Last night, Paris Saint-Germain came close to disaster. During a good part of the match, the Parisians were trailed by Newcastle, who had opened the scoring through Alexander Isak. In the stands, we saw Nasser Al Khelaïfi quite stressed as the match progressed. And it took a penalty, obtained by Ousmane Dembélé and converted by Kylian Mbappé, for the residents of the Parc des Princes to obtain a draw at the end of the match (1-1). After the final whistle, the debates revolved a lot around the disputed penalty awarded to the Ile-de-France residents. But Luis Enrique did not escape questions surrounding his team’s performance.
At a press conference, the Spaniard appeared satisfied. “We showed character until the final whistle. We were able to overcome our frustration. We put in a complete performance, we deserved to win, we were better, the result doesn’t reflect the match, but that’s football (…) I liked the attitude of the players towards the problem: to lead It’s easy, but when you lose unfairly you can stay frustrated, but until the last minute we were in it. I am very happy with the behavior of the players, we generated a lot of chances, when the ball doesn’t want to go in it’s hard, against a team that defends very well like Newcastle, and can be dangerous on the counter-attack.
PSG does not impress
Yes, Paris had chances. But the overall performance of Milan Skriniar’s teammates leaves something to be desired. Offensively, PSG lacked edge. Mbappé, Dembélé and even Barcola all lacked efficiency in the last gesture. As KM7 said, the Ile-de-France residents were not killer enough overall and that could have cost them dearly. In the midfield, Paris lacked bite like Ugarte, who struggled against the Magpies. Finally, the defense did not reassure. On the action of the goal, the Toons wandered among the Parisians, who were not helped by Gianluigi Donnarumma who made another mistake. In short, everything was not perfect. As since the start of the season, we want to tell you.
But this PSG still lacks a lot of things, notably creativity and a little more character. If Luis Enrique is happy, that is not everyone’s opinion. Besides KM7, who pointed out the lack of efficiency, the press is not enthusiastic about the game proposed by the capital club. In Spain, A.S. writing : “Mbappé and VAR save PSG. A very doubtful penalty from Livramento, transformed by Mbappé, saved PSG from a tragedy at the Parc des Princes against Newcastle. The Parisian team, without this goal, would not have depended on itself on the last day to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League..
Lots of errors
The Spanish media explained that PSG started their match well but failed to score. Then the situation changed.
“Newcastle, however, is not a team like those that PSG usually faces in Ligue 1, controlled and subjected to their domination for 90 minutes. From the 20th minute, Howe’s men began to overcome the suffocating pressure of their rival and began to open up the areas that Luis Enrique left behind for the midfielders. A.S. pinned Donnarumma, guilty of a new error on goal. But not only. “Nervousness started to emerge at PSG, also from Luis Enrique, who couldn’t believe he was on the ropes”continues A.S. before concluding by saying that the perseverance of Luis Enrique, who multiplied the changes, ended up paying off thanks to a “questionable penalty“.
For his part, Relevo speaks of a “big Champions League match” but evokes the concerns of PSG. “Defensive errors can be a problem and as we see in Ligue 1, PSG makes a lot of mistakes. For this reason, when Donnarumma had the ball, Newcastle pressed a lot and in one of these games Almirón managed to take the ball back from Achraf and Alexander Isak almost opened the score. I say almost because a few minutes later, the Swede did not forgive, after a superb play from Livramento who gave the ball to Almirón (…) The Italian goalkeeper made a very serious mistake on goal. After Newcastle’s goal, there wasn’t much from PSG, who instead of advancing, waited. In midfield, Newcastle became strong and the locals suffered, even Ugarte received a yellow card.
Luis Enrique’s team is still looking for itself
Relevo adds that Luis Enrique had to react once again to save the furniture in the face of the game proposed by his troops. In addition to the media, several former players were worried after the match. Asked by The TeamÉric Rabesandratana, who was also bothered by the number of missed opportunities, confided: “on this course in the Champions League, in behavior, commitment and mentally, we are very far from what the C1 requires. So yes, PSG is under construction, it will take a little time, but for me, this team is not ready to perform as it should in the Champions League. It must be much better. And much better in general behavior.”
He pursues : “I am an optimistic person. Except that there, regarding the appearance of the meeting, even if I want to be optimistic, I am very worried. I have questions about what PSG has offered us in its away matches this season in C1. For me, Dortmund are much stronger than the other two teams PSG faced in this group, and against those other two teams, Paris lost. We want to see a club that is much more attractive. It’s true that it’s not easy to play against such a united Newcastle, but it was up to PSG to find the solutions.” In the columns of ParisianSylvain Distin is also very pessimistic.
Paris does not reassure
“I don’t think it’s a reassuring result for the rest of the competition, more so for the near future because they have their destiny in their hands. You just have to achieve the same result as Newcastle and it passes. That’s the positive point about this match. This will also open the eyes of many teams who will say to themselves that pressing PSG is not necessarily the right thing and that it is better to regroup behind, be solid and play on the counter because that poses problems for them ( …) For me, it is the low block of Newcastle which destabilizes them. They only left one player up front and even then… There was very little space to pass in the middle, but the solution could have been to pass to the sides to cross.
He pursues : “but on the centers, Newcastle also has players of quite imposing size and at PSG, the aerial duel is not necessarily the favorite weapon, so obviously it complicated their task and they tried to get into the middle, where there were a lot of people. Too many people… That’s where I felt PSG’s disarray, there were a lot of shots from outside the area. They were a bit of last hope strikes, there were at least ten of them. And it either ended up in the stands or it was blocked. They started the match well and the second half too, but from the hour mark I felt frustration and the impression that the players didn’t really know what to do anymore.
Individualities singled out
Certain individuals were singled out. There is of course Gianluigi Donnarumma, guilty of a mistake. But also Bradley Barcola. On RMC SportDaniel Riolo was less tender. “We’re talking about the Champions League, he can’t behave like he did! He’s at Youth League level! He manages to create chances, he is all alone in front of goal but he is not likely to score! Barcola he eats five, they are bigger than us combined.” The journalist seems a little too harsh with Bleuet, who had the merit of bringing danger. But he obviously has to finish better. But last night, we expected more elements like Randal Kolo Muani or Kylian Mbappé.
The latter was not spared, notably by Rabesandratana. “He is very, very far from what he should offer. He is the strong man of this Paris Saint-Germain team and he does not have this status today in the Champions League. He is still decisive with his penalty: you have to score it, it’s not trivial. But he must be much more present and influential on the game than he has been so far in this competition. The captain of the Blues, who admitted that he should have been more effective, will be expected at the turn in Dortmund. A match where we will perhaps finally see what this PSG 2023-24 has in its stomach!
