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PSG: Bayern, Mbappé, Neymar, his method ... Pochettino tells us everything before the final sprint

2021-04-02T17:10:50.888Z


Before starting the decisive phase of the Parisian season, Mauricio Pochettino confides in the Parisian to detail the club's news and


Smiling, relaxed and a pedagogue.

Mauricio Pochettino showed a cheerful face on Wednesday under the sun of the Camp des Loges and the first spring heat.

For nearly half an hour, the PSG coach confided in the Parisian on the news, his methodology and his psychological approach to major events.

That's good: Paris is playing part of its destiny in Ligue 1 against Lille this Saturday (5 p.m.) then in the Champions League against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Always more at ease in Spanish than in French, the Argentinian technician develops his ideas without ever forgetting to take a look at his assistant Jesus Pérez, present during this interview.

PSG had its most complete match against Lyon (4-2) before the truce.

Is it your biggest challenge to reproduce this on Saturday against Lille?

MAURICIO POCHETTINO.

Our challenge is above all to bring PSG to the objectives set.

Each result will be vital until the end of the season.

But the biggest challenge is to give the club the project it asks us for over two years.

Victory matters, but you have to create a solid structure on which you can lay the foundations for future success.

Neymar will make his comeback against Lille.

How did you deal with his two-month absence?

We are forced to adapt to the realities of the moment.

When we arrived, Neymar was injured (

Editor's note: ankle

).

Then, it reblesse (

Editor's note: adductors

).

He hasn't been able to add much to the squad on the pitch yet, but his influence away from home remains huge on the squad.

He is extremely positive and helps out.

I hope he can get back to his best form, especially in the next two months.

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Have you discovered a Neymar different from that of television, of social networks?

We don't judge people until we know them.

Through the screen, the analyzes can be unfair.

We try to be less of a spectator and see for ourselves.

We are delighted to be working with Ney.

The relationship is very good, the feeling is going very well.

We are happy with the exchanges created over the past three months.

Neymar is doing better but other players, like Verratti or Danilo, have returned from selection by being physically affected.

How do you stay positive and convey this to the group?

My staff and I are always positive, it's our way of being.

We believe a lot in the strength of the group.

There must be an energetic force in this club that allows the group to get by and be competitive despite the absences.

If not yet, we need to take the players to this.

Bayern Munich lost Robert Lewandowski.

Do you see this as an advantage?

I have a good example.

With Tottenham, in the quarter-final against Manchester City in 2019, Harry Kane was injured in the first half of the first leg.

We play almost an hour and the return match without him, our most essential striker, like Lewandowski for Bayern.

And we qualified.

Bayern is not just Lewandowski, who is a huge player.

But Bayern's real fortress is its squad, its team.

This club exudes enormous strength.

During the draw, many pointed to the "bad luck" of PSG.

Do you think like that?

It doesn't matter to me, no.

Because I believe that our team is capable of achieving good results.

We are not stupid, Bayern are not an easy team, they are the reigning European champions.

But there is no need to have an inferiority complex.

We will go to Munich with respect, but with the objective of qualifying for the semi-finals.

READ ALSO> Champions

League: is PSG really lacking in luck in the draw?

Before the return match against Barcelona, ​​you mentioned the "panic" that surrounds PSG.

Why ?

I understand, Barça had not been eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League for 14 years, there was the comeback ... But I only heard negative things, there was nothing positive in the 'atmosphere.

We try not to be contaminated with these outer things.

“At PSG, we have to win.

But my satisfaction is to create something, to leave a legacy, ”admits Mauricio Pochettino.

LP / Olivier Arandel

Is it different from what you knew in England?

It also happens there.

But here I felt a certain nervousness outside the club.

It's still football, you can win, you can lose… I think this nervousness is also linked to the club's obsession with the Champions League.

It's more of the anxiety around an important goal for PSG.

But the most important is that I never felt this panic within the group.

How to change this atmosphere?

It may sound difficult, but from my point of view it is simple.

You have to lay the foundations for a solid future, and any change takes a little time.

PSG are built to win.

We need to analyze what is missing to win the Champions League and gradually get closer to the goal.

Progress must be constant.

We have to have the feeling of being closer and closer.

PSG won everything with Thomas Tuchel last year and played their first Champions League final.

Do you feel immense pressure to do so well?

We accept these circumstances.

We arrived in a situation in the middle of the season, with a current reality for which we are not responsible.

But we never felt any kind of pressure.

We know that we will be judged by our results ...

But don't you fear the comparison?

If it is possible, it will happen.

But the fairest thing is to compare two projects at the beginning.

We have arrived in the middle of a project that is not ours.

We are there to optimize and adapt to the reality that the club was living.

It's different to arrive like Thomas Tuchel or Unai Emery at the start of the season, with the possibility of establishing a pre-season strategy, of being able to change things, of deciding which players arrive, who leave… From from that moment, next year, they will be able to judge me.

As I said, when we won the Champions Trophy, it was thanks to Tuchel.

This final is on my record, but it is also for him and, of course, for the players.

However, are you relieved to have won your first career trophy?

Not especially.

We see success in maximizing team performance.

We have not won anything at Espanyol Barcelona, ​​Southampton or Tottenham but the satisfaction and the mark left is much greater than a title.

At PSG, we have to win.

But my satisfaction is to create something, to leave a legacy, to be able to say that, tomorrow, when we leave, the club works regardless of the staff or the players.

Speaking of the future, do you have a role to play for the future of Kylian Mbappé?

