Still very full, the Jean-Bouin stadium quickly emptied, leaving the 700 Nantes supporters to sing their happiness. Weaned from success for five matches, Nantes took advantage of the current brittleness of Paris FC to win (2-1). Mathis Abline, who had not yet scored this season, unlocked his counter and remembered the good memories of the management of Paris FC who had sent an offer of 25 million euros this summer to FC Nantes. A check refused by Waldemar Kita who asked for 50 million for his 22-year-old player.
Given the difficulties of its attackers, in particular its recruits with a Moses Simon still disappointing for his reunion with Nantes, Paris FC would really need an Abline.
His stat of zero shots on target in the second half despite enormous possession seems indicative of Paris’ lack of offensive impact.
If we take away the first match in Angers, the promoted Parisian certainly delivered his worst performance of the season. Its previous defeats (OM, Strasbourg, Lens) had been conceded against Top 5 teams. The one conceded against a direct competitor for maintenance seems more worrying, particularly in terms of form.
“This match confirms our shortcomings”
Match after match, the observation and defensive errors are cruelly repeated. Few leaders manage to emerge from a collective where summer recruits are slow to bring real added value.
“I’m not going to say too much directly,” sighs Stéphane Gilli. But this match confirms our shortcomings since the start of the season. We lack personality, character, we are crumbly on set pieces, transitions. We are able to take the ball to 25 m, then we miss, we make bad choices. And with every ball in our area, we are in danger. We need to be more balanced. In duels, we are sometimes too nice. We must also dare more. »
After its success against Lorient (2-0) three weeks ago, Paris FC was 8th and could look upwards. But this defeat after the one conceded on Sunday in Lens (2-1) has therefore somewhat shaken his certainties. “We are not going to sound the alarm after two defeats,” nevertheless believes Pierre Lees-Melou. In the end, when we look at the start of the season, it’s really just small details to sort out. But these little details are important in L1, they still cost us a lot of points. We are picked up cold from the start and the second goal is a lack of lucidity in the marking too. Offensively, you shouldn’t single out anyone in particular. It’s the whole team. »
“Being efficient is built over time”
This 5th defeat in 9 matches comes at the wrong time since Paris FC will continue a series which looks rather complicated on paper with Lyon from Wednesday at Jean-Bouin, Monaco, Rennes and Lille. “Given the opponents, we can say that it will be complicated but I know that my team is also capable of doing good things,” continues Stéphane Gilli. These will be good tests to see our reaction abilities. This is our first season in Ligue 1. We would all like it to go faster. But we have to go through stages. Being efficient is built over time. We also need to change behavior, attitudes and character. But we sometimes had these shortcomings in Ligue 2.”
Pierre Lees-Melou did not want to fall into disaster. “We are going to meet teams who play, that’s good, that’s what we need,” concludes the midfielder. Either way, you have to look everyone in the eye and keep playing. It’s been 9 games, we’re going to stop talking about inexperience and learning. It’s just that we’re going to have to improve in terms of concentration. This is not something difficult for me to fix. So that will do it. You have to stay positive. »
