Tuchel feels pressure as PSG season ends badly

PARIS – Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel faces many questions before next season. He did not find his predecessors within the club during a complicated first season.

Unai Emery was fired to give way to Tuchel, even though Emery had achieved a national hat-trick. In 2016, Laurent Blanc was fired and replaced by Emery, although Blanc also won the three national trophies.

Under Tuchel, the PSG moves back.

Although PSG won the league title five games from the end, it failed to retain its title of champion. PSG lost Saturday in the final of the Coupe de France during a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Rennes. He led 2-0 midway through the first half.

In January, PSG were beaten at home by Guingamp in the quarterfinals of the Coupe de la Ligue, despite their leading position in this match.

"It's hard to say we're not mentally frail … we're still lacking that little bit more," Tuchel said after the Rennes defeat. "It gives the impression that we are a little fragile, not only in attack but in defense."

He added, "We are not clinical enough, not paying enough attention to details."

Tuchel's accurate badessment is too late, as the PSG season has been marred by such shortcomings since the return of the players from the winter break.

PSG lost a 2-0 home lead against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League knockout, sinking 3-1 at home in March and getting a penalty in injury time.

NOT ADVANCE

White led the PSG until the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Emery is only 16 years old and Tuchel did not do better than that.

Some would say that it did worse, since PSG chose to play in a United formation with injuries, rather than in a city inspired by Messi in 2017 and as the future Real Madrid champion in 2018, as did Emery.

There have also been alarming declines in concentration in the league.

Although PSG won the league at a canter, he could have sealed with eight games to play. Instead, PSG had a poor three-game spell in which they lost twice, tied once and conceded 10 goals, including a 5-1 hammer by Lille.

PSG's nervous defense has allowed 13 goals in the last five games.

"It's not an easy situation," said Tuchel, who needs time to determine where he made mistakes.

"It's too early to say," he said. "I need to think for a few days."

Listen to Neymar

Neymar thinks he has an idea of ​​what's wrong.

After the defeat against Rennes, the Brazilian star said that the young players of the PSG must be more aligned.

"They have to listen more than they talk. Sometimes a more experienced guy speaks and responds, "Neymar said in quotations translated and reported by the French media. "The coach speaks himself and they reply. It's not like that a team goes far.

For Neymar, who played alongside Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta in Barcelona, ​​a very traditional scene, a cheeky attitude on the part of young players might seem hard to accept.

"We are more experienced, so they must respect us a little more, listen a little more," he said. "I had to do the same thing when I started."

Neymar did not mention the names of these young players, but he also gave advice to Kylian Mbappe, who was sent off towards the end of Saturday's game for a crazy knee injury to a Rennes player.

Even though 20-year-old Mbappe delighted fans of his attacking talent and scored 30 goals, which put him ahead of the league, Saturday's red card was already the third in his young career.

KEEP CALM

Neymar showed a lack of restraint on his part when he attacked a fan who filmed and verbally excite PSG players as they climbed the stairs to collect the medals of their losers.

Although provoked, Neymar's response was completely avoidable. Other PSG players, including Gianluigi Buffon and Marco Verratti, were verbally abused by the same person and simply ignored him.

Mbappe will be suspended Tuesday for the tough match against Montpellier, sixth.

Neymar, meanwhile, risk another suspension, this time from the French Football Federation. He has already been suspended three times by UEFA for insulting those responsible for replaying videos that have inflicted on United a penalty of time out.

Tuchel needs to find answers, but his stars must remain calm.

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