Mauricio Pochettino has been pragmatic since his arrival at PSG, even if it means trading the style of play against the results in C1.
-
Christof STACHE / AFP
Arrived at PSG with the promise to give style to his team, Mauricio Pochettino has not yet had the time to revolutionize the game of PSG.
So, failing to shine against the European behemoths (Barça in 8th, Bayern in quarters), it has made Paris a formidable team against.
On arrival, if PSG qualifies for the C1 semi-finals on Tuesday evening, there should not be many Parisian fans to find much to complain about.
A little riddle at home to start this paper: what is the common point for all PSG coaches since the club went under the Qatari flag?
Answer: that of promising supporters and managers to play a slick game made of possession of the ball, technical accuracy and efficiency in front of goal.
Thus, when Thomas Tuchel made the wish, during his very first press conference, that the supporters "fall in love with the game of PSG", his successor, he explained that "in such a prestigious club, he is not only important to win, you have to do it in style ”.
So much for the official communication.
In fact, however, it is another grub.
We saw it clearly in the two matches against Barça (especially on the return trip) as well as in the first leg in Munich.
Paris has swapped her light suit for Bob the Handyman's overalls, less sexy, of course, but devilishly more effective.
The figures speak for themselves: on average in the 8th and last week at the Allianz Arena, the Parisians had only 37% possession of the ball and suffered 21 shots (including 9 on target) per game.
A revolution, heretical limit, in a club which for years has sworn only by domination with the ball to the feet.
"It is true that we have become accustomed to seeing Paris outrageously dominate its opponents in recent years, with a large possession, agrees Guy Lacombe, the former Parisian coach from 2005 to 2007. But I believe that if we look at the course of PSG in the Champions League in recent years, this is precisely what this team was lacking, to play on other qualities and on these phases of ultra-fast transitions.
I think this is an observation that Pochettino made when he arrived at the club and that, with the little time he had to really work with his group, it was a relevant line of work when you look at the players that he has at his disposal.
"
An unnatural PSG in the knockout phase of C1
If we take Mauricio Pochettino at his word when he sells us his ambition to make Paris a team that wins in style, we do not forget what he has been telling us since at a press conference since his arrival.
“It may be a bit early to take stock, if we look at the number of games we have played and the few opportunities we have had to train.
Like all technical staff, we need time to set up the style of play we want to give to the team, ”he said at the beginning of February.
Having arrived in the middle of a season unlike any other, Pochettino had to deal with the most urgent and target some elementary playing principles to win immediately, even if it means putting the artistic note in the closet for the moment.
This is what he repeated on Friday before the trip to Strasbourg: "We arrived with the objective of optimizing the different sectors of the team to be competitive quickly, to obtain results because in a club like the PSG we must have results.
This is what he did beautifully last Tuesday in Munich, according to Guy Lacombe.
“There is an important data to take into account, it is the players that he has at his disposal.
He looks at what he has at hand, he looks the opponent in the face and his way of playing, and against Bayern he must have said to himself that the best thing to do was to play the quick transitions to the recovery of the ball rather than trying to have possession and play. "
A calculation anything but stupid and / or small arm, especially when in front of you have an arrow like Mbappé and a launching pad named Neymar.
As much Mbappé is not made to play alone at the top against low blocks, he becomes so when the opponent has decided to pay 90 minutes
all inclusive
in your camp.
“Even if Mbappé is still not bad in small spaces
(laughs)
, as soon as you leave him so much race space behind the defense, very often it is beaten.
And as technically he can overthrow anyone, that's a lot of advantages for him and for the tactics put in place by Pochettino, ”confirms the former Guingampais coach.
Why change a winning style?
Starting from there, and considering as Thomas Müller explained in a pre-match press conference that the Germans will come to Paris with the same offensive inclinations, can we imagine Pochettino completely changing his philosophy at the Park?
Past specialist in the art of drowning fish, the Argentinian left the doubt, simply explaining that his players would “show great respect to Bayern while trying to impose our ideas, it is not incompatible.
You could choose to believe it.
But the complicated experience of the return match against Barça, when "Poché" sold us a pre-match PSG starved to death from the kick-off, requires us to be more careful.
Especially since Marco Verratti, the only player really able to keep the ball in the middle of the field, should not start the match on Tuesday.
Not stingy with defensive efforts in Munich, Mbappé ended the match on his knees.
- Christof STACHE / AFP
For his part, Guy Lacombe votes for a
repeat bis
.
“We know that Bayern will come to the Park with the same ambitions as in Munich.
It will therefore be necessary to repeat more or less the same score as in the first leg, being very strong behind and focusing on the qualities of Neymar and Mbappé in front.
This season, in the Champions League, PSG has virtues that are generally associated with small teams.
Pochettino managed to get his players to accept this idea and I find that quite extraordinary.
One had only to see the state of fatigue of Kylian Mbappé, rinsed as never after the great defensive efforts made in Bavaria, to be convinced of it.
If we decide to leave the purely Parisian spectrum to gain a little height, we may even wonder if this trend in the transition game is not becoming the norm at the top European level to go to the end of the competitions. .
Because, with rare exceptions (Bayern, City), the big teams, like Liverpool last season, seem to have partly outdated the famous Barcelona tiki-taka of the 2010s under Pep Guardiola.
“Look at Real Madrid this weekend against Barça, Lacombe engages.
They did nothing more and nothing less like PSG in Munich.
And yet they were at home!
On arrival they were excellent in these transitional phases and they won.
"
Besides, is it so serious that Paris has decided to sideline style to focus first on results and efficiency?
“The first thing fans want is to be proud of their colors.
And to be proud of your colors, you have to start by winning.
Honestly, what do we like when we watch football? Asks the most famous mustache on the French sidelines.
It's about having emotions and that's what happened in Munich.
Paris may not have had many opportunities, but how well they managed them!
I think that if we ask the Parisian supporters if they are okay to go to the end by continuing to play like this, they sign every day.
"If the PSG is certainly not intended to become an Atlético de Madrid 2.0 in the long term, it is assumed that in the event of qualifying in the half - and even more in the event of final success in Istanbul in May - they will not be many in Doha complain about it.
After all, whatever the style as long as we have drunkenness (and them, the prize list).
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