Pre-season hype did not seem to faze AS Monaco, who are sitting three points behind leaders PSG mere months after rediscovering Ligue 1 and coming into the January transfer window with renewed ambitions to overtake their Paris rivals by the end of the season.

Claudio Ranieri’s men were tipped for glory early on, and quickly justified those ranking them as serious title contenders by going unbeaten for the first eleven games of the season.

Claims that the side would take time to bed in all the recruits (over €100m were spent on a total of 15 new players including Falcao, Moutinho and James Rodriguez) were silenced as ASM raced to the top spot after their convincing victory at Olympique de Marseille on day 4.

A reshuffled first eleven, with seven players who did not take part in the successful 2012-2013 campaign which saw the side cruise Ligue 2, was quick to gel in under the experienced command of Claudio Ranieri, who gradually brought FC Porto reinforcements James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho to their peak level as the season advanced.

This highly-mobile, fluid attacking system allowed full-backs Kurzawa, a youth product, and Fabinho, on loan from Real Madrid, to fully harness their abilities going forward and give active support to talented wingers Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, another youth product, and 19-year-old Argentinian wonderkid Lucas Ocampos.

The side’s fluidity on the wings was unparalleled even by the likes of PSG and OM, who both conceded goals (scored by Falcao) after being caught short on the right wing in their respective face-offs with ASM.

At the heart of midfield, where Moutinho and James Rodriguez were notably brought in to complement the tenacity of unsung hero Mounir Obbadi (30), Monaco succeeded in implementing a fast-passing, forward-looking system where everything would go through the former Porto stars. The 22-year-old Colombia international nearly outshone his more-established countryman Falcao in the first half of the season and currently has the most assists in Ligue 1, tied with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (7).

Despite getting his name on the scoresheet nine times, Falcao has indeed failed to reproduce the stellar performances displayed in Portugal and Spain. Above all it was his lack of physical sharpness that worried observers, prompting some to wonder whether the striker was indeed born two years earlier than the generally accepted 1986 birthyear, as was rumoured in pre-season.

An insipid outing against LOSC on day 12 even saw the Colombian star replaced with an hour on the clock, his side trailing by two goals, in what was ASM’s first defeat of the season.

Ranieri was quick to brush aside any purported dissatisfaction towards the €60m reinforcement from Atletico, citing a thigh injury to justify why his striker was not included in consecutive games against Rennes and Nice at the turn of December.

The truth is that for whatever reason, physical or mental, El Tigre has not had anywhere as much impact on his side’s attacking impetus as he had in the years he spent at Porto and Atletico.

However, the fact AS Monaco have succeeded in rivaling PSG in the first half of the season although their star man gradually went astray shows how dangerous the collective organization implemented by Ranieri already is, six months after the side’s promotion from Ligue 2.

A second defeat to close off 2013, at home to Valenciennes (1 – 2, Falcao missing a penalty) however reminded the side’s Russian owner Dmitry Rybolovlev of the frailties remaining to be dealt with if AS Monaco want to overtake much-favoured PSG in the title race by the end of the season.

Though solid at the back, having conceded only as many goals as PSG (13), AS Monaco’s centre-back partnership of Eric Abidal and Ricardo Carvalho has shown its limits against mobile strikers. What’s more, the attack-minded mentality of youthful full-backs Kurzawa and Fabinho has often left the two veterans on their own to deal with threats coming from the wings.

The solidity of ASM’s central midfield – the only area of the pitch where the side does not need reinforcements in January – ensured Abidal and Carvalho were generally immune to attacks coming from the centre. However, the space left by Kurzawa and Fabinho on the counter has been found out by the opposition as the season went on, while the physical impact of endless runs up and down the wing took its toll on the ASM full-backs.

The recent inclusion of experienced Andrea Raggi (29) replacing Fabinho allowed the side to regain some defensive balance, but it equally levelled off some of the attacking impetus on the wings that was so characteristic of ASM’s attacking system in the opening stage of the season.

One of the main tasks for Ranieri in January will therefore be to strengthen the defensive line by completing the skillsets of its full-backs, and preparing alternatives to the Abidal-Carvalho duo.

Elsewhere on the pitch, central midfield seems well-prepared for the second half of the season as Ranieri succeeded in dealing with successive injuries to Jérémy Toulalan and Geoffrey Kondogbia, whilst Moutinho quickly settled and demonstrates the range of his passing week in, week out.

Attacking midfield is home to many prospects aged 22 or less (James Rodriguez, Lucas Ocampos, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, Anthony Martial) and has so far neither suffered from inexperience nor indiscipline, to Ranieri’s satisfaction. The depth of talent in that area of the pitch is a constant sign of reassurance for the manager.

The question no one would have asked last summer, but which might make all the difference in the second half of the season, is whether AS Monaco need a new striker. Falcao’s recent curb in form has put an unexpected burden on Emmanuel Rivière. For all his talent (and eight league goals), the Martinique-born striker does not have the shoulders to carry his side to a first league title since 2000.

Altogether, it will take a lot of careful consideration for Ranieri to strengthen his squad in January but the means at his disposal, and quality shown so far by his troops, suggest the three-point gap between ASM and PSG could be reversed by the end of the season.