At the Parc des Princes,
Sometimes you have to repeat it, but as you get older you get the hang of it. And, it’s rare, after making a mistake, that you make the exact same mistake a few months later. Hence the famous adage “we learn from our mistakes”. Well, not only does PSG not learn from its mistakes, or it has revised the wrong lesson, but it also reproduces it. Three months exactly after seeing Brest overcome a two-goal handicap, Paris experienced similar misery on Sunday evening at the Parc des Princes, against the same opponent.
And, while in Brittany, they were able to count on a penalty from Kylian Mbappé on the wire to win (2-3), this time, the Parisians had to settle for a draw (2-2) , with a slight taste of defeat, as Luis Enrique suggested at a press conference, emphasizing that “no coach liked to lose”. It must be said that the Spanish coach had just experienced forty-five cataclysmic minutes from his team, which led 2-0 at the break thanks to goals from Marco Asensio (38th) and Randal Kolo Muani (45th).
“We fell asleep a little”
We don’t know if the snack at the break was a little too full, and the bellies were bloated when returning to the pitch, or if the Parisian cold froze the motivation of Bradley Barcola’s teammates who were on fire during the first act, but Paris came back from the locker room with his head upside down. “We started the match well, but we started this second half badly,” admitted Parisian defender Lucas Hernandez in the mixed zone after the match. We fell asleep a little. »
Quite the opposite of the Bretons, who we thought we would see mentally damaged again after taking two blows to the noggin, despite a solid first period. “At half-time, we said things to each other: either we take a suitcase, or we show our muscles and we get back into this match,” explained the tireless Hugo Magnetti. More than the muscles, the Brestois gave the Parisians a lesson in play, with a very high block (between forty meters and the halfway line), pressing on the carrier, a lot of offensive players and play on the sides.
“All teams can put us in danger”
“We feel it from the start… We start the second period very well, there are spaces that open up and we know that we will have situations to exploit well,” said Mahdi Camara, the Brest midfielder. » Spaces, there was only that, notably on the sides, where Warren Zaire-Emery occupied the hybrid position of Achraf Hakimi (half right side, half midfielder) and Lucas Beraldo had to fend for himself a bit alone , despite the support of Bradley Barcola. Paris had several warnings with strikes from Lees-Melou (51st) and Magnetti (52nd). Before the sanction, on an own goal from Danilo Pereira (55th), after a slight mix-up.
“The third goal in a match is often important, we scored it, and we felt spaces free up,” Magnetti noted afterwards. We kept our game, our compact block, it opened up. » As on the masterful equalizer from Mathias Pereira-Lage (80th), from a Madjer, where Martin Satriano had all the time in the world to enter the area without being attacked and sent a perfect cross for the former player of Clermont. “In the second half, if we don’t put intensity, if we don’t put what we need on the pitch, all the teams can put us in danger,” admitted Lucas Hernandez.
“We suffered”
Which had the gift of annoying Luis Enrique: “There are two completely different games, with a first part where we had control of the defensive situations where we managed to annihilate Brest’s play, one of the first periods most accomplished of the season, detailed the former FC Barcelona coach at a press conference. And then, one of the worst periods. This second half, we lost a lot of balls, we created little. We thought we had the match in hand, that was not the case. […] We suffered. »
And the Spaniard’s careful, even small-arm coaching did not upset the established order in the second half. The entries of Soler and Dembélé were ordinary, while Gonçalo Ramos was only entitled to a few minutes. The Brest bench, for its part, made the difference (Satriano, Pereira-Lage). And the surprise of this first part of the season could even regret, a little, not having succeeded in the complete comeback.
“When we score the second goal, we say to ourselves at least one goal was good, but three why not,” smiled Mahdi Camara. We have the free kick at the end which can turn the match around (90th+4), but a point is not bad I think. » Lucas Hernandez, for his part, preferred that this scenario serve as a lesson to PSG, especially in view of the European deadline against Real Sociedad, in two weeks: “This second half, for the matches to come, it will not be necessary not do this guy [de prestation]. Better that it happened today than in two weeks. » We will still have to revise much better. Surprise questioning next Friday against Strasbourg.