Girard’s Montpellier look for revival at Nancy

If the sparkling display against Bordeaux was marred by a defeat, then Montpellier’s coach Rene Girard would want his team to draw up a response, instantly.

And with a struggling Nancy visiting them, Montpellier would want to make up for the lost ground.

While, the defeat to Bordeaux was Montpellier’s first home defeat of the season, Girard has urged his players to put that disappointment behind them.

“There are two refereeing systems,” he said. “One for the big teams and another for the little ones. I understand that now.

“I detest injustices. The players managed to have a good game but they fell in front of a great team.

“They didn’t deserve to be beaten in this match.

“They have nothing to be ashamed about by this defeat which we have to accept despite everything.

“I am proud of my team. From now on, we want to concentrate on our next match against Nancy.”

Johann Carrasso, Bangali-Fode Koita and Remy Cabella are still sidelined but Girard has an otherwise full squad to choose from.

Montpellier will have to make do without the backing of their fans as the game will be played behind closed doors as punishment for crowd trouble during their match with Nice in August.

Nancy moved up to 13th following a 2-0 win over Nice, a victory which halted their slide down the Ligue 1 table.

Les Chardons had fallen from ninth to 15th following only one win in their previous five games and coach Pablo Correa was delighted to see an improvement.

“It was about more than three points,” he said. “We found a good balance between playing well, attacking well and defending well.

“When you play well without winning sometimes you lose confidence. But we have talked a lot about that the past few days.

“I am happy because the group reacted in a good way.”

Damian Macaluso serves the second game of a three-match ban while Jonathan Brison has joined Reynald Lemaitre in the treatment room.