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While Paris Saint-Germain was driving their coach Thomas Tuchel for the first time to an away match, Italian playmaker Marco Verratti ordered a Coca-Cola. To his surprise, he realized that he did not have any. Unbelievable! Thomas Tuchel had banned all soft drinks and sandwiches. Verratti understood the message and changed his drinking habits, although perhaps it was not quite as Tuchel had imagined: in early November, he was arrested by the police with a glbad of alcohol.
Tuchel forms a big unusual club. At PSG, the stars would not be very motivated. If these players wanted to overtake each week at most, they would play just here, in the championship of France. With 13 wins and 45 goals scored in 13 games, PSG's biggest national opponent is bored. Tuchel must encourage his team to the performance.
And he must do it quickly: if PSG does not win the home game against Liverpool (Wednesday 20:45, ticker live: SPIEGEL ONLINE), the French will probably not spend the winter in the Champions League. That would ruin their season because nobody fears to win the inevitable sixth title of champion of France of the last seven years. How does Tuchel handle this task?
"We like it to be so direct"
In Paris, he is actually an official with less influence than stars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. As a result, the emotional, zealous and authoritarian coach of Mainz and Dortmund has become a slightly more sociable person in his new workplace. When he signed with PSG, he began his charm offensive.
He met Neymar twice before the World Cup and dragged him from left to the seat behind the top ten. "We must try to develop a structure that gives Neymar the chance to be the best possible," Tuchel said.
The coach has taken language lessons to improve his French and Spanish (although many players who play PSG for years hardly speak French, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was even proud to have never learned language). In pre-season preparations, Tuchel let his players work much harder than before, but he also went to discos with them and sang "Happy" from Pharrell Williams as a mandatory introduction ritual.
Much more than his predecessor, Unai Emery, he captured the team as much as the staff and fans who call him by name during the team's show. "We talk to him a lot and we love him so directly," said Verratti.
Tactical innovation meets lethargic stars
Tuchel is above all a discipline. PSG players had the habit of forgetting objects in the cabin during training and then running for them. Being late for meetings was almost normal. Tuchel punished Mbappé and Adrien Rabiot for their indiscipline by placing them in the big French duel against Marseille – of course, PSG won. He was also in the restaurants and discotheques most frequented by his players to chat with the staff.
And he tactically advanced his team. For years, PSG dominated in principle only the front, the aggressive, designed for possession 4-3-3. Tuchel sometimes plays in the 3-4-3 and has learned PSG to counterattack.
Only the fast Gegenpressing, which has become the norm in Germany, does not seem to lie to his team. It's partly because the club has failed to make a world-clbad defensive midfielder, but because the world's most expensive players, Mbappé and Neymar, are not doing enough work racing and defense.
During PSG's 2-1 defeat in Liverpool in September, a camera filmed Tuchel screaming at the lethargic Neymar while the Brazilian was not seriously trying to avoid a goal. And after the draw against Naples at home, Tuchel lamented: "We did not have the guts to close the halls higher."
The question remains to know where is the PSG
Tensions between his fierce striker Edinson Cavani and the individualist Neymar are sometimes felt as in the friendly match between Uruguay Brazil in England. Sorry to accept. Cavani shouted at him.
But what should you do if you are only the coach? Tuchel plays a minor role in the PSG soap opera. The recent revelations in the "Football Leaks", in which the Spiegel is significantly involved, have made much bigger headlines:
Despite all the investment and tricks in half-silk, PSG has not even managed to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions League, even after seven years in the hands of the Sheikhs of Qatar. This leaves the big question of the real position of the PSG. Tuchel could answer this question if he can win the Champions League, but this goal seems to be very far now.
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