The Bavarian is stubborn.
In any case, whoever is in charge of Paris Saint-Germain is.
Against all odds, Thomas Tuchel has often used Marquinhos in the middle since his arrival at the club, in 2018. With random success ... Except with the placarding of Adrien Rabiot at the end of 2018 then his departure, in 2019, and the emergence Presnel Kimpembe behind, the ex-coach of Dortmund continued in this direction.
Especially since the recruits he has had in this sector (Paredes, Herrera, Gueye) have not given full satisfaction.
But we quickly realized that it wasn't just a default choice in the eyes of Tuchel, who kept singing the praises of Marquinhos in this position, over and over again.
"
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Except that after the departure of Thiago Silva at the end of last season, we were entitled to say that it was over, that the former Roma had vocation to go down a notch and regain his position as predilection.
Not in the mind of Tuchel, who said this before the end of the last transfer window: “If we have a recruit to compensate for the departure of Thiago Silva, who has the ability to evolve at the same level, with the same quality, we have the possibility of letting Marqui play in the middle.
It depends.
He can do both. ”
No one had seen it coming.
"When he plays in the middle, he can help everyone"
Thomas tuchel
Leonardo is not a priori on the same wavelength.
In any case, he did not rush to find a top-level central rear during the transfer window.
Instead, it was a pure defensive midfielder who landed: Danilo Pereira, from FC Porto.
End of the story ?
Not really ... To everyone's surprise, Thomas Tuchel aligned Marquinhos in the middle and Danilo ... in central hinge on Saturday, against Dijon (4-0).
“When he plays in the middle, he can help everyone because he has the best ability, the best volume in our team.
He helps the offensive players with the counter-pressing, the defenders, and he is decisive, ”promises Tuchel, making the Brazilian international“ the heart and soul ”of PSG.
The "chef" too.
“We are in a situation with a lot of injuries, changes, new players.
And for that it's really important to have Marqui close to everyone so that he can help everyone because he's the boss (smile). ”
Undress Paul to dress Jacques
Problem?
This amounts to undressing Paul to dress Jacques.
To support Kimpembe, there is indeed only Thilo Kehrer (injured) and therefore Danilo, who has already helped out in the past but who is not an international reference in this position.
Abdou Diallo?
Its level is not in question.
But there is no question of aligning two left-handers in a central hinge.
It never worked, nowhere, never.
Regarding Danilo, Tuchel is "convinced" that he can represent a viable option behind.
“With Marqui close to him, and Abdou (Diallo) today or (Presnel) Kimpembe, we have a right-hander and a left-hander.
He has the mentality and the ability to do what is necessary for the team, ”explains the German technician.
It remains to be seen what the main stakeholders think.
According to some sources, Marquinhos had only moderately appreciated Tuchel's speech about a potential midfield return early in the season.
And now ?
"We had been warned, the coach had worked on this during the week," he said on Saturday at the microphone of
Canal +
.
These are the coach's choices.
We are there to serve the coach and the club.
Even if it's not my main job, like Danilo, we try to do the maximum.
He has things in mind, and we have to follow as much as possible to do well. ”
In this case, the native of Sao Paulo made an honest performance for a return from injury against the DFCO, with several good balls forward, four recoveries and… a huge ball, side pass in the middle of the box.
One of his seven bullet losses.
"He must play at the heart of the match, of the game, in the middle"
Thomas tuchel
"He must play at the heart of the match, of the game, in the middle," Tuchel emphasizes, enthusiastic and determined to convince.
It presents an extraordinary combination.
He is talented, he has quality, at the best level.
And with the mentality of a worker. ”
And to add: “He has shown that he is able to push this team to the best level in a middle position in Portugal (during Final 8, note) and several times last season.
He did it against Atalanta Bergamo, Leipzig and Bayern Munich, he had been exceptional and it was not possible without him in the middle. "
»
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To see if "Herr Tuchel" will repeat the thing Wednesday (6:55 pm), on the ground of Istanbul Basaksehir.
A crucial match after going off the track against Manchester United last Tuesday (1-2).
"We lost the first game, it's not the end of the world, we are always able to bounce back," he swears, regretting the exit on injury from Julian Draxler.
A glitch "is expensive" while Marco Verratti, Idrissa Gueye and other Leo Paredes are already squatting in the infirmary.
“It will be difficult, but I'm not expecting anything else because it's C1, perhaps the most difficult competition in the world.
Now is the time to recover and find solutions. ”
A priori, one of them is to take Marquinhos up a notch ...
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