The Spanish coach, who arrived this summer, experienced his first major failure on the Paris Saint-Germain bench when his team sank at Newcastle (1-4) in the group stage of the Champions League on Wednesday.
“I sincerely think that the result is a little unfair and excessive”. After the sinking of his PSG in Newcastle (1-4), Wednesday October 4, in the Champions League, Luis Enrique refused to give in to any catastrophism at the microphone of Canal+. However, his team was pushed around for more than 90 minutes against an opponent who had not hosted a C1 match for almost twenty years and who lost three of their first seven matches of the season in their championship.
The Spanish technician had innovated for the occasion, depopulating his midfield to align a new quartet on the attacking front (Mbappé-Kolo Muani-Ramos-Dembélé). The offensive festival did not take place. Worse, his team seemed completely disconnected. “I thought it was the best option and I will continue to think so”, retorted the person concerned before fleeing the cameras. Same story and same annoyance when passing by RMC Sport: “I’m the coach, I have to decide. It’s a bad result for us but, (…) a significant defeat? I don’t know”.
Stubborn, a feeling of deja vu
Facing the media, his players did not deviate from his line. “It’s not a failed match”, assumed the young Warren Zaire-Emery. Lucas Hernandez refused to criticize his coach’s choices, in particular his inertia during the match: “What do you mean, there were no changes? Bradley Barcola came back. Vitinha too. These are the coach’s choices. We wanted to try to put the opposing defense in difficulty. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work not. Today was a day when it didn’t work.”. At St James’s Park, no breach was noted in the collective union of PSG, but the slap received in Newcastle cannot be summed up as an accident.
Even if he succeeded in bringing about a new era in the capital, helped by the summer cleaning and the departure of undesirable executives including Neymar and Marco Verratti, Luis Enrique only has four victories for his first nine matches at the helm of Paris. Saint Germain. No coach has had a worse start since QSI took charge of the club in 2011. In addition to defeats against Nice (2-3) and Newcastle (1-4), his players failed to beat Lorient (0-0), Toulouse (1-1) and Clermont (0-0).
His playing principles are clear, to the extent that they are the same as those of Spain when he was coach between 2018 and 2022: confiscate the ball, press the opponent very high and recover possession as quickly as possible . They cost him his place last December, after the defeat in the round of 16 of the World Cup against Morocco (0-0, 3-0 tab). Sterile, his “Roja” had largely disappointed. “I don’t regret any of my choices, I will make the same ones again”Enrique had dared at a press conference that evening.
Three weeks to adapt
An attitude and terms that are very similar to those of Wednesday evening. After scoring points by giving a playing identity to a club which had failed to have one for many seasons, the face of a stubborn coach resurfaced at St James’ Park. Even if he failed to apply his principles and his team struggled to exist, he decided not to change his playing system. It was not until Newcastle scored three goals that he made his first change (Barcola for Kolo Muani in the 57th). Behind, he only called on one other replacement (Vitinha for Ugarte, again post for post, in the 64th).
Observers will be much less forgiving if he leads his team to another defeat by the end of October. Paris has four days to bounce back, with a trip to Rennes which has not been successful since 2018 (4 games without a win). The capital club will continue with a truce, then look forward to hosting AC Milan on October 25, crucial for its future in the Champions League. Until then, Luis Enrique will have to convince that he is capable of adapting or even better, questioning himself.