Mauricio Pochettino was formally announced as Paris Saint-Germain’s new manager over the weekend, and on Sunday, the Argentine held his first scheduled training session with the team.
For Pochettino, one of his goals that he alluded to during his first day with the club was to establish a team identity that would help the side “win with style.” And in his first day with the team, Pochettino began to hit on just that.
Le Parisien chronicled Pochettino’s first training session with the PSG players. The team had just returned from the Christmas break, but the players were in for an extensive session. The report notes how Pochettino began to lay down his stature on the team as in one instance, the manager yelled out to the side to “Stop laughing, this is training!” The Argentine manager kept this approach throughout the day with the team.
With PSG set to take on AS Saint-Etienne in an away Ligue 1 fixture on Wednesday, Pochettino was adamant about getting his players prepared for the fixture.
This was not only imposed by Pochettino but also by his son, Sebastiano Pochettino, who is also one of the coaches on the team. For one, he yelled out commands during a 45-minute running session where he noted for the team to “move up a notch in the speed of the races” and “remember the small movement to free yourself from the markings.”
PSG sporting director Leonard was at hand in watching the training session. He is a regular attendee of PSG’s scheduled training sessions.
PSG will have a few more sessions ahead of the fixture against Saint-Etienne. Pochettino may raise the tempo of the training activities in order to keep the team on edge in anticipation of this upcoming key match.
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