Having scored against Belgium on Monday, the PSG and Les Bleus striker talks about a recurring subject for him: efficiency.
This time, is it the right one? As Julien Stéphan pointed out last season, “With a superior quality of finish, Ousmane Dembélé would perhaps be Ballon d’Or winner“. The Rennes coach is not the only one to think so. Didier Deschamps has often mentioned the subject of the Parisian striker’s efficiency. Good news? “Dembouz” seems determined to adjust his sights. At 27, it’s about time, you might say… On Monday, the native of Vernon (Eure) was involved in both of the French team’s goals against Belgium (2-0). It was on one of his strikes that Randal Kolo Muani was able to open the scoring. And it was he who was responsible for making the break afterwards. All good for Ousmane Dembélé at the Groupama Stadium, he who started on the bench during the defeat against Italy (1-3), last Friday, at the Parc des Princes.
Scoring, making others score, the weak point of a player who has unique abilities to unbalance, erase, dribble. Monday, the score was good. Since Paris, Luis Enrique must have appreciated it as much as Deschamps.It’s nice, especially since in the first half, I was told to finish the actions, shoot, not always pass.Dermbélé confided on TF1. I knew I would have the opportunity to shoot, above all, I had to get it on target, and I’m happy because it hit the mark.».
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I’m constantly being told that I should take my chances.
Ousmane Dembele
Without Kylian Mbappé, PSG needs Ousmane Dembélé’s goals even more. And the other attacking players too. That’s perhaps why “Lucho” insists even more on this point with Dembélé… “Try more at club and national level? People tell me I’m too generous and that I’m always looking to pass the buck. People keep telling me that I have to try my luck, whether it’s (Luis Enrique) at PSG or my teammates. I decided to try my luck. This season, I’m going to try my luck even more and be a little more personal.” he promises. It won’t hurt.
And to continue, on the subject of framing the strikes: “Luis Enrique keeps telling me this. This season, we do a lot of finishing exercises and he always tells me to target, to take my chances but above all to target. Even if it’s blocked, there’s a teammate who can touch it and score. Every training session, I try to work on that. Especially when dribbling, I dribble one, two, I lack freshness when shooting and my body lifts up a little, that’s why, often, I don’t target. Alternate between strong and weak moments? Yes, and not dribble all the time, especially on chances on the left close to the far post. The coach tells me to work on that and I try to do it“. A priori, it’s starting to pay off. Even if it’s worth being wary of Dembélé, who has already had good runs in the past before falling back into his old ways. With Paris, it’s one goal and three assists in three matches.
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Applied in defense
It should be noted that Dembélé also worked for the collective, notably by dealing with the Jeremy Doku case with Jules Koundé.It’s difficult to hold this player one on one, we had to take him on in pairs and we did it well with Jules.“, he smiled, he who also passed a small bridge to the winger of City in a duel of dribbles. “I told Michael (Olise) that I was going to give him a little bridge” he jokes, joking. You can’t change your ways… And that’s not so bad.
In the meantime, the Blues have found their smiles and victory against the Belgians. That’s not so bad either. In recent days, the atmosphere has inevitably been heavy.A bit tense, but the criticism… There are always bad times in football. I think we were in a bad time even though we were in the semi-final of the Euro. We talked to each other, we said that we had to get back to winning ways, it went well. We wanted to finish this training camp with a victory, it feels good“, notes Ousmane Dembélé. And adds: “After a defeat, it stings a little, we want to get back to work straight away. This defeat stung us and we had to give our all to win, especially against Belgium.“Yes, against Belgium, never a match like the others. But it was a different “Dembouz”.
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We play very good football and we will give everything to do better than last season.
Ousmane Dembele
For Ousmane Dembélé, it is now time to return to Paris Saint-Germain and pick up the thread of a season that started perfectly: three matches, three wins, 13 goals scored. Who can beat that?It’s going very well. We have a fantastic group. There are new players who have adapted well straight away to Luis Enrique’s tactics. We are confident and very happy. We want to do better than last season, even though we have already won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Champions Trophy. We are having a lot of fun. The C1? We have all the confidence, a great coach and great players. We play very good football and we will give everything to do better than last season. We are confident“, he insists. Unlucky semi-finalist against Borussia Dortmund last season, the PSG of “Dembouz” will begin its European campaign on September 18 against Girona.
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