“Can you give an update on your group?”
Certain absences: Bamo Meïté, Jean Onana, Jonathan Clauss, Ismaïla Sarr. For the rest, we live day to day, it’s a story of ending injuries, the players (Leonardo Balerdi, Pape Gueye, Samuel Gigot, Ulisses Garcia) work away from the group, physically, with trainers. Between tomorrow afternoon and Sunday morning, we’ll see who can start. We will not intentionally hurt a player. There will be a green light from the medical department. We have been proceeding step by step for eight days, tomorrow (Saturday), this will be the final step and we hope that some will then participate in the implementation. If there is the slightest doubt, the player will not play the match. We are not going to cry about our fate. People in the squad will have their chance. A player can explode in a meeting, for example.
In the current circumstances, is this role of mental coach that you spoke about when you arrived even more pronounced?
These are the hazards of the job. Since we arrived, we have been adapting, in relation to the squad that is available for each match. We lose players, we gain players. It’s the job. Tuesday, at the Vélodrome, Jonathan (Clauss)’s injury occurred before our eyes. At the end of the match, he had an MRI, we felt him collapsed. In the locker room (of the Blues), we knew quite a few players, I saw people tired… Two international friendly matches after such a series of meetings… I don’t know if you enjoyed this parenthesis internationally, I have seen people who manage their physique.
You have been on the PSG staff twice, alongside Luis Fernandez and Laurent Blanc. What memories do you have of the Classics?
A stadium in turmoil, unforgettable memories, very committed matches. I am on the other side now, I know the atmosphere of the Vélodrome which can energize the players. It remains engraved for life, spectacular, it is equivalent to a European Cup match. I felt that on the OM bench against Villarreal, I felt something exceptional happening.
How to approach this meeting against a dominant team like PSG?
When there is more talent in front, if you want to achieve something, you have to find solutions in other places. And there, we are talking about collective. Be much more concentrated, much more aggressive, much more skillful with the ball, make the opponent run in sequence, be effective at the slightest opportunity. Whether it’s a counter ball, a set piece. You almost have to make the perfect match. But we’ve already done it.
“We have always been able to adapt to the situation. With the match against Villarreal as a reference, the summit for the moment. We will have to do even better”
During my four matches at the Vélodrome, we did not only have good matches, but we always knew how to adapt to the situation. With the match against Villarreal as a reference, the summit for the moment. We will have to do even better, we have the responsibility, we know that we are expected. The stadium will be packed. This is the match between the two most successful teams in France. It’s already over for the title, but in one match, unlike other sports… In boxing, if you fight against Tyson, you’re not going to last long. If you face Nadal in a tennis match, he’s going to put you 6-0. In a football match, there is this hope, and that’s why this job is magnificent.
How to manage the unknown Kylian Mbappé in Luis Enrique’s equation?
Getting into the head of the opposing coach to know what he is going to do is impossible. He has important deadlines. A coach of his caliber is aiming for titles. The L1 is well underway, it still has the Coupe de France and, above all, a quarter-final of the Champions League. Everything is at stake now. How will he manage his team’s playing time? Only he can answer. We must be ready to prepare for all eventualities. Its great strength is to have built a squad to win it all, with twenty-five players. And then I said to him: “Bravo”.
Is an anti-Mbappé plan possible?
I don’t know if there is a possible plan against a player like that. I don’t know if he’s going to play, where he’s going to play, up front, on the left… We’ll adapt when the time comes. »
