At the Parc des Princes,
Those who expected a proper report of the PSG-Metz match risk being disappointed because we decided to skip it. Like students dissipated on the last days of classes before the vacation, we allow ourselves to do as we please. And frankly, you don’t think we’re having a difficult enough year to get over it the scenario of this match which, after a horrible first period at home (handball match version minus the goals), will have finally been good without more?
A pawn from Vitinha, a double from Mbappé including a marvel in lulu and a goal conceded from a corner, in short, routine. So, with three days until New Year’s Eve, four if you celebrate on the 25th, we decided it was high time to make Santa’s list for PSGwhich will at the same time allow us to make a small mid-season assessment of this Luis Enrique version of Paname.
Kylian Mbappé: A man’s suit for big nights
We could obviously have put an extension at PSG on the Kyks list, but we know in advance that with almost ten days until the end of his contract, the guy will take great pleasure in keeping the football world in suspense before making his choice between Paris and Madrid at the end of added time, around August 31 at 11:59 p.m. So, until then, we’ll simply order him a superhero cape, or a providential man’s suit, it depends.
The one that allows you to pull your team up in the top matches, when the boat is rocking and Paris is looking for a leader by example. Because, if the boy continues to thread the pawns like a pig, his performance and his attitude in the matches at the top have really left us wanting more, particularly in the Champions League. However, Paris will need a big Mbappé when the time comes for direct elimination matches to lead the club to the European summits. Let’s say at least the quarter-finals.
Randal Kolo Muani: A fountain of confidence
It’s like a fountain of youth or chocolate, but with plenty of confidence instead. The one that made him the massacrer of defenses during his visit to Frankfurt. However, since his last-minute transfer to PSG, on the gong, during the last summer transfer window, the unfortunate finalist of the World Cup against Argentina is nothing more than the shadow of his shadow. And again… We thought that with time, confidence would return, and with it his fiery legs and his knowledge of goal, but it is clear that from match to match the boy sinks into the abysses of mediocrity. Against Metz, Kolo was once again out of his depth and this ability to miss almost everything he does is sad to see. So, Santa, you don’t mess around and you recharge the boy to the fullest for the return of PSG on December 29.
Gianluigi Donnarumma: A (half) game on the feet (or a new coach)
During this first part of the season, the Italian giant was where we expected it to be, no more, no less. That is to say monstrous on his line, average in his aerial outputs and cataclysmic as soon as it came to kicking the ball with his feet. We all remember this goal cap offered to Monaco after a relaunch worthy of a bad horror film, but “Gigio” no longer even needs to make balls for Parisian supporters to be dizzy.
The mere idea of a teammate passing him the ball in the game causes PSG followers to cling to their seats. Which the opponents have understood well and try to exploit in each match by exerting crazy pressure on the Parisian goals. It must be said that the Italian is not helped by his trainer, who has made the short recovery on the feet an almost unhealthy obsession and who would prefer to die with his ideas rather than deny his philosophy. And since Paris is not expected to change coaches between now and January, Gigio will have to work with his feet.
Milan Skriniar: A time machine
Yes, to go back in time and find his legs from the time which, without making him the Usain Bolt of Inter, at least had the merit of transporting him from point A to point B without having to pose three days of RTT. But as we know that, every Santa Claus there is, the man with the white beard is not a magician either, let’s just hope that he will offer the Slovak to rediscover his talent in the aerial game. Because since the start of the season, Skriniar has displayed a level that is far too worrying in the area of aerial conquest, like the entire Parisian defense, which again conceded a pawn with a header from a corner against Metz, Wednesday, as against Nantes ten days earlier.
Luis Enrique: Clairvoyance
If the Spaniard repeated again after the victory against Metz that he lacked nothing and that his leaders had offered him everything he wanted in terms of raw material to form a competitive team, which his PSG has shown so far – that leaves you wondering. So let’s just wish him to have seen clearly in his crystal ball, he who announced that in two months, at the time of the round of 16 of the Champions League, his team would be “stronger in February”.
The supporters: Happiness and a beautiful game at the Parc des Princes
Apart from (too) rare occasions at home (against OM, Milan, Dortmund or Monaco), the Parisian public will not have experienced a wildly emotional first part of the season at Porte d’Auteuil. If it remains master of its lands, with nine victories, two draws and only one defeat, Luis Enrique’s team is still looking for a soul and the promises of a slick possession game have not yet found an extension in the facts.
Manuel Ugarte: His modjo who made him at the start of the season a fighting mutt that you wouldn’t like to come across in a dark alley in the suburbs of Montevideo. Because today, the guy is more Maltese than Rotweiler.
Gonçalo Ramos: A new coach. Frankly, putting him on the shelf after his good match against Monaco and bringing him in in the 91st minute of play against Metz on Wednesday is gratuitous provocation on the part of Luis Enrique.
Warren Zaire-Emery: NOTHING, NADA, WALOU! This child has already been way too spoiled by the fairies who all leaned over his cradle like groupies at birth. You have to leave a little for your friends.
Ethan Mbappé: Playing time. After his first professional appearance in an official match, Wednesday, against Metz, in added time, the boy was entitled to an ovation from the Park every time he touched the ball. We can therefore hope that it starts again and that it lasts because, according to his coach, Mbappé II has not stolen his place in the group: “I am sure that he can play very good matches. He has a prestigious last name that is hard to bear but he has a lot of values. He is prepared. »
Presnel Kimpembe: Good healing. Injured since the start of the season, the PSG soldier already had a nice gift on Wednesday evening with the formalization of his extension at PSG until 2026. A strong gesture from his club for the one who never ends to struggle with his Achilles tendon injury. Kimpembe must also return to the pool table to “undergo surgical correction” according to the press release published by the club on Wednesday. Strength and courage, Presko.
PSG: The return of Nuno Mendes as quickly as possible and, and, and… The extension of Mbappé of course!