“With or without Messi, he gives a new face to the team,” acknowledged Galtier after PSG-Angers

At the Parco dei Principi,

The man Christophe Galtier spoke in front of the coach. “I would like to send a message of support to Stéphane Moulin who has had the misfortune of losing his wifesaid the Parisian coach before answering journalists’ questions, Wednesday, after PSG-Angers (2-0). He coached Angers for over 10 years. Great message of support. This is news that saddens me, we have met on the benches for years. The coincidence means that we were playing against Angers… I have strong thoughts for him and his children.” The 56-year-old coach was then able to make up for this victory, the performance of the ghost Leo Messi or that of Nordi Mukiele, author of two assists against L1’s Red Lantern (here the standings).

The game : “The victory is important from an accounting point of view after the defeat of Lens (3-1 during the 17th day, ed) in a very particular period of the championship given that there are amusing results… In the game everything is n It was not perfect , far from it, but it’s also related to the post-World Cup, believe me, it’s difficult and I congratulate the players. The group has been very dispersed for weeks and the states of form are totally different from each other. We are slowly finding our squad even if there are injuries, there are also players who will join us tomorrow (Thursday) such as Kylian (Mbappé) and Achraf (Hakimi). I asked the players to be very demanding and serious because these long weeks and these sessions that we haven’t done together are a little lacking. We scored some great goals and could have scored more, but there were unusual technical errors in areas of the game where we usually do very poorly. It is related to the fact that everyone was missing for several weeks. I had asked for a lot of rigor and seriousness to beat this Angers team, which hasn’t looked the same for several weeks. The players were serious even if the game wasn’t very important. We had some interesting situations. Being serious and demanding, we will find our level as everyone returns and everyone finds a higher physical level.»

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Three-way defense : “We worked on our game plan, our offensive animation and our defensive organization, in the last two sessions, Monday and Tuesday. I realized yesterday (Tuesday) that he wasn’t going to do what I wanted to see from the team… We worked a lot with the staff yesterday to find the best option against Angers but also in relation to our physical condition. I spoke to my coaches this morning (Wednesday) and the whole team to tell them that we weren’t going to play as we had prepared yesterday. It was a good choice because we are not in the best shape. It was important to be serious and demanding. They were and I congratulate the players for this attitude. Without this seriousness, we could have gotten into trouble. There were technical errors that usually don’t exist and too much waste. (…) A long-term choice? It was for this game. I had taken a different option at the beginning and I felt it wouldn’t pass… I need to hear from my players, my managers. I felt it wasn’t going to happen. I put them back into a system where the team performed very well for weeks, especially at the start of the championship and in big matches. It’s the story of a match but it’s important that PSG, my players, the staff have this ability to switch from one system to another. We need to be able to do it even during the game depending on how the game is going.»

Nordi Mukiele is more than a substitute.

Christophe Galtier

Nordi Mukiele : “She’s more than a stunt double. He has this ability to be very versatile, he can play defense with four on the axis or with three as a central defender (or piston). The fact that Achraf participated in the World Cup and that he was very far away in this competition, that he deserves to recover, Nordi has raised his level of play, he is very well physically. Isn’t that the record score of him? In this organization you need to have very high, very aggressive pistons that bring added value on an offensive level. In that sense, he’s been very good for a while. It’s a big advantage for me and for the team to have players like Nordi and Achraf in the team.»

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Lionel Messi : “Thanks and congratulations to our supporters for welcoming it as it has been welcomed. Believe me, it warms his heart. Thanks to them for encouraging us when the match was difficult. As for Leo, he had recovered well. He has several sessions with us. He seems calm, light, very fit physically. Obviously, with or without Leo, he gives another face to the team… His goal is important to us but we all know that he likes to score and that this type of profile needs to score. He seemed fine to me physically. I had spoken to him at half time and throughout the game to find out how he felt. He felt good. It was important for him to play fast. It was also important for the team to find Leo at the center of the game, the fact that he was able to play the whole game is even better.»

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The retreat of Noël Le Graët : “I was interviewed yesterday (Tuesday at a pre-game press conference). I have no comment and will not shoot the ambulance. This is FFF business and I have no comment to make.»

Statements made at the press conference