascal Baills had been promoted from assistant to replace Rolland Courbis, with Bruno Martini as his co-pilot, and Montpellier’s slippery season immediately took a turn for the worse. Hantz inherited a side on the back of four successive Ligue 1 defeats, which had scored two goals in five fixtures in all competitions since the turn of the year. 

The urgency of the situation wasn’t lost on Hantz. “It’s a situation that I’ve never really known before,” he said after the match to beIN Sports. “Coming in on a Tuesday, ahead of a week with three matches in it, and the first one of those three days before the transfer deadline…it doesn’t give me much margin for error.” 

You can say that again. So it was just the right time for a Montpellier team that had drawn 10 blanks in just 22 Ligue 1 matches to find its ruthless side. The southerners had just eight shots on goal, compared to the hosts’ 16, and landed four of them on target. It was, as Hantz remarked with some understatement, “clinical.”  

There was certainly a sense of confidence that had been missing. “He has his special touch,” said Jonas Martin, the midfielder who scored the crucial second goal, after the match. “He’s brought lots of toughness (into the group) and has given us our confidence back.” 

Martin was also honest enough to admit that Hantz has also requested a more direct style from his new charges. The new coach’s formation change was notable, switching to a two man attack of Mustapha Yatabaré and club legend Souleymane Camara. Tucked in behind, in an orthodox number 10 role, was the team’s creative muse Ryad Boudebouz.  

The Algerian international is one of Europe’s most prolific manufacturers of chances, and comes up with 3.2 key passes per match and an average of 45 passes overall. The lack of a reliable scorer in front of Boudebouz has meant that he only had three assists before Saturday, and a still-modest four after it. There is no doubting his influence, though, and getting him close to the front two worked well for Montpellier. 

Hantz’s real masterstroke, though, was giving extra licence to Bryan Dabo to get forward when the time is right. He was hot on the heels of Yatabaré, Camara and Boudebouz in taking up advanced positions against Gazélec, in what almost amounted to an inside-right role. Those runs were wonderfully effective, with Dabo winning the penalty converted by Martin with a late burst into the box that was illegally halted by Alassane Touré.  

In the second half, Dabo twice popped up in the penalty area - once from an excellent Camara delivery and then from a Boudebouz corner - to score the goals that definitively finished the game, against a Gazélec side that refused to lie down and accept the way the wind was blowing. His all-round contribution earned him a perfect rating of 10.  

“Bryan has an extraordinary ability,” marvelled Yatabaré, speaking to beIN Sports. “He jumps so high - he’s an amazing athlete. He has everything, even, to become a great player, and I hope he will do.” Dabo’s quality is no secret - Marseille tried all they could to sign him last summer, without success, and Montpellier will struggle to hold him past next summer. 

For now, though, that has little relevance to Montpellier’s aim, which is simply to stay up. Some regulars at La Mosson may regret Courbis’ failure to use Dabo in the box-to-box role more; the 23-year-old has played almost half of his games this season at right-back, which seems like a real waste. In the centre of the park, he resembles Portugal’s next big thing, Danilo, in many ways, as a predominantly defensive player who has the canniness to push forward and make his quality count in the opposition box. 

The feelgood factor for Montpellier was such that Dabo even took time in his post-match interview to apologise for calling young referee François Letexier “rubbish” in a furious rant after last week’s loss to Caen. One week has been a huge difference for Montpellier - Hantz will hope that the next seven days, starting with Tuesday’s reception of Marseille, will do more of the same.

Can Hantz guide Montpellier away from the relegation zone and secure top-flight safety? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below