Ligue 1: "We must refrain from any relaxation", warns Galtier before PSG-Troyes on Saturday

What is certain is that we played four behind.

Afterwards, there are three midfielders but we work a lot on the animation, the movements of our three midfielders, but also of Leo, Ney and Kylian.

Sometimes you will be able to see the team in a 4-3-3 if the attacking three are very high and flat, but also in a diamond shape at other times, with Leo in the heart of the game or Neymar.

It's up to you really, it depends on whether you consider Ney a midfielder or a striker.

But it's not really a 4-3-3 because it would require Leo and Kylian to defend on the flanks.

We know very well that they are more comfortable defending inside.

Especially since we have a certain way of defending when the ball is lost.

The first thought (on a tactical level at the start of the season) was about releasing our pistons, without forgetting the very specific profile of our three forwards.

We started off with the idea of ​​playing with three central players with very high pistons and an animation inside the game. It was very interesting.

It requires a lot of energy, it's a position that demands a lot in terms of volume and high intensity races.

Over the matches, we noticed that our pistons had more and more difficulty in participating, they were starting from very low.

The fact of being two in midfield could also create great difficulty in recovering the ball, it encouraged us to recover it very low.

And automatically, it requires even more distance from our pistons to attack.

There is also the recruitment made and the arrival of players in the heart of the game, Renato Sanches, Fabian Ruiz or Carlos Soler, who are specialists in the heart of the game in the middle.

My reflection following the average matches of recent weeks, how to modify to have more density in the heart of the game with better technical mastery, obviously to ensure that our three attackers can be in the best disposition, in their best zones, their best animations.

And we also realize that it frees our side and in particular Hakimi.

Juan is more, for me, a specific player for a four-man defense, he has a very good technical quality to get the ball out, he is technically very fair.

It's not the player who is going to do a 50m sprint to make the difference.

When it is very high,

he has very interesting movements.

We also see that Hakimi on the right, in this animation, finds spaces with respect to a certain animation.

Having three midfielders gives compensation when my two full-backs are engaged.

Kim came back in excellent spirits.

He was arrested for quite a long time, we are very careful about it.

It was important for me that he could participate in this match in C1, he needed benchmarks.

I thought he would be available for the Ajaccio match but he still needed training sessions to reassure himself on an athletic and physical level.

It's good that he was able to participate in the match.

Is he ready to start a match?

Yes.

Regarding the system, the presence of my central defenders brings me to a reflection about a five-man line but certainly not with the same animation in the middle.

But there is also a reflection to be had on what the team has been giving for three matches with very interesting things.

It creates competition.

But when you're a club like PSG, you have healthy competition with top players, which encourages everyone to raise their level every game and which allows me to make bigger rotations compared to the game. sequence of matches.

(…) There are three specific players who can play in a central four-man defense (Kimpembe, Ramos and Marqui, Ed).

We have seen that Nordi Mukiele can do it but we also need it on the right side.

Danilo Pereira can help out and he did it very well but he is in the re-athleticization phase at the moment, I hope he will be ready for the match in Turin.

Sergio has spent most of his career with the left axis.

You are going to tell me that he played right axis against Haifa, but it was voluntary, we realize that Marqui did not

is not embarrassed to play left axis, he did it against Ajaccio and Haifa.

Kim is specific on the left, that's added value in terms of how to build the game very low.

The three are very high level players, internationals.

Having them forces me to make choices, but these are easy choices to make when you have three players of this level.

(…) He was worried during his injury, a fairly serious injury with almost seven weeks off.

It was hard mentally for the first 10 days.

But when he started to rework individually and specifically inside, then on the field with the race, he was very focused, very motivated and listening to his body so as not to skip the stages.

And god knows that

we had absentees (in defense) at that time… I observed, very little spoke.

I'm not a coach who puts pressure on medical staff or injured players to come back as soon as possible… It would be a big mistake to do so.

You have to discuss with the player and I did, to find out when he felt he would be available and he told me he needed group sessions.

So we were very attentive.

He is an important player at PSG, the only left-handed central defender available.

He is going to play.

In a defense of four or three, we will see.

They are three very high level players, three internationals.

I hope all three of them go to the World Cup.

It's a great privilege for a coach to have players of this level.

Criteria ?

their state of fatigue.

