Time is running out for Christophe Galtier and PSG, beaten twice in his last two trips to Ligue 1 with teams at the top of the table.
His lead melts at the top of the championship and, above all, the Parisian collective has disappeared since the truce linked
to the World Cup.
“We did a lot of ball pushing tonight!
“, he regretted at the microphone of Prime a few moments earlier.
The Parisian coach is calling for a quick reaction from his players as the round of 16 first leg against Bayern Munich looms on February 14.
Is it a matter of time to find your team or is there a deeper evil?
CHRISTOPHER GALTIER.
If it's a question of time, it's urgent.
We need to find more play, more binding between the lines.
We knew we would have a difficult match and we had it.
Our goalkeeper was enormously solicited, the opponent less.
We have to find more rhythm, more intensity but above all more binding.
We will have to find people close to the penalty area.
We had possession but without creating any danger.
And therein lies the problem.
We have to find this rhythm, this intensity and maintain players high enough, in contact with the defense and the midfielders, more presence.
Is it the fault of the midfielders or of the attack?
It's linked.
On the good matches that we were able to play, we had this ability to find the players behind the backs of opposing midfielders.
Did the ball take too long?
Leo (Messi) and “Ney” picked up so there was naturally a lack of people in front.
It is linked to the technical quality and the mastery to break the lines.
We must rework it, insist.
It failed us tonight.
Against Angers (2-0, Wednesday), it was the same thing.
Are you worried about the lack of intensity?
This is the finding.
I'm not going to talk about worry.
But there must be awareness.
One can find a thousand excuses, a thousand reasons.
But the World Cup is over.
Even if we have been dispersed, we must find cohesion, rhythm, intensity.
We will have about ten days to work on verticality, the technical relationship, intensity.
Were you bothered by the low block of Rennes?
We were a few times high but we didn't know how to take advantage of it.
Rennes had a good game.
Rennes defended with enough comfort because we didn't put our noses too often on the central defenders.
“He lacks verticality and a lot of speed”
What levers do you have to revive your team?
We will analyze the game.
We will also show the Angers match.
And compare the good periods of the team.
There have been since the start of the season.
And what's happening now.
The pictures will speak for themselves.
There will be awareness and then choices.
Are you looking behind in the standings?
We have two teams, three, which have an incredible number of points at this stage of the season.
Last year, at this stage, PSG had 46. We have 47. But this time the championship is very tight.
I focus on the performance of my team.
And God knows I have work to do right now.
PSG played three in defense.
Are you going to return to this system permanently?
We played 16 or 18 games in this configuration, with very good results.
There can always be debate on the organization, the animation, it is also your job to do it.
If this evening, if at the moment, we are less efficient, it is because we lack verticality and a lot of speed in our transmissions to be able to eliminate the opposing lines.