Paris Saint-Germain defeated AS Saint-Étienne 4-0 on Sunday thanks to goals from Mauro Icardi, Kylian Mbappé, and Leandro Paredes.
It was a fantastic overall performance where manager Thomas Tuchel deployed a 4-4-2 formation with all of PSG’s best-attacking players on the pitch at once. It helped that Les Verts went down a man in the first half but still, PSG took their chances extremely well.
Of course, everyone’s attention now turns to the UEFA Champions League draw on Monday and after the match, Tuchel spoke to the media about one team in particular that would be special to play in Europe. He also discussed his formation, Neymar Jr.’s missed penalty shot, and the rise of Paredes.
Here is everything the German had to say post-match as reported by Le Parisien:
Have you had confirmation that your team is progressing?
Yes, we had three games with a good mentality and a lot of quality. Even today, we worked without the ball with a lot of intensity, seriousness. It’s a deserved victory, we had a lot of chances and collected a lot of balls very high. We never stopped working on recovery, even after the red card.
After the match in Madrid, you felt that your team could not play 4-4-2 in the big games. Have you changed your mind after this evening?
It was my opinion because we always have to think about the physical state of the team. It was time. We played five games in 4-3-3 in the Champions League and we won 12 points. We had good matches with Marquinhos, Marco [Verratti], and Idrissa [Gueye] in the middle. Now was not the time to change. If you want to play with the four attacking players as in the last three games, everyone must be physically ready. You have to keep a lot of intensity to have possession of the ball. We have to be prepared for it. It was my opinion a few weeks ago. We are here to find solutions for each phase and adjust to a situation. It was time to give this responsibility and trust the players. They have been extraordinary three times.
You have, however, conceded quite a few opportunities, is the balance of the team in danger in this system?
It is not a question of the system. At times, we played with a little too much confidence, calm, too sure, that nothing could happen to us. Because of this, they had occasions on set kicks and counter-attacks. We made too many easy mistakes. But on the other side, we had a lot of opportunities to score. We can improve this. It was almost always our fault and Keylor Navas did a great job again.
Would you like to run into Dortmund this Monday during the Champions League draw?
It would be a special moment for me and my staff. I don’t think about the draw, I even forgot that it was tomorrow.
Ed Note: Paris Saint-Germain has a 16.99 percent chance to draw Borussia Dortmund according to GiveMeSport.com. The champions of Group A have the highest probability of drawing Atlético Madrid and Chelsea FC at 18.41 percent.
What do you think of [Leandro] Paredes’ revival?
He always scores during training, it was necessary for him to do it in matches. It was deserved, he took the opportunity to show his quality, to show that he is a player who can play for us. It’s impressive, because it gave a lot of quality to our game, a lot of intensity. He won a lot of second balls. He is in good shape and I am very happy for him that he shows it.
Have you ever seen Neymar miss a penalty?
No, I’m still a little nervous, but when he’s the one who hits, normally, I’m almost sure he scores. He is sad because he always wants to score and it was a great opportunity. He will hit the next one.
Have you ever seen such fireworks in the stands?
No, I had never seen anything like this. It was a little too much, right? It was like New Years Eve.
Want more PSG? Visit the PSG Talk Podcast Network page and subscribe to PSG Talking, The 1970, and 24th & Parc.
