Last Sunday, during PSG-Reims (2-2), Antoine Kombouaré made his debut as a consultant on Prime Video.
In an interview with L'Équipe, the ex-coach of the capital club, without a bench after being released from FC Nantes last year, says all the good things he thinks of the Spanish technician Luis Enrique, whose choices have often been debated in recent weeks.
Read also PSG-Reims (2-2): Mbappé on the bench, incessant turnover… Luis Enrique, three draws and management in questions
“I am impressed by the work of Luis Enrique,” explains the former central defender.
He does things that few coaches do, except perhaps Guardiola.
I think about how to rotate your workforce, how to manage.
We will judge at the end of the season, but his ability to get his method accepted by the players, all international, impresses me.
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Mbappé magic ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/dhhoj1WdD6
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 9, 2024
Enrique's choices may raise questions, particularly regarding his management of the Mbappé case.
Since his departure from PSG was recorded at the end of his seventh year at the club, the captain of the France team has had less playing time and his coach no longer hesitates to take him out or leave him on the bench.
Barring injury, Mbappé had played all Ligue 1 matches in their entirety before his announcement.
Since then, he has spent twice as much time on the bench (295 minutes) as on the field in the league (155 minutes)... “We have to prepare for the future without Kylian,” Enrique keeps repeating at every press conference.
“Mbappé only has one idea, it’s to go out through the front door”
“As a coach, there is what he says and what he does,” observes Kombouaré.
The message he conveys, perhaps, is:
I prepare for the future and at the same time I preserve my jewel and I make it play in the big matches
.
I perceive his message like this and I will now see what he will do in the Coupe de France against Nice
(Wednesday evening)
.
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Against Real Sociedad, in the round of 16 of the Champions League, the Parisian striker was decisive.
“Mbappé only has one idea, and that is to go out through the front door,” Kombouaré continues.
He is focused on the Champions League.
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The native of Nouméa, fired from PSG in December 2011, when the club was at the top of L 1, during QSI's first months at the helm, is not bitter about it.
“I didn’t even think I would start the season,” he recalls.
I then understood that it was time to prepare for the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti and there I could not fight.
Afterwards, I would have liked to see if we would have finished champions (Paris had finished second behind Montpellier)…”
Regarding his future, the 60-year-old technician says he would love to take a selection.
“If there is a national team, I am ready.
One of my goals is to participate in a World Cup as a coach.
It would be nice to experience that, to have a country behind you.
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