Start of a decisive week for the Paris Saint-Germain season.
This Wednesday, the capital club begins a series of three crucial matches in seven days, all at the Parc des Princes, which will start against Brest in the Coupe de France and end with the reception of Real Sociedad.
As usual, PSG coach Luis Enrique answered questions from journalists at a press conference at the PSG Campus in Poissy.
Considering the previous match against Brest, in Ligue 1, what does your team need to do better?
LUIS ENRIQUE.
In principle, the advantage of playing against Brest, twice in a row in a short space of time, is that we clearly know the difficulties we are going to encounter.
We know it's difficult to take the ball from them, to press them, they're a team that defends very well.
They are one of the best teams in the championship and it will be a difficult cup match.
We have to be better with and without the ball to turn it to our advantage.
It takes different qualities to tackle Cup matches than to manage the routine of the championship.
What are these qualities in your opinion and do you find them in your team?
Yes, without a doubt.
They are different competitions.
The championship is consistency.
In the Cup, every match is a final.
You have a bad half, a bad match, you are eliminated.
In the Champions League, it is played over two matches so there are more possibilities of achieving a good result.
It remains a very short and very difficult competition.
I have no doubt that we have all the qualities to be successful.
It has often been said that Ligue 1 was not competitive enough to prepare PSG for the Champions League.
This season, PSG seems to be “getting value for money”.
Are you satisfied with it?
I've been trying to think about the six months we've been here, about the direction of the team, what we want to see, what we're looking for.
There are aspects where we can be better but time will only tell where we go.
In the championship, we are leaders with an 8-point lead, with good opponents: Lens, Nice, Brest, Monaco... it's a more difficult championship than I thought.
I'm happy with what we're doing as a team.
I want my team to improve throughout the season, like all teams in the world.
It depends if we want to see the glass half full or empty, I see it more than full.
You mentioned a “final” against Brest, is this match especially important to launch a good dynamic for the matches against Lille and Real Sociedad?
Now, there are so many matches back to back… we have a very good dynamic.
On the results, the level of play, the situations that our team has.
The team continues to perform well.
We want to be better, more efficient.
It's a match where everything is at stake, either we continue or we are eliminated.
We want to win as many trophies as possible, that's why every match is a final.
More and more players are calling on individual physical trainers, what is your view on this?
Players have been calling on physios, osteologists and nutritionists individually for many years.
If there is coordination and loads that are good, I believe it is professional behavior.
I believe the vast majority have a chef at home who cooks, they have all the advantages, they are much more professional than in my time.
I wish I had all that!
But it was a different time.
Is it demeaning to play against when you are PSG coach?
What is clear is that we are the team with the most ball possession, the second in the Champions League.
Everyone can see the image however they want.
We are much stronger when we have the ball, that does not mean that we are not exposed to the opponent's counterattacks.
But we are one of the teams that generates the most scoring chances and concedes the fewest.
Anyone who doesn't like statistics shouldn't look at it...
Against Strasbourg, the Marquinhos-Beraldo hinge attempted and completed 200 passes.
Is it a real desire on your part that the first launching pad be your hinge?
I believe that the idea of play is always evolving.
The players who touch the ball the most during a match are often the central defenders.
I have no doubts about the way our team plays but that doesn't mean the opponent can't be better than us.
I want my team to play the way I like.
PSG often travels fewer kilometers in a match than their opponent.
Do you think this makes sense?
My teams play possession so that the opponent runs, it makes sense.
We run after the ball a lot more than when we pass it around.
None of my teams ran enough yards to win games.
Also read: PSG: from romance to heartbreak, the underside of the relationship between Anne Hidalgo and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi
In the matches preceding the Champions League, we see that the players play with the handbrake so as not to get injured, and at the same time you have to be at your best level to prepare for an important match.
How do you deal with this?
If I see a player who is not 100%, he will not play.
I can't think about the future, the future doesn't exist.
Our future is only Brest.
If a player is not 100%, he is not on the team.
It didn't happen against Revel, nor against Orléans, and it won't happen against Brest.
This is an important goal for us.
There is no other match than Brest for us.