Luis Enrique is elusive and perfectly masters the art of the counterattack. In his team compositions, in his tactical choices but also in his communication. Barely 24 hours ago, it was a resolutely positive and very confident coach who presented himself at a press conference. Supporting statistics, the PSG coach then highlighted the performance of his attackers who had scored four more goals than last season to sweep away the doubts arising around the ineffectiveness of his offensive players who they found in “a very good moment”.
This Friday evening in Auxerre, this same lack of realism accompanied the performance of his men unable to find the fault before Bradley Barcola delivered his team in the 80th minute. A goal celebrated with rage by Luis Enrique. The Spaniard’s attitude reflected his relief quite well after a meeting allowing Paris to temporarily regain the lead in Ligue 1, with two points ahead of Lens, but which highlighted, once again, the waste of his team in the zone of truth.
This imprecision was starting to make Luis Enrique tense and, without forcing his hand, this time he cracked the armor and easily recognized that his players did not exude confidence. “We created chances but we lacked the confidence and precision to finish the chances. When you do better things than the opponent but you are not able to win, as was the case in Portugal on Tuesday, it makes you have less confidence, he explained. We need to improve this because the key moment of the season arrives in the Champions League and we need to put Lens under pressure. »
Frank and sincere, the Asturian extended his remarks to each of the questions asked to him at the press conference and did not hesitate to speak openly about the doubts that his players might encounter. Rare words in the mouth of Luis Enrique, used to protecting his troops, but which showed growing concern.
“It’s not a problem specific to attackers because the midfielders also had opportunities,” he explained. This is a moment where we are imprecise, we have to change that and work to be as precise as possible for the next match. How to change that? This is not a technical gesture, it is above all a question of trust. And trust isn’t something you can buy. Players are not machines. We can change that because everyone knows the individual quality of our players. »
“Playing well keeps us confident”
Asked if their lack of realism makes them think, the players unanimously answer “no”, as if to keep away this little music which resonates more and more loudly around them. “In a season, it happens to have a less good shot. At the moment, we are having more difficulty scoring goals but we still managed to win today. This is the most important, recalls Senny Mayulu. We continue to work every day to win matches as easily as possible. It’s not a problem, because we play well. Playing well keeps us confident. We didn’t give up, it was a very good team from Auxerre. Winning this match at the end does us a lot of good. »
The story is much the same with Illia Zabarnyi who assures that the group “remains confident” and “simply lacks success” at the moment. An observation which undoubtedly applies even more to Bradley Barcola than to the others. Despite his goal this Friday evening, his 2nd goal in the last 3 matches, the Frenchman clearly illustrates the complicated period that Parisian attackers are going through.
“We tried a lot, we had a lot of chances,” Barcola told Ligue1+. We knew that after a while it was going to come back and even if it happens in the end we are happy. We knew that if we didn’t win it was going to be complicated, that’s why we tried everything and in the end we were rewarded.” The former Lyonnais was also satisfied with having found the fault after multiple situations. “It feels good. I failed a lot in front of goal, but I am rewarded”
At Abbé-Deschamps, he shot five times, found Donovan Léon’s gloves 3 times, before managing to adjust the sights by poking his ball at the end of a good call from deep. These days, the former Lyonnais gives the impression of needing five or six chances to find the net. It’s too much… Paradoxically, he is PSG’s top scorer with 7 goals this season and creates more opportunities than anyone else on the team.
“It’s not just Bradley who’s failing, it’s the whole team,” retorts Senny Mayulu. Today he scored and we are very happy for him. » The main thing obviously remains victory, these three precious points which put PSG back at the top of Ligue 1 while Lens is preparing to negotiate a big deal by traveling to Marseille on Saturday evening.
Above all, Paris had to win to put pressure on the Sang-et-Or. The objective was achieved, not without difficulty, of course, but Paris could return with the feeling of duty accomplished. In the current period, this is certainly the most important.
