For the fourth time in Ligue 1 this season on Sunday night, Paris Saint-Germain were firing blanks in their 0-0 draw with AS Monaco at Stade Louis II. Had Laurent Blanc’s men won the game, they would have gone top of Le Championnat, instead they are now one point behind league leaders Olympique Lyonnais.
Come the end of the current campaign, regardless of its ultimate outcome, PSG could be firing blanks off the pitch too. A Blanc, to be precise, with their tactician’s head potentially on the chopping block this summer.
It has been a frustrating season for the capital club so far. The defending French champions have been unable to reach top spot in the league for anything more than a temporary period, and their domestic performances have been sluggish in the majority of games.
PSG are not as dominant as they were domestically last term, and they are 11 points worse off to prove it. How much of that is really directly Blanc’s fault, though?
Le President has not been entirely blameless at times this season, displaying a bit of naivety and making some questionable decisions now and again. Which coaches have not made the odd error in judgment, though?
Few—if any—tacticians can really say that they went through an entire campaign without making a single error, and Blanc is no different.
The real problem for PSG right now is the players.
The team have suffered from a variety of problems this term, but one of the main issues with every member of the squad has been complacency in certain domestic games. All too often Blanc has lined his team up, only to see his players go out and saunter around the pitch in an apathetic style.
That attitude has made it clear in no uncertain terms that Les Parisiens believe they are better than many of their domestic opponents and that league fixtures are often won before they have even stepped out onto the pitch.
Yes, PSG have had to deal with the lengthy absence and return to form and fitness of talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic after a heel injury late last year.
They have also had to cope with a number of players who returned from the FIFA World Cup and were jaded at the start of this current season, as well as a number of key figures naturally declining in influence with age.
However, none of those factors have been as much of a problem as getting over their own poor attitudes towards certain domestic games.
Speaking to Infosport, former sporting director Leonardo summed it up best when he said after a 1-0 defeat away at Stade de Reims back in March of 2013 that “PSG is for Europe, not for France” (h/t ESPN FC). That is still exactly what comes across two years later when you watch Les Parisiens in domestic action and compare it with a continental performance.
Admittedly, the capital club have now woken up to the fact that they are in a fight to win their third consecutive Ligue 1 title, and they are now playing better than they were earlier in the season.
But it is those dropped points in games against the likes of Reims—again—Evian Thonon Gaillard, Stade Rennais, Toulouse FC, EA Guingamp, Montpellier HSC and Stade Malherbe Caen that could come back to haunt them.
The responsibility for dropping points in all of those games cannot be laid exclusively at Blanc’s door; a bizarre string of injuries impacted the Caen result, for example. But it was the players’ insufficient efforts that allowed those sides to give PSG a fight, despite being vastly inferior on paper.
Even when his players do raise their level of performance, Blanc has often been left bemoaning a lack of clinical finishing this season. Encounters against the likes of Lyon, Monaco and Lille—all arguably tougher opponents than those already mentioned—could have been won if chances had been converted into goals.
PSG have proved in occasional games this season that they are still capable of being the same team that they were last season, such as the 3-2 win over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Performances like that have been all too rare, though.
However, despite their large subpar displays, Blanc and his team still find themselves on the verge of progress from the Frenchman’s impressive debut season and that is something that must be taken into account when making a decision over his future.
Although the capital outfit have developed a habit of not taking their chances to seize top spot in Ligue 1, they are still just one point behind leaders Lyon, and a third straight league title is still a possibility.
The team are also into the final of the Coupe de la Ligue already, with a Coupe de France quarterfinal against Monaco coming up in Paris on Wednesday. A domestic treble, though often unthinkable based on the lack of urgency displayed in certain games, is still very much possible.
If he were to guide his team to that feat, he would be the first coach in French football history to do so.
PSG’s priorities lie in Europe, though, and that is where Blanc is likely to be judged. The team are still alive on that front and go into the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Chelsea tied at 1-1.
If Le President con orchestrate a second-leg success to guide his side past Jose Mourinho’s then that will be viewed as significant European progress—even though it will only take them to a third consecutive quarterfinal berth.
While PSG remain in with a shout in all four competitions, Blanc deserves to be given full support. A domestic treble would still be a fantastic achievement, but the club’s Qatari owners would view a last-16 finish in the Champions League negatively.
If PSG are to stick with Blanc next season, he will need to impress on the continental stage more than the domestic one. Seeing off Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next week could be key to his future at Parc des Princes.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1B1zqZt
via IFTTT March 02, 2015 at 05:17AM
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