I'm not going to talk about their form: we scored 50 goals, 40 of which came from them.

But if we look at the last three matches, during which we changed animation and organization, that Kylian Mbappé is a passer on Neymar's goal against OM, Leo Messi and Kylian have been very successful in Ajaccio and overall the three performed very well in the last game, in terms of efficiency, quality of play and association.

When there is this dynamic, we don't break it, we maintain it.

But we are obviously discussing with the medical staff, who have done an excellent job in recent weeks, with the performance unit too, to see what state of form each other is in.

They are fine.

Afterwards, there is the reality of the match and we have the

obligation to win against Troyes, that's how it is.

There will be an important stake during the match in Turin in the middle of next week.

But when there is this dynamic, this osmosis between one and the other, it is maintained, it does not break.

Afterwards, over the duration of the match, we see how things evolve to involve other players while lightening the load on offensive players.

Estac will change the way it plays against Paris?

Knowing Bruno Irles, no.

He applies everything he could say on TV sets.

He has a real game philosophy with a desire to build very low and a very precise animation.

It's a nice team to watch, which has drawn several games but won twice this season, in Clermont and Monaco.

We expect a difficult meeting with the sequence of matches.

Will Bruno change his approach to the game, I don't think so.

We'll see.

It's a team that's all about the game and how to destabilize the opposition when they have possession, that's the DNA of this team.

For us, it's a match that comes after a great performance, with a very good result.

We must maintain a requirement.

There can be no relaxation.

We must refrain from any relaxation.

We always have to win.

I often say that wins beget wins, but performance begets performance too.

We are in a rather interesting period, especially the last week.

We must insist on this.

And above all that we correct the return from the locker room in the second half.

I had a long discussion with Hugo last week.

Obviously, he cannot be satisfied with his little playing time. I told him that I had some responsibility but so did he.

He arrived very late in our preparation, we paid great attention to him physically.

When you have this attacking trio at PSG, it takes a lot of investment and resilience, not giving up, because you're compared to one of the three when you play... But we're talking about three world-class players.

I had asked him to get closer in the game, to have this connection with the midfielders and the attacking players.

He was sometimes disappointed not to start certain matches.

I gave him the reasons for my choices.

He's a talented player

who must make up for his lack of competitive playing time in training.

We defined that he works more, that he puts more rhythm and intensity because he must be seen and confident when he comes into play. There may have been a loss of confidence in him because that he didn't play much.

But he returned against Ajaccio and Haifa, I found his entry interesting on Tuesday, there was a bit of a rush on a good ball from Leo.

He must continue to work, to work a lot.

After this exchange, I asked to be very attentive to his workload, the requirement that he be imposed on him during the week and that he be released during the match, that he play more minutes than is the case so far.

he puts on more pace and intensity because he needs to be seen and confident when he comes on. There may have been a loss of confidence in him because he wasn't playing a lot.

But he returned against Ajaccio and Haifa, I found his entry interesting on Tuesday, there was a bit of a rush on a good ball from Leo.

He must continue to work, to work a lot.

After this exchange, I asked to be very attentive to his workload, the requirement that he be imposed on him during the week and that he be released during the match, that he play more minutes than is the case so far.

he puts on more pace and intensity because he needs to be seen and confident when he comes on. There may have been a loss of confidence in him because he wasn't playing a lot.

But he returned against Ajaccio and Haifa, I found his entry interesting on Tuesday, there was a bit of a rush on a good ball from Leo.

He must continue to work, to work a lot.

After this exchange, I asked to be very attentive to his workload, the requirement that he be imposed on him during the week and that he be released during the match, that he play more minutes than is the case so far.

But he returned against Ajaccio and Haifa, I found his entry interesting on Tuesday, there was a bit of a rush on a good ball from Leo.

He must continue to work, to work a lot.

After this exchange, I asked to be very attentive to his workload, the requirement that he be imposed on him during the week and that he be released during the match, that he play more minutes than is the case so far.

But he returned against Ajaccio and Haifa, I found his entry interesting on Tuesday, there was a bit of a rush on a good ball from Leo.

He must continue to work, to work a lot.

After this exchange, I asked to be very attentive to his workload, the requirement that he be imposed on him during the week and that he be released during the match, that he play more minutes than is the case so far.