Paris. PSG has tested most things: foreign star coaches, ex-French players, Spanish Cup specialists, German tactics.
When you kick Mauricio Pochettino, the choice falls on an unexpected hidden ice.
Could Christophe Galtier’s Ligue 1 biography really translate into international success with one of the world’s most sought-after clubs?
Paris Saint-Germain fans dreamed of it Zinedine Zidane.
By fan Christoph Galtier.
They are frustrated.
But it may be thinking more than anything else The word that best describes the reactions in the capital after Paris Saint-Germain revealed the worst of the year and introduced the 55-year-old as the club’s new coach today. It stands to reason that Luis Campos was recently appointed as a “football advisor”, the same Campos who competed with Galtier at Lille in 2017-2020 and who was brought in to replace the sacked Leonardo, sporting director to and from PSG for the last time. Decade.
This week, Nasser Al-Khelaifi published the transcript in an interview with Le Parisien, which points to an entirely new direction for the club’s transfer philosophy.
We must be realistic, we no longer want flashy brilliance. There are no more sequins. We expect more from the players than last season, and they will give 200 per cent for the shirt, explained the president of Paris Saint-Germain and said at the same time that the future goal of the club is to use only players from the Paris region.
According to Al-Khelaifi, Zinedine Zidane was not even contacted for the mission.
to me Mauricio Pochettino The days were numbered, everyone understood. Of course, the league title, French Cup and Super Cup are not close enough when they led PSG for two consecutive spring seasons. But a less pleasant legacy for the former Tottenham boss in Paris would be about his non-existent style of play, the inability to manage the impressive attacking fleet he’s got, and the embarrassing exit from the Champions League quarter-final where PSG played dream football. In 150 minutes against Real Madrid, but despite that I came out with a knockout.
However: Ancelotti, Blanc, Emery, Tuchel, Pochettino… Galtier?
Does Messi know who he is? Doubtful
Of course, the former Nice coach should not be written off in advance. Galtier is an institution in Ligue 1. He is a top-ranked coach in Ligue 1 after eight more or less successful seasons at Saint-Etienne, which began its journey into the abyss and Ligue 2 the moment he left, and later in Lille, went from relegation to an unexpected league title In three years, most recently Nice who finished fifth this year.
It’s the most impressive resume in Ligue 1 in the last decade. No one can argue with Christoph Galtier’s apparent competence or, for that matter, sympathetic charisma. But in the Champions League, he only led Lille for one season. Synopsis: Six games, one point, minus ten goal difference and a jumbo place in a group with Chelsea, Valencia and Ajax.
Nothing to scare young children.
None of Neymar impresses with either, and the question is of course how the changing spells in PSG’s dressing room feel about the hard worker Galtier. The problems of discipline and authority that have plagued PSG for so many years are unlikely to be resolved immediately when a coach less experienced from the Champions League than anyone in the squad tries to make his mark on the club. Does Lionel Messi know who Christoph Galtier is? Doubtful.
Zidane shows his time
Despite the apparent investment in many of the world’s biggest footballers, PSG under Qatar has maintained a lower profile on the coaching side. During the spring, there were many indications that the position would also be filled by a superstar when rumors about Zinedine Zidane started circulating in Paris.
Zizou is the only one who can restore my interest in this damned club, and he expressed the PSG fan’s absolute disappointment in my neighborhood after being knocked out of the Champions League in March.
It’s fair to say that Zinedine Zidane remains – perhaps more than ever – unparalleled by the French in football. His position in the world of sports is lacking in competition in France, but the common man also loves Zizou more than any other famous French man. When he turned 50 the other day, L’Equipe gave Zidane an 18-page interview and the former Real Madrid coach appeared on Roland Garro’s VIP stand that day, the French media began buzzing with speculation about the future. But by all accounts, Zinedine Zidane struggles most of her time to wait to take over the French national team after the World Cup in Qatar this fall.
From dreaming about Zidane to facing reality and Christophe Galtier, the step is, of course, very long. Since rumors of a coach change spread in early June, PSG supporters have mostly been angry on forums and social media over what they see as the club’s failed training policy.
On the other hand, no one else has been able to untie the obvious mental knot that has characterized PSG’s European adventure in recent years either.
