“He discovers a new world, let him work”reacted Monday, July 4 on franceinfo, the former goalkeeper and football consultant for franceinfo Jérôme Alonzo, after the formalization of the arrival of French coach Christophe Galtier at Paris Saint-Germain for two seasons.
franceinfo: What will be its first project?
Jerome Alonzo : He must first carry out a physical, technical and tactical inventory. It’s a new world that he will discover but he also knows the players by heart. Christophe Galtier is “a fine politician”, who has always known how to put everyone in his pocket. He does not have “pots, no files”, he arrives at PSG with nothing against him. You also think that if he is there, it is because Kylian Mbappé approved this recruitment. But indeed, he discovers a new world. It’s true that two months ago, if we had been told that Christophe Galtier would be PSG coach, we would have laughed gently because for me it’s still a huge surprise. But I think he is quite capable of coaching this team. Let’s not judge too quickly. Let him work.
Will this French coach, less “bling-bling” than his predecessors, be able to manage this host of stars with sometimes difficult characters?
This is the real question. Christophe Galtier did it everywhere, it was at a national level but he still straightened out the Greens [Saint-Étienne], he saved Lille from relegation and brought this Lille team to the title of Champion of France. On the scale of Ligue 1, it’s huge. Moreover, for his first season in Nice, he qualifies the OGC for a European Cup, so he has done everything well so far. He passed all the tests that were supposed to lead him one day to a big club, it’s done today. But [le PSG] is a huge club with Messi, Neymar, Mbappé. Will he be able to make the three in front live together and above all to make them defend a little? To win with champions, everyone has to work. Christophe Galtier’s real project is this.
For the moment, Christophe Galtier does not have European experience, is this a handicap?
It may be one but apart from Carlo Ancelotti, since the beginning of the Qatari area no one had this experience. Remember, at the very beginning Antoine Kombouaré didn’t have it, Laurent Blanc had it as a player but not as a coach, Unai Emery didn’t have it in the Champions League and Thomas Tuchel didn’t have it either more. So finally Galtier is still a bet on the part of the leaders of PSG. There is nothing infamous in that, it’s still a bet because Christophe Galtier has no Champions League victory on his CV yet. He’s going to discover that with a round of hen right away very hot because we won’t forgive him anything. It’s like that, it’s a French coach who comes to PSG, while the club has experienced a lot of failures at European level. Unfortunately, if it goes badly, he will wipe the pot for everyone, like all the time at PSG. The task is huge but in any case before him no one has succeeded, so he has nothing to lose.