In a playful mood, Luis Enrique, the coach of the reigning French champions, first sat among the journalists for his last press conference in 2024he who usually hates the required exercise.
Before his players travel to the North on Sunday (9:00 p.m.) for their last match of the year, the Parisian coach believes that he has many reasons for hope to succeed in his second half of the season.
“I'm happy with the team's performance,” explained Luis Enrique on Wednesday evening after PSG's 4-2 victory in Monaco. in the advanced match of the 16th day of L1. “We deserve a lot more points in the Champions League but we accept it. For the rest, I'm delighted. We are not dependent on one, two or three players. We are a block, young, who want to improve.” In the championship, Paris flies over Ligue 1 and before the Christmas break is ten points ahead of Marseille and Monaco, its two pursuers.
Ineffective in C1
If the Spanish coach assures that “the championship is not played”, it is difficult to envisage what could prevent the club from winning its 13th title at the end of the season.
Paris, however, will have swayed between September and January in particular because of its chaotic course in the Champions League where the team occupies 25th place in the league phase standings, potentially eliminated before the play-offs, due to two small victories in six matches.
He has two matches left, against Manchester City and Stuttgart, to reach the final phase, a minimum for the club, even if the C1 is not the N.1 objective of its leaders this season.
For this to happen, PSG will need to finally resolve its problems with offensive efficiency, noted throughout the first part of the season.. No attacker has managed to take on the role of false number 9, an essential link in the system imposed by Luis Enrique.
All, however, officially maintain the confidence of their coach, who, upon the opening of the transfer market arriving, affirmed on Saturday that he “has no urgency, no need (to recruit)”, is “very happy with the squad, better than last year”, but nevertheless conceded that “each time there is a transfer period, we have to be attentive” and that “if there is a possibility of improving the squad, so we'll see.”
Osimhen on the radars
If his squad suits him, two players, the attacker Randal Cole Muani and defender Milan Skriniar, who no longer fit into his plans, could nevertheless leave the capital this winter. To replace the French international, struggling since the start of the season with the Parisian jersey, PSG would be thinking of the Nigerian striker from Galatasaray, Victor Osimhen.
Questioned on Saturday about the potential arrival of the Super Eagle, Luis Enrique found his old reflexes by brushing the question aside: “I’m not talking about players who aren’t at the club.”
Those who are there are doing better and better while the infirmary was often full at the start of the season, with the exception of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, seriously injured in the face by Wilfried Singo on Wednesday in Monaco and who will work “in the gym” until the end of the week.
The Italian will not be traveling to Lens, Matvey Safonov being offered a new chance to shine in the Parisian cages in his absence. PSG, on the other hand, recorded the return of Nuno Mendes during the 32nd final of the Coupe de France.
After Lens, the players will benefit from a few days of rest with a personalized program. They will meet to prepare for the Champions Trophy on January 5 in Doha against Monaco.
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