The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Mauricio Pochettino at PSG: from Saint-Étienne to Madrid, a fiasco in 5 games

2022-07-06T13:17:12.483Z


The Argentine coach is leaving Porte d'Auteuil after 18 inglorious months, both in terms of play and results. The hopes that have known


Mauricio Pochettino arrived in Paris in the costume of the ideal coach, haloed by the memory of a respected captain and the image of a coach capable of getting the most out of his team.

It was quickly necessary to forget Tuchel, finalist of the Champions League six months before, winner six months later with Chelsea… With the Argentinian, the transplant never took.

PSG's level of play quickly tired the public at the Parc des Princes, disoriented by its choices and the lack of spectacle despite the exceptional quality of the squad.

In 18 months, Pochettino's adventure turned into a fiasco.

Here it is summarized in five matches.

Reunion

January 6, 2021: Saint-Étienne-PSG (1-1)

Mauricio Pochettino makes his debut as a PSG coach at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium on Wednesday January 6, 2021. LP / Arnaud Journois

We are only a few days after his arrival in Paris, and the euphoria has barely subsided.

After Thomas Tuchel's departure with losses and a crash, one New Year's Eve, Mauricio Pochettino arrives and brings a basket full of hope and optimism.

He, the former PSG player, the Champions League finalist with Tottenham, who is said to be affable, very good tactician and even sometimes a little mystical, arrives with a charming speech.

He wants to give back to Paris this "combative and offensive game identity", "to win, but to win with style".

First game, first coup: he decides to use, at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Étienne, Marco Verratti in the role of advanced playmaker.

Before him, no one had tried it.

The experience will last a few matches, before Pochettino returns to more classic things.

And the match against the Greens?

A very dull draw (1-1) which will set the tone.

The fleeting dream

February 16, 2021: FC Barcelona-PSG (1-4)

Pochettino congratulates Mbappé after the Parisian success on Catalan soil (4-1).

LP/Frederic Dugit

It is undoubtedly the most memorable match of the Pochettino era in Paris.

The most brilliant, without doubt, in terms of game and stake.

In the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League in an empty Camp Nou, Covid obliges, the Parisians made short work of Lionel Messi's FC Barcelona that evening (1-4).

Like an evening in February 2017, Paris asphyxiates Barça, carried by a Kylian Mbappé author of a hat-trick and absolutely breathtaking.

That evening, the dishonor of the comeback seems washed away, forgotten the old demons of Paris which can finally look in the eyes of the greatest in the Champions League.

They will do it again in the next round against Bayern, with a victory snatched in Munich and a defeat on the return to Paris.

These are the first European emotions of this PSG of Pochettino which, collectively, will never reach this level again.

loss of title

April 3, 2021: PSG-Lille (0-1)

Christophe Galtier gets the better of Mauricio Pochettino's PSG in a decisive match for the title.

LP/Arnaud Journois

It's a match that could have tipped the title race on the side of Paris.

Neck and neck, PSG and Christophe Galtier's Losc are tied on points at the end of the 30th day, Paris owes its 1st place only to its best goal difference.

While Pochettino and his men went to win in Lyon, the Mastiffs dropped points at home against Nîmes.

On the 31st day, they travel to the Parc des Princes for an ultra-decisive confrontation.

It's a match that Paris will lose, on the playing field and the mental field.

Surprised by Jonathan David from the 20th minute, the Parisians never manage to break the Lille lock and commit many faults (6 yellow, 1 red).

The exclusion of Neymar and Djalo after an altercation on the pitch sums up the situation well.

Lille will finally be crowned champion with… a point ahead of Paris.

The elimination that does not pass

January 31, 2022: PSG-Nice (0-0, 5-6 pens)

Christophe Galtier's OGC Nice did not lose a single match against PSG last season.

LP/Olivier Arandel

The fates of Mauricio Pochettino and Christophe Galtier will definitely have been linked.

Once again, it is the Marseillais, this time on the bench of Nice, which will have been at the origin of a failure for the Argentinian, in the Coupe de France.

In “his” competition, of which he was the defending champion, PSG was eliminated in the round of 16 by Nice who went as far as the Stade de France.

Halfway through this second season on the Parisian bench, Pochettino's PSG blows hot and cold: the results are there, but in the game, Paris looks gray.

The match against Nice is the symbol of everything that is wrong with this Paris, unable to mobilize any collective, nor to stand out in opposition against well organized teams defensively.

Without ideas, without desire, Paris provokes the discontent of its supporters, who will denounce in a press release the loss of "the cut DNA of the club", and "the face of a club which dreams so much bigger that it gives the impression that the season starts in February and that he despises national trophies".

The end of the story

March 9, 2022: Real Madrid-PSG (3-1)

On his bench, Mauricio Pochettino is unable to remobilize his team on the lawn of Santiago-Bernabeu.

LP/Frederic Dugit

It was the match that sealed the fate of Mauricio Pochettino.

At least for the fans.

Winner in the first leg (1-0) by once again offering a team spirit that is too rare in the Champions League, PSG sinks completely on the return, crushed by the weight of the Bernabeu and its liabilities in the competition.

Dominant, even leading 1-0 on the lawn of Karim Benzema and his friends, Paris fell and collected a hat-trick from the French international striker.

Each goal plunges Paris a little more into crisis.

The European campaign, once again cut short in March, Paris sinks into a lackluster end to the season, marked by the absence of encouragement from its stadium and whistles fed at each mention of the name of Mauricio Pochettino, for whom the page couldn't possibly turn faster.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2022-07-06

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-20T16:42:39.166Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.