AS Monaco coach, Robert Moreno has denied freezing out Islam Slimani of his starting line-up.

The former Spain coach arrived the principality to replace Leonardo Jardim, who was sacked due to poor results on his second stint with the club.

Since he took over affairs on the pitch at the club, Monaco has seen a steady rise on the log with just a point adrift of European places.

Slimani has been prolific for the club despite their torrid start with nine goals and seven assists in 18  games to his credit. The Algerian forward is a highly efficient striker in Ligue 1 Conforama this season after arriving from Leicester last summer.

In the first half of the season, Slimani had a prolific partnership with the joint top scorer of Ligue 1, Wissam Ben Yedder, on the attacking front despite the team suffering in getting results.

The performance has, however, not impressed Moreno, who explained the reasons the Algerian international striker has not been a regular in the team since he took over. In an interview with Monegasque sports radio station on Thursday, Moreno gave his reason basically on Slimani’s injury and his formation against the teams he had played against.

According to him, Slimani was not used only in the first few games upon his arrival.  He further explained that he changed his formation to 4-3-3 after a week of work, thinking that was the best system for the first Cup game against Reims, which they won 2-1 on January 4.

He added that the same formation was repeated against runaway league leaders, PSG, to have continuity.

He also noted that Slimani was then injured but got into the team as soon as he was available for selection.

He also said that since then, the Algerian has played for him many times, reiterating that the two factors, injury, and formation, determine when and not to use the talisman.

Written by:  Oladipupo Mojeed