Thomas Tuchel, October 20, 2020 at Parc des Princes.

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Michel Euler / AP / SIPA

At the Parc des Princes,

At the 25th attack by the King's enemies, the Parisian fortress fell.

Never, under the Qatari era, had PSG been beaten in a group match at home, and it is not for lack of being besieged by the most powerful armies of the continent: Bayern, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and many others still had left some of their troops there.

But it was ultimately Manchester who interrupted this formidable reign.

It has a lot to do, with the generalized closed door in these times of Covid, since it is not quite clear if playing at home means anything yet, but the statistics will not help Thomas Tuchel to sleep well.

A tactical dead end that is obvious

We risk writing it, the position of the German coach has never seemed so precarious.

Leonardo cannot supervise him, and if we sometimes wanted to prove Tuchel right when he criticized in public the transfer window of his sports director, the apologies will end up running empty.

Leo brought him a guarantee sentry (Pereira), a right-back in reconquest (Florenzi), a designer stamped the Masia (Rafinha), and a promising center-forward of complement (Keane), and it must be said what is: that does not change anything in the bouzin.

PSG continued to play in their famous 4-4-fuck Neymar and Kylian, a variant of 4-4-2 that is reaching its limits, to put it politely.

🗣💬 "We lacked rhythm and intensity. We are a little surprised because we had prepared well."



🏆 Thomas Tuchel's reaction at the microphone of @RMCsport after the defeat of PSG (2-1) against Manchester United. # PSGMUN #UCL #RMCChampions pic.twitter.com/bWV7PIBMVX

- RMC Sport (@RMCsport) October 20, 2020

So sometimes it becomes a 4-2-fuck Neymar-2-1, but it's the same soup we are served.

However, it is not for lack of telling us about structure, one of the favorite concepts.

Tuesday, therefore the PSG "lost its structure" in the second half by moving to four in front and leaving boulevards to Mancuniens in counterattack.

The original "structure" was not foolish either, however.

In particular this midfielder Danilo-Herrera-Gueye which we would not even want to break bricks in a penitentiary.

Tuchel changed at half-time, of course, but it was forced and forced: "Gana Gueye was injured, he could not do a sprint".

"The atmosphere was too calm in the locker room", a somewhat short explanation

However, we said to ourselves that a guy like Rafinha could at least be used for that when Verratti is not there, but do the Parisian staff know where they are going, basically?

In front of the journalists, Tuchel seemed quite helpless afterwards.

He felt "that the atmosphere was too calm in the locker room before the match, whereas usually the players listen to very loud music to concentrate", but he had seen nothing coming upstream since "the training sessions had been very good ”.

Tactical problem, then?

"We wanted to put the physical impact with the entry of Moïse Keane in the second half to open spaces for Neymar and Mbappé", details Tuchel, "but it was not a tactical problem what we have seen before rest.

It was a performance without intensity, without aggressiveness, without ball recovery, without counter-pressing.

It was a little weird.

I do not know why ".

What do we know?

It looks like a strange impasse for the former Dortmund coach who has to deal with this bizarre season with truncated preparation, but without the right to error that these exceptional circumstances could grant him.

“Paris played the Final 8, it played on their start to the season, tried to defend Solskjear.

We see surprising results in the league every weekend, we will have to be patient to see the big teams up to speed ”.

With Doha's patience being what it is, it's hard to see how another negative outcome in Turkey next week could get Tuchel through the fall.

🗣💬 "We just weren't good tonight. We can only blame ourselves."



🏆 The reaction of Presnel Kimpembe at the microphone of @RMCsport, after the loss of PSG against Manchester United.

#PSGMUN #UCL #RMCChampions pic.twitter.com/59JcU047fO

- RMC Sport (@RMCsport) October 20, 2020

Not a bad word about the players

If he has never spared his leaders and in particular Leonardo, the Parisian coach has so far been careful not to charge his players, even when the slaps are lost.

He was no exception to the rule on Tuesday.

“There are a lot of things to improve but this is not the time to be too critical in public.

I will always protect the players because I know what they have achieved before ”.

This is a quality that must be emphasized, when many colleagues do not hesitate to shoot one as an example if it can serve their interests.

It's like relying on the Republic of Gamers, to be sure, but they are always the ones who decide, in the end.

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