We were hot. Motivated by the start of the Paris Saint-Germain season, which we already saw rolling over France like German tanks in 1940, we published an article on the morning of PSG-Monaco which almost expired faster than expected. The theme ? The title while remaining undefeated. Yes, we are like that, us. Years of doing this job, years of jumping to conclusions in the twilight of summer.
Not only is PSG not champion – with ten points, no one can be – but Kevin Volland has made him vulnerable. Not enough to cause it to fall, but enough to cool the jar buffs that we are. As Christophe Galtier said in the post-match conference, “it should serve as a lesson to us. The Parisian coach was unpleasantly surprised by the way his players approached the match, especially in the first period.
Too little mobility, according to Galtier
“We were really upset by a great Monaco team, especially in the first 35 minutes,” said Galtier. On our side we lacked a lot of mobility, we received the ball a lot with our backs to the game, and for my taste we didn’t insist enough in depth. Were we surprised by the intensity displayed by Monaco? It is an axis of progression, we must not be surprised by the adversary. It surprises me, we must be used to these matches, we must have more variety in the game.
Seen from our perch, it was as if the team had unlearned the precepts of the new coach for one evening to plunge back into a somewhat lame past that time has ended up embellishing. A kind of masochistic nostalgia, a Stockholm syndrome or a curse. On Sunday, the ghost of Mauricio Pochettino was present above the heads of the Parisian players. And we tell you why.
- The first period was of a soporific softness.
- The defensive folds were filthy. Midfielders who come back at two an hour (hello Renato Sanches in the first period) while the opponent attacks at 100 an hour, attackers who don’t come back at all and defenders who do what they can. Until tragedy strikes.
- Refusal to play football until the team is behind. Confessed half-word by Nuno Mendes in the mixed zone. “After their goal, we gradually managed to put our game in place. » Reaction team. Very Pochettino, that.
- A great excitement from Marquinhos after the opening of the Monegasque score. We met again at the Bernabeu five months ago.
- No mobility, as Galtier said. When Verratti had the ball, no one in the middle was there to claim it from him. A Vitinha misses you and everything goes to hell (bone).
- Lionel Messi shot at the post. How not to think about last season?
- Donnarumma was completely drunk. His hideous exit at the start of the second period clearly deserves ASM to take the break. And then stop with the kicking game, Gigio, you scare everyone.
- We got pissed off for half time.
- Danilo Pereira entered the field when Paris was behind.
- Danilo Pereira was almost the best Parisian once on the pitch.
- The coach of the opposite team was better.
- The Monegasques left the Park with the bitter feeling of having deserved to win it.
- Hell is other people. “Yes, yes, Monaco changed its system of play without warning, since when do they press so high? That’s legal, right? Quotation almost pell-mell from the analysis of Marquinhos at the microphone of Prime Video at halftime. An argument taken up by Sergio Ramos at the end of the match. “It’s a team that plays against, a team that has changed its system so it was difficult to beat them. It’s a result that we don’t completely like but, anyway, in a match like this, it’s better to know how to take a point than not at all. The note of optimism to conclude. Definitely Pocket.