I don't know, that's a question for him (

laughs

).

But you can influence it, right?

Again, that's a question for him and his entourage (

laughs

).

We've had a great relationship for three months, like with Ney.

I force myself to speak French to him, but he can speak to me in Spanish or English.

We discuss well.

I have a lot of affection for him.

Who wouldn't have any, by the way?

His character, what he is on a daily basis… And of course the great player he is.

I hope he will register here for many years.

And I'm not saying this in a selfish way, but for the good of the club and Paris.

He can help the club achieve great things.

However, he seems to be in a hurry ...

Because he's fast on the pitch, right?

(

laughs

) He seems to me to be a very mature boy, very happy.

I hope his decision will be to stay with us.

“The greatest pressure is the one we put on our backs,” said the Argentinian coach.

LP / Arnaud Journois

“Never apologize for having high standards, players who really want to triumph will rise to achieve them.

This sentence is posted on your desktop ...

(

He cuts

) Ah, did you see that on Instagram?

This is really the problem with social networks (

laughs

)!

Can you explain it to us?

We learned this sentence from ... (he asks Jesus Pérez, his assistant) Jesus Candelas (

Editor's note: the most successful coach in the history of futsal

).

It is a fundamental concept for us.

We must create the means to put the footballer in the best conditions so that he gives the best of himself.

Those who want to achieve this are welcome.

Those who don't want to, we won't be able to do more for them.

The technical staff are proposing things and the players must remain open.

You can be a genius, but if you don't want to, it's harder.

Is it the hardest part for a coach?

Yes, in part.

There are players with whom you can find the key, others more closed and no trainer will be able to find this key.

Sometimes players have to understand that they need our analysis to discover new things.

But there are others, from their experience, because they have always worked the same, for lack of maturity, who have an armor and do not let us break it.

Is this the case at PSG as at Tottenham?

Did you change things in your methodology?

Our principles remain the same.

But we adapt, we continue to evolve according to what we encounter.

We are not the same coaches as in Southampton or Tottenham, that's obvious.

The wealth of experience makes you become better.

We are looking to improve our methods, to make them more efficient.

Have you felt a difference in the requirements of the players, of the club?

In all our clubs, we had the same requirements as today at PSG.

On the other hand, perhaps the external vision ... Obviously, the investments of PSG are different from those of Tottenham or Southampton.

And that gives more media pressure.

But the pressure we have internally, I feel it the same way.

The greatest pressure is the one we put on our backs.

Do you think the media pressure is stronger here than in London?

Yes.

Because the club is more observed, more publicized in the world.

Tottenham was too, but what PSG generates is a step above.

For Mauricio Pochettino, his regular exchanges with his players, as here in Barcelona, ​​are "always pleasant moments".

LP / Frédéric Dugit

You talk a lot with the players before or after training.

Why is this so important?

This is the case with all, the most famous names but also young people.

How do you approach a player, discover his needs?

We need to talk.

Tactics, but not only.

From life, family, past, projects… These moments are always pleasant.

We must generate this trust between the staff and the players and be able to discuss without the egos, without the shell of each one.

We speak frankly.

Do you have the same attitude with Neymar as with Colin Dagba?

On a daily basis, of course.

I am the same regardless of the name of the person opposite.

We respect everyone who works here, known or not.

It's natural and I can't change that.

But there is one thing: it is possible that we ask Neymar more responsibilities than Pembélé or Xavi Simons.

Humanly, we try to be fair with everyone.

But not on a sporting level?

At the professional level, it is something else.

There is a hierarchy among the players and the most important should be examples for the younger ones.

And the youngest have to learn.

You don't just learn with a pat on the shoulder.

Sometimes, like a father educating his child, you have to instill discipline, be tougher.

READ ALSO>

PSG: physical training, dialogue with executives ... Pochettino, a hard and gentle coach at the same time

So the players are like members of your family?

Maybe a little, yes.

We spend a lot of time with them, much more than with our real family.

If this relationship is not good, if the respect is not there, if it is not humanly healthy, it is difficult for it to work.

There must be an emotional connection with the group, that the players feel recognized and supported.

Sometimes you have to say "no", sometimes "yes".

They are kids with extraordinary talent.

But it's a professional world and they have to understand the balance between the two.

We're trying to keep that balance by being bombarded with a ton of outside factors as well.

Paredes says players run more, work more with you.

But is it real?

I don't know, because we weren't there before.

Change always brings a special feeling: new motivation, new dreams… Players who played less can replay more often… You have to understand that.

I don't take it as an absolute truth.

In addition, the player is not going to say anything negative about the new coach.

He knows it can have consequences (

smile

).

We did not look at the past when we arrived, but simply at the reality of the moment to try to find possible improvements.

You used to say that over time the team will learn your concepts.

But how much time do you need?

Coaches say that after a year and a half… Well, I really think that we cannot analyze the work of a staff without a pre-season.

It is necessary to start from zero.

You can't judge a coach who arrives in the middle of the season, one way or the other.

You don't deserve so much compliments after a big win, or so much criticism after a loss.

What if you win the Champions League?

We cannot compare this season to previous ones.

The health crisis affects everyone, no one plays under the same conditions.

You really have to start from scratch, with a preseason.

And there, OK, we can be judged.

But, at this stage, if we win the Champions League, the Coupe de France, Ligue 1, our influence will be minimal.

As in the event that we do not gain anything.

I say it frankly.

It will be thanks to the players above all.

Also thanks to the club, the previous staff and the sports management who created this group.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-04-02

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