The transformation has been truly remarkable. If anyone had predicted in the summer that Monaco would be the highest-scoring team in Europe's top leagues come December, they would have been laughed out of town. And yet here they are -- the Monegasques have scored 49 goals in just 16 matches in Ligue 1.
That is a whopping 19 goals more than leaders Nice and the multimillionaires of Paris Saint-Germain. Real Madrid have netted 37 times in 16 Primera Division fixtures. Barcelona are further back at 34. Bayern Munich have 29 goals in 13 Bundesliga matches. Liverpool, so proud of the best attacking record in the Premier League, stand at 35 goals in 14 games.
Monaco have outscored them all by a huge margin, and they are doing it in a historically defensive-minded league. You have to go back to 1969 to see a team that scored more goals in the first 15 matches in France, when St Etienne found the net 50 times.
In fact, Monaco are best compared to themselves in recent seasons. They have scored 31 goals in eight home matches, after netting 30 in 19 games for the whole of last season, and only 23 in the 2014-15 campaign. Two years ago, they topped their Champions League group with just four goals in six games, but now have nine in five fixtures, sitting in first place again. As Marseille coach Rudi Garcia said after his side were soundly and mercilessly thrashed 4-0 at Stade Louis II last month, "they would score even if asked to play blindfolded."
Monaco are putting on a show for their fans in every game, and it is now quite incredible to think that their coach, Leonardo Jardim, was criticised for playing boring football during the previous seasons. The club's choice to replace the popular Claudio Ranieri with the little known Portuguese was met with scepticism in the French press, and Canal+ pundit Pierre Menes attacked him almost immediately.
In January 2015, Menes remarked: "Jardim is getting good results, but his team is playing poorly. He invented new football tactics -- the chloroform tactics. It's impossible to watch them. Fans are dying of boredom." This was not far from truth, but Jardim didn't need to apologise. Just a few weeks later, he won 3-1 against Arsenal in London with a brilliant display of counter-attacking football. It might not have been very pretty, but it worked for him.
Jardim is a pragmatic and versatile coach, able to work under significant budget restrictions. That is why he was chosen by Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev when the club decided to change their transfer policy, to stop buying superstars and become a selling club.
"Tactically, the project has changed too," the Portuguese said shortly after taking over. "This team cannot expose itself too much offensively. One of the virtues of the coach is to adapt to the club, to the moment, to situations. The team should be as ambitious as it can within the scope of its abilities,"
Little wonder that he was described by vice president Vadim Vasilyev as the perfect man for the job.
As Jardim says, he "works without whining." He didn't complain when the best performers were sold in the summer of 2015, with Anthony Martial moving to Manchester United, Yannick Carrasco to Atletico Madrid, Layvin Kurzawa to PSG, Geoffrey Kondogbia to Inter Milan and Aymen Abdennour to Valencia. The club made phenomenal profit on them, but the coach had to rebuild the team from scratch, and delivered. Monaco even went very close to finishing second behind the Parisians last season, before a late collapse allowed Lyon to leapfrog them.
Jardim might have been accused of a negative approach by some, but he didn't try to kill off games for his own pleasure. In reality, he is a very positive-minded coach, who believes that players should be only working with the ball during training sessions. Technical skills are hugely important to him, and he would love to implement an outrageously attacking style in every game. He just didn't think that was possible in the previous two seasons. This term, however, the Portuguese saw an opportunity to change the approach.
A number of factors contributed to the revolution. Radamel Falcao returned to the club after two disastrous loan spells in the Premier League at Manchester United and Chelsea, and Monaco decided to keep the Colombian striker this time. Valere Germain came home too, having found his feet during an outstanding 2015-16 season at Nice. The defence became much more stable thanks to the purchase of the brilliant Polish centre-back Kamil Glik from Torino. The arrival of the attack-minded right-back Djibril Sidibe allowed him to move the versatile Brazilian star Fabiano into midfield. Benjamin Mendy, signed from Marseille, offers speed and mobility on the left flank.
Tiemoue Bakayoko developed into a tactically astute defensive midfielder, largely thanks to Jardim. The exciting 21-year-old midfielder Thomas Lemar came of age and was ready to shine. The Portuguese wizard Bernardo Silva, the main source of creativity and imagination, is in his prime too, having completely recovered from injuries. The Argentine striker Guido Carillo knows how to play in Ligue 1 now after a season of acclimatisation. The sensational 17-year-old forward Kylian Mbappe is also showing his abilities.
In short, this was a team that Jardim felt comfortable to unleash. The defensive foundations are sound enough to let the players express themselves offensively and control the ball throughout the 90 minutes. The coach rotates the side on weekly basis, with no less than 23 players taking part in the league so far, and Monaco don't rely on a specific star to make them tick. It is the team's work ethic that counts, and the statistics are very remarkable.
Thirteen different players have contributed to their 49 goals, with the leading scorers Falcao and Carillo standing at just seven strikes. Thirteen different players provided assists as well, Mbappe leading the way with four, followed by Bernardo Silva with three. They are young, hungry, willing to entertain themselves and the spectators, always looking to score more even when the game has been decided beyond doubt.
Even temporary setbacks like the 4-0 defeat at Nice in September didn't change the attitude. Monaco convincingly beat PSG 3-1 at the beginning of the season, celebrated an extraordinary 7-0 win at Metz in October, and the last four home fixtures have been truly phenomenal. They scored 21 goals in them, thrashing Montpellier (6-2), Nancy (6-0), Marseille (4-0) and Bastia (5-0).
Football lovers in France don't dare to miss their games these days. They are not bored to death anymore. RMC columnist Daniel Riolo commented on the turnaround: "Even Jardim's face has changed. It is illuminated, and we can see a real smile."
And yet, the Portuguese has always wanted to smile. Monaco's success suggests that we are bound to judge coaches and stick labels to them without fully understanding the reason behind their work.