Angry fans, absent players and awful results make it crisis time at Monaco | Ligue 1

“We are trying to anticipate things that could maybe not be in a good place soon,” said Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro when he sacked manager Adi Hütter and replaced him with Sébastien Pocognoli in October. The change did not save the club from the bad place they had feared. Perhaps Hütter wasn’t the problem, perhaps Pocognoli isn’t the problem either; that is certainly the view of the club’s fans.

The Stade Louis II was sparsely populated on Friday night for the visit of Lorient in Ligue 1. The Monaco ultras boycotted the first 45 minutes entirely, creating a tepid atmosphere. Every noise was accentuated, from the home fans’ ironic cries of “olé” as Lorient toyed with Monaco in the dying stages of their shock 3-1 win, to the celebrations of the 32 travelling fans who savoured their team’s first away victory of the season, and the calls for Scuro’s resignation.

Monaco are on an awful run of form. Despite some strong performances in the Champions League and Coupe de France, they have lost seven of their last eight league games, with their only win in that time coming against Paris Saint-Germain. It is the worst run of results in the club’s history and leaves them ninth in Ligue 1, 12 points behind third-placed Marseille.

Before the season Scuro said that finishing in the top three was “crucial” and that the club would prioritise Ligue 1 over the Champions League and Coupe de France due to financial imperatives. Scuro has often outlined the financial struggles in French football. Last week he said that, bar PSG, “all clubs are in survival mode”, citing a 30% reduction in TV rights income, coupled with Uefa’s recent changes to the salary cap.

Monaco had little margin for error in the summer transfer window but decided to take risks. The club’s dealings have been called into question, not so much due to the quality of players recruited but rather because of the associated risk. Paul Pogba, for example, had not played for almost two years when he signed, and Ansu Fati had been struggling with injury issues for several seasons before he arrived on loan from Barcelona.

Pogba has been on the pitch for just half an hour – just 1% of the minutes Monaco have played this season. He has missed the last month due to a calf injury and Scuro admitted last week that his “programme is not working”. For the first time, there are signs of doubt about the wisdom of signing him. “You always have two possibilities: one that this works well and he’ll be back on the pitch soon, and he’ll be able to make an impact, or if it doesn’t work, for sure, the parties can sit down in the summer and have another discussion about where we go,” said Scuro.

Pogba is not the only player struggling for fitness. Fati has played just 26% of Monaco’s minutes this season, while fellow summer signings Eric Dier (38% of minutes), Lukas Hradecky (38%) and Stanis Idumbo (12%) have also been absent. But it isn’t just the signings – few players have been spared this season. Hradecky, Christian Mawissa, Mohammed Salisu, Thilo Kehrer, Takumi Minamino, Pogba were all injured for the match on Friday night, with Krépin Diatta and Lamine Camara also missing due to their involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

“It isn’t normal that there are so many injuries’ said Scuro earlier this month. “It changes everything in a season. I have to understand it and find a solution. I need responses and, if I don’t get them, we’ll have to think about replacing some people [in the medical department]. That is how it will work.”

Scuro has described Monaco’s injury crisis as their “biggest liability” this season. An ongoing audit of the department has unearthed “weak points”, he has since revealed. “We are diagnosing, making changes, but it has to be a rational process, not an emotional one, otherwise I would remove everything the next day, but that isn’t the best way to do things.”

For physically fragile players to be signed in a season when the whole medical department has been called into question is a perfect storm, and one that is having a huge bearing on Monaco’s season. But the players who are on the pitch also have a big share of responsibility. Pillars of this side from last season, most notably Maghnes Akliouche and club captain Denis Zakaria, have been a long way from their high standards. After the loss to Lorient, Pocognoli said he “expected more from some players”.

But, as is often the case, the eyes are fixed on the manager. “I will be judged on this difficult period,” said Pocognoli last week. “In the best-case scenario, we will have success together. In the worst case, it will serve me going forward.” The way his team performed against Lorient will not have helped. Next up, they travel to the Bernabéu to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Talking points

Ousmane Dembélé is in the mood to make up for lost time. Injuries have blighted his season, but he has started 2026 in the same vein as he started 2025. He has three goals from his first three starts of the calendar year, including the first two in PSG’s 3-0 win against Lille on Friday night. His first was sharply taken; he received the ball on the turn before curling a shot into the bottom corner from outside the box​. ​His second was spectacular; he dazzled a few defenders before lobbing the Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer. Incredible composure, impeccable execution.

“A stroke of genius – he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or for nothing,” said PSG goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier. Given how his season had been going, a reminder was needed, a reassurance that last season had not been an outlier. PSG will need Dembélé to be in full flow as they try to topple Lens, whose eighth consecutive win in the league, against Auxerre, maintained their slender one-point lead at the top of the table.

Nice were on the receiving end of a 5-1 mauling against Toulouse that leaves them 15th in Ligue 1. Claude Puel was brought back over the winter break, as were former presidents Jean-Pierre Rivere and Maurice Cohen. There is a very “Back to the Future” feel about Nice. Although the band has been reformed to consolidate their standing in the top flight rather than instigate a push towards the European places.