Between Paris Saint-Germain and Christophe Galtier, the honeymoon is not quite over, but some signs seem to announce the end. Arrived this summer on the Paris bench, the French coach may feel the end of good weather is coming. The victory, in pain, Wednesday, September 14 on the lawn of Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League (3-1) attests to a trend that has been emerging for two and a half games: PSG, even if he is still undefeated in 10 games this season, suffer more.
A mediocre second period against Juventus Turin a week ago (2-1), a narrow victory against Brest on Saturday (1-0) and a mixed success in Israel on Wednesday (3-1), after being trailed… The club of the capital revealed some signs of weakness, he who had accustomed his supporters to scatter his opponents at the start of the season.
“It was super hot, the pitch was not great“, tried to justify Kylian Mbappé at the microphone of Canal + at the end of the victory against Haifa last night. Two factors which cannot explain, nor excuse, the difficulties of a PSG jostled by an enthusiastic Haifa team, but far from the level of the cadors of the continent.Sufficient, the Parisians were satisfied with the bare minimum for a large part of the meeting, with an insufficient intensity in the Champions League.
“We fell asleep“, admitted Mbappé, about the first period. It is one of the contrasts between the PSG of the beginning of the season and that of the last three games. In sequence, we found the Paris of the last seasons, the one who has an annoying tendency to purr, even if it means playing with fire.
Until now, it was precisely Galtier’s tour de force: having seduced by convincing his players to put on the intensity and always trying to score one more goal, hence the cards against Clermont (5-0 ), Montpellier (5-2) or Lille (7-1). On Wednesday, the Parisians still scored three goals, but they could and should have scored more.
1 – Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar each scored a goal for the first time in the same Champions League match with Paris (7 C1 matches played together in total). Trio. #MACPSG #UEFAChampionsLeague2022 pic.twitter.com/g8B8rpeUVc
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 14, 2022
Finally, at the end of his team’s last three games, Galtier will have been able to identify certain cracks in his hitherto solid game plan. The two midfielders, Marco Verratti and Vitinha, so precious since the start of the season, appeared lonely in Haifa, not helped by the defensive withdrawal, for once almost non-existent of the “MNM” (Messi, Neymar, Mbappé).
The French coach also identified, in a press conference, one of the reasons for PSG’s defensive difficulties last night: “I will come back to how we must be organized to avoid catching waves. These are sessions that require intensity that we cannot put on because we play every three days.“
On the other hand, the French coach can congratulate himself on the performance of Gianluigi Donnarumma. Uncomfortable in the game on foot and guilty of an error against Juventus, the Italian goalkeeper saved his team several times. Irreproachable on his line, he repelled the Turin attacks, a penalty against Brest and released four new parades in Haifa.
Donnarumma is one of the reasons why this slack in the game does not materialize in PSG’s results. MNM is another. Even when they are disappointing, Messi, Neymar and Mbappé can decide to change the course of a match, as they did on Wednesday.
“It’s an advantage for us, you have to know how to take advantage of it. But IWe have to improve, we have to work“, assured Mbappé. Galtier, who assured that the Parisian difficulties were not linked to “a problem of investment or relaxation”, will certainly not contradict it. The coach hopes his team will show another face against Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday in Ligue 1, before the international break. To extend the honeymoon a little longer.