Thomas Tuchel on the bench during Leipzig-PSG in the Champions League, November 4, 2020. -
Ronny HARTMANN / AFP
PSG lost on the lawn of Leipzig on Wednesday evening (2-1) during the third day of the Champions League.
The position of coach Thomas Tuchel seems more and more fragile, with choices and statements that challenge.
The question of its future arises today, even if everything will surely depend on whether or not PSG qualifies for the round of 16.
It may well sweep the remark of a "no more than always", Thomas Tuchel is currently living very difficult days at the head of PSG.
On Wednesday evening, his team lost in Leipzig, their second defeat, already, in three Champions League games.
Three small points after the first leg, it had only happened twice in the history of the Parisian club, long before the Qatari era (in 1997 and 2004), and it ended with two eliminations.
We are not there yet this season, but the position of the German coach seems so fragile that we almost wonder if it is he who will be on the bench to try to reverse the trend during the next day, at the Park, against the Germans.
A prolongation ?
"We must stop dreaming"
In fact, the balance sheet matters less than what is happening at the moment inside the club.
Tuchel doesn't even pretend to challenge Leonardo's authority anymore.
Tuesday evening, after the traditional press conference, he spoke at the microphone of the German channel Sky, where he was questioned about a possible extension of the contract, which ends next June.
“There haven't been any discussions so far and after all I've accomplished here all options are open to me,” he said.
But at some point, you have to stop dreaming.
"
Implied, he has no illusions about his future in Paris.
Relaunched on Wednesday after the defeat on the meaning of his words, here he said:
I was asked if I felt the pressure on me, and why it was like that, I said yes, I could feel it.
There are a lot of criticisms from the press, from experts, from the environment in general.
After the four titles and the final [of the Champions League] last season, I thought it would be calmer.
But no.
"
From our point of view, more than with the press or the “experts”, his major concern is more with Leonardo.
Tuchel had not hesitated to attack his sports director at the end of the transfer window, wondering how we could let so many free players slip away in recent seasons and why recruits did not arrive.
The Brazilian leader had replied curtly that he had not liked this outing at all.
One thing is certain, Thomas Tuchel saw very badly the lack of recognition for having taken PSG to the final of the Champions League.
Barely three months later, the situation is very tense.
Does he feel weakened?
The question was put to him head-on.
"No, not at all," replied the German, who can count on the support of his players.
Danilo-Marquinhos, the symbol
"We know what football is like," sighs Marquinhos.
It is the coach who made the best season in the history of the club and the following season, we talk about his future.
Football has no patience.
He's our coach.
We have confidence in him, it is up to us to work to improve ourselves.
If things aren't going, it's not just the coach's fault.
We, the players, can do a lot better too.
"
No one imagined the team captain shooting his coach live, anyway.
The Brazilian, however, is in the middle of a debate that symbolizes the tensions around Tuchel.
In Leipzig again, he was positioned in defensive midfielder and Danilo in central defense, while Leonardo went to seek the Portuguese to occupy this sentry position, precisely at the request of his coach, who wanted to be able to use Marquinhos in defense.
To understand nothing.
Scuttling?
“For me, Danilo is more of a defender than a midfielder,” the German justified last week.
Slight problem, the principal concerned does not really agree.
"Defender, it's not my position," explained the player loaned by Porto on the Téléfoot channel.
I am a midfielder.
The coach asks me to play in central defense, I try to do it.
I know the basics of this role, and I'm trying to get used to it.
"
At this level, it's almost scuttling from Tuchel, who obviously knows that Danilo is more comfortable in the middle and Marquinhos in defense.
This refusal of the obvious has consequences on the ground.
Wednesday night, on the first goal of Leipzig, the Brazilian should have been higher on the ball received by Nkunku at the entrance to the surface.
For example.
A goal for Marquinhos because of his positioning
A goal for Danilo because of his positioning because he covers 5 meters
- P • B (@PBouby) November 4, 2020
"I'll let you judge [my performances in the middle], I know what to do," said Marquinhos.
You have to ask the coach [if you can't reverse], he has his arguments.
I don't want to give people even more opportunity to talk about me, my job and the coach.
We are united.
you have to focus on the real things.
"
What future then?
We still feel the Brazilian a little embarrassed.
In the locker room, some would wonder aloud, according to echoes reported by
Le Parisien
in its Wednesday edition.
“We talk about it every day.
Almost nobody really understood the coach's choices with these two players, ”said a relative of an international player quoted by the newspaper.
Not sure that the one concerning Rafinha, entered only in the 84th minute Wednesday when he lacked a ball player, was better captured.
So, what future for Thomas Tuchel?
An extension of his contract seems completely unlikely.
And we wouldn't bet our shirt it was going to end.
With already four defeats in early November (unheard of for ten years in Paris) and a credit started, the German is on a wire.
The second round against Leipzig promises to be decisive for the qualification as for its future.
" There is no problem.
All that does not influence my work at all, ”he says.
For the moment.
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