French Football
/ Ben Lyttleton / 28 November 2011 / Leave a Comment
Javier Pastore looks flat out knackered
"Pastore looks a shadow of the player who inspired PSG to beat Lyon and Montpellier, whom France Football described as a €43m bargain; he is clearly shattered, having played in 18 of PSG’s last 19 games, and this after a summer spent playing in the Copa America."
Mega-bucks PSG have faltered horribly in recent weeks culminating in a 3-0 defeat at Marseille on Sunday night and manager Antoine Kombouare is a dead man walking, says Ben Lyttleton
It was the kind of moment than can make or break a job for an under-pressure - but this time it didn't pay off. When Paris Saint-Germain fans look back on the reign of coach Antoine Kombouare, they might be able to trace the moment his fate was sealed to the 60th minute of last night's 3-0 defeat at Marseille.
It's true, PSG had failed to play well in each of their last three matches:
the 1-1 draw with Bordeaux, last week's home defeat to relegation-threatened Nancy, and, in particular, the Marseille game. But his side was only 1-0 down, to Loic Remy's early goal, when he took the decision to take off Javier Pastore and Kevin Gameiro, the team's two star players, both of whom had poor games.
Pastore looks a shadow of the player who inspired PSG to beat Lyon and Montpellier, whom France Football described as a €43m bargain; he is clearly shattered, having played in 18 of PSG's last 19 games, and this after a summer spent playing in the Copa America. The Argentine playmaker left the pitch with the lowest pass completion rate of any player - 47 per cent, lower even than PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu - and Canal Plus pundit Christophe Dugarry bemoaned his attitude, saying: "He tries to beat two players when he should be keeping it simple; he's just losing the ball every time."
Just like last week, PSG sports director Leonardo faced the press after the game to insist that Kombouare was safe: "There's always a difficult moment in each season. We started well but now we're struggling. But it won't decide the season: this changes nothing to our project."
What he means is that PSG are still on the hunt for a new coach, (Carlo Anclelotti has reportedly turned it down, while others like Rafa Benitez and Marcello Lippi are said to be under consideration), even if that is harsh of former PSG midfielder Kombouare, who has steadied the ship impressively in recent seasons. And while the Kanak coach is criticized for over-using Pastore, Leonardo is the man who brought him in as the marquee signing, as well as signing Diego Lugano, at fault for the first goal last night, over Kombouare's head.
Apart from the fact that only Ajaccio and Nice are on a worse run in the league, the result certainly changes things in Ligue 1: not only keeping Montpellier in top spot - they beat Sochaux 3-1 thanks to Olivier Giroud's hat-trick, but also giving the rest of the league the belief that PSG can be overhauled.
It was not so long ago that France Football was speculating not if PSG would win the title but by how much. Now, though, they are three points behind Montpellier, with Lille and Rennes only two points back, and Lyon, ([4.3]) for the title, four points. As always, Montpellier president Louis Nicollin laughed off his side's chances of staying the distance - last season they faded after they were joint-top after 15 games - in typical foul-mouthed
style: "If we beat Lyon, PSG and Lille to the title, you can stab me in the backside with a sausage!" he told L'Equipe.
Montpellier are ([10.5]) to keep their momentum, but perhaps a better bet would be reigning champions Lille, ([4.4]), who are coming into form after their run of five draws in September. Their only defeats since then have come to Inter Milan in the Champions League, and Lille, traditionally slow starters, have only lost once in Ligue 1, to Montpellier in Week Two. They face PSG, now ([2.52]), in the week before Christmas in what will be a huge game.
Sunday's win was also a big one for Marseille: coach Didier Deschamps came into the game under huge pressure after the midweek loss to Olympiakos, the embarrassing public fall-out with Andre-Pierre Gignac, and then an apparent lack of support after that. Leaks from the Marseille dressing-room suggested that players are unhappy with Deschamps's lack of tactical work in training-sessions, and some of the players agreed with Gignac's criticisms.
This result pushes Marseille into the top half and now seven points off a Champions League place -it would be a huge comeback if Deschamps could push his team back up there after their shocking start. Marseille are ([3.4]) to finish in the top three.
Meanwhile, December was always going to be a big month for the PSG 'project'. Owners QSI were hoping to confirm the signing of David Beckham on an 18-month deal in the next few weeks, but before then - perhaps depending on how the team copes against Auxerre and Sochaux - there could be a new man arriving in the dug-out as well.